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| Social media presents challenge to universities |
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The thread highlights the difficulty that universities face in the age of social media. At a time when reputation is more important than ever because of higher student fees and greater global competition, the ability to manage their reputations is increasingly falling out of their hands. How to reach an increasingly networked generation that is more inclined to trust the opinion of their anonymous peers on the internet than official bodies such as universities was a problem discussed at last week's Youth Strategy Marketing Conference 2011. Helen Pennack, head of marketing communications at the University of Leicester, says students now post queries on Facebook or the Student Room about open days or where to find their timetables, rather than simply contact the university directly. "When we do relationship marketing communications, we are trying to strike up a two-way dialogue with students and they are taking the conversation away from us and having it with other people," she says. "How we make ourselves part of that conversation again is quite a challenge." Her university has responded by setting up a system that allows students to sync communications from Leicester with their Facebook account. But she says universities also need to be present in other web spaces used by students, such as Twitter. Warwick, which appointed a digital and online communications manager last year, knows well the benefits of having a social media presence. "A year ago, an applicant tweeted, 'Oh, no. I hear the University of Warwick is closing, what am I going to do?'" says Warwick's spokesman, Peter Dunn. While this tweet could have caused huge problems if spread, the university was able to tweet back, "We're still here, honest". He says the communications team check what is being said about the university on social media once or twice a day, and responds if someone is confused or asking for information. But it depends on the forum. "If they are on the Student Room we assume they want to bitch about us behind our backs," he says. "If it is on a much more public space like Twitter or Facebook, someone like us can see it and respond." The challenge for universities is not only to know where to respond but when, and getting the tone right. "We are always careful about proactively intervening in the conversation because that would be seen as rude," says Pennack. "What is much more effective is if one of our students wades in there and puts somebody straight." Some universities have already responded to this, she says, by having a group of students "primed to some extent to join the conversation and correct people where it is appropriate to do so". It is not something Leicester has tried yet, but, she says, "we may consider it". While Imperial College does not prime students, it does recruit a team of official student bloggers to write regularly about their experiences at the university. They are not paid or moderated, and are free to blog about whatever they like. But there are occasional prizes for the most frequent bloggers. Pamela Agar, head of digital media at Imperial, says the college could potentially ask them to blog on a particular subject, but had not done so yet. "They can and do say negative things about us," she says. "When they do, it's useful feedback." It can also make the blogs more authentic, she says – something that is particularly important to the social media generation. Chris Fonseka, a third-year information systems student at Imperial, says he applied for a student blogger role because he was attracted by the idea of having a voice around campus. He blogs about his general activities at the university, including his membership of the chocolate society. He also receives regular emails from students and prospective students anxious to put queries about accommodation or finances to a real student. He says he has never felt restricted in what he writes. "I think there's possibly a line that you cannot cross, but you would have to be pretty determined to cross it," he says. "If I honestly felt negative about Imperial, I would write about it." Tom Ridgewell went a step further. While studying media at the University of Lincoln, he decided to create a television advert for the university and put it up on YouTube. "While television and parents prefer elevator music and false smiles in university propaganda, the internet and those who inhabit it prefer explosions and dinosaurs," he says. (His advert contained both.) "I labelled the videos as 'banned' simply because it's funnier to imagine that I actually showed them to a board of directors and got thrown out of the room. Also, videos generally do a little better with an exaggerated title." Ian Richards, press officer at Lincoln, says the university only became aware of the adverts once they were an online hit and Google alerts showed people were blogging about them. "We didn't know what to make of them, but when students were talking about them on open days we felt it was something totally left field, but a bit of a blessing for us." Ridgewell has since been commissioned to carry out work for the marketing department. How far universities should try to control what members of their community say about them on social media is something some have already faced with academic bloggers. In 2006, Erik Ringmar resigned from his lecturing post at the London School of Economics after the university objected to him posting a speech critical of the university on his blog. A year later David Colquhoun was asked to remove his blog from the University College London site after complaints from alternative therapists. But, while institutions are paying increasing attention to what is said about them on the web, most recognise that there is little they can do about it. "Is it realistic to control every word that's out there about us?" asks Richards. "I don't think so." By Harriet Swain
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