IU ranks among top universities in social media use

Social media is rapidly expanding on college campuses.

IU was recently recognized by CollegeAtlas.org for being among the top 10 universities on the social media outlets Instagram and Facebook. It was also in the top 10 for most engaged social media community.

CollegeAtlas.org has ranked different schools in a variety of categories for years. This year was the first time it ranked social media use by colleges.

“We started with the largest schools and made our way through the five social networks — Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, LinkedIn and Instagram,” the site’s manager, Branden Neish, said.

On each network, each school’s name is typed in and the page’s statistics are put into a database, Neish said. An evaluation is also made of the posts made during a certain amount of time.

The placements are determined by a point system, in which a university can earn up to 30 points.

CollegeAtlas.org collaborated with social media educator Shawndra Russell to gain more insight putting its report together.

“I was blown away by the research they’d done and rankings they’d created,” Russell said. “So I was happy to provide case studies for the accompanying report so that others involved in social media, regardless of industry, could benefit from what we learned by analyzing the schools included.”

IU primarily uses social media as a means of keeping its community engaged.

“Philosophically, we here at Indiana University absolutely acknowledge the power social media provides us to connect with and engage of our students, alumni and entire campus community,” IU social media strategist Thomas Atkinson said.

Since it allows information to be received immediately, social media has developed a major role in university outreach, Russell said.

“Social media is crucial for colleges because they have a responsibility to serve their students, faculty and staff to the best of their abilities, and social media affords them an easy, personable way to do that by sharing useful, relevant content on their channels,” she said.

IU started to attract an online audience when it first connected to social media in December 2008 on Facebook and Twitter, Atkinson said.

Russell said students’ being connected to their university online can reinforce the relationship between them.  

“Active social media channels make the school more attractive to their target audiences and allow their fans to feel heard and appreciated,” Russell said.

Atkinson said it is all a part of a University-wide effort.

“Social media is just another reflection of how we as a University go through every effort possible to be the best at what we do,” Atkinson said.