"University-affiliated accounts—for instance, a department's Web site or library's Facebook page—are a different animal. They can broadcast a university's strengths, be used in teaching and research, attract prospective students and faculty and staff members, and cultivate relationships with alumni. But encountering a negative comment thread, or getting no response at all to questions or input, could turn off a student or donor. In the most dismal scenarios, online harassment or unreported threats could lead to legal complaints or campus violence." - Jennifer Howard
Article: http://chronicle.com/article/Worried-About-Message/141773/
While this article does not provide much "new" or "exciting" information, the fact that it exists in the Chronicle should cause one to take pause and reflect on "What does my institution have out there?" and "How does my institution represent itself online?" As a student worker in my old institution's scholarship office, I was partially responsible for maintaining a website, Facebook page, and Twitter account. That was for one office. As a Hall Director, I have partial oversight over a Facebook page, a Twitter account, and an Instagram (I do not know how to use the latter). Again, that is only one out of over twenty residence halls. Knowing the amount of time and energy that should go into these initiatives versus the amount of time that I have put into each of them due to prioritization, I can relate to the desire for institutions to keep better tabs on their social media output.
A big change that I have noticed at various institutions is one towards standardization and consistency. It simply makes sense. Inconsistency across social media accounts indicates a lack of cohesiveness at best and a breaking of ranks at worst. How many times have you clicked through a schools website and see myriad page backgrounds, fonts, colors, and even institutional names? If you are affiliated with that institution, it may not seem that large of an issue, but in that case you should consider the perspective of a prospective student. What does that inconsistency say to them?
And then there comes the issue of student-run accounts. Not that students cannot run an account - as I have indicated, most students could run an Instagram account worlds better than I ever will. I am thinking of the administration's perspective on the exponential growth of social media accounts that occurs relative to the number of student groups there are, and the inability to control them. As Howard writes, institutions are moving away from the "We could never think to control this" perspective, and I am very interested to see what new policies and procedures come out of this movement.
Citation: Howard, J. (2013). Worried about message, colleges scrutinize social media. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from: http://chronicle.com/article/Worried-About-Message/141773/
Picture by: Me :)
No comments:
Post a Comment