Social Media Reports in Higher Ed

I'm going to come right out and say it: I don't think the reported decline in Facebook use by teenagers is anything that marketers & communicators should be seriously concerned about. While we've been talking about this for months, this particular diatribe was sparked by a blog post included in the daily email of a national association for higher education professionals.

"Facebook is dead!" You've seen that headline, or a similar one, by now, yes? About how young people are abandoning Facebook in droves, how it's jumped the shark, how it's bound for MySpaceCity. Don't believe the hype. In the blogosphere, Facebook has been killed off more times than Kenny from "South Park," left for dead...

Considering that Facebook started out as a social network exclusively for college students, it's only appropriate that it's now being used by prospective students to research colleges. According to a survey of more than 7,000 high school students by Zinch, which runs a service matching students with schools and scholarships, fully 68% of respondents said they are using social media to research their higher education options.

February 13, 2014 This is the final post in our 4-part series A Look Back at 2013. Each year, we like to highlight those colleges and universities that have been most successful at consistently engaging their fan base on Facebook. Did your institution make the cut?