Lis Parcell's List: Social media for student engagement: comment

Article from the Times Higher. "Social media allow users to share information about themselves and their interests. Sarah Cunnane examines their role in the academy." Five articles per month may be downloaded free from the THE website.

Times Higher article from April 2012 covering the Sociagility study of the Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and website engagement of the top 25 US and top 25 UK universities in the 2011-2012 Times Higher Education World University Rankings. Up to five articles per month can be downloaded free from the THE site.

In this podcast, reporter Chris Parr talks about universities' use of social media with Emma Leech, director of marketing, communications and recruitment at the University of Nottingham; Jack Wallington, head of marketing and community at The Student Room; Justin Shaw, managing director of Communications Management; and Phil Baty, editor of Times Higher Education's World University Rankings. It begins by focussing on the role of social media in students' choice of university but goes on to explore the shift on from social media as a PR channel to its potential as a tool for dialogue and building trust, among other things.

Post from the personal blog of Dr Richard Rutter, University of East Anglia.

Article from the Guardian Higher Education Network, April 2013. "The view of university social media as untrustworthy or irrelevant means students don't look for information there, says Justin Shaw, but used better, these channels could count."

Blog post by Brandon Croke from June 2012: "We shouldn't be training our students to be passive social media followers; what our country needs now is active future leaders. And leaders ask why. Social media shouldn't be about liking and following - it's about leading and caring." Links are provided to other social media topics on the US-based Higher Ed Live which provides weekly 'web shows' aimed at marketing and web professionals.

Blog post by Jason Boucher of the University of New Hampshire from April 2013.

Dr Rey Junco describes himself on this blog as "a professor and researcher who studies how technology use affects college students. I’m particularly interested in using quantitative methods to assess the effects of social media on student development, engagement, and success. Social Media in Higher Education is a place where I’ll blog about the research I’m conducting and provide commentary on using technology in educationally-relevant ways."

Guest post on the UK Web Focus blog by Craig Russell, web developer at the University of Leicester, from June 2012.

Blog post by Eric Stoller on Inside Higher Ed. from 2012.

Twitter is less real-time chat, more an ongoing conversation where acknowledgement still counts, says Ernesto Priego (February 2013). Full version on his blog https://epriego.wordpress.com/2013/01/25/twitter-towards-rules-of-engagement/.