Use Social Media to Promote a Trust in the School.
Many schools use social media to promote job announcements and interesting school news. another good use for social media is to cultivate a trusting environment where students believe the school has their best interest in mind.
This can be accomplished by projecting foreseeable challenges caused by events like Holidays, changing seasons and family matters.
An ideal message reads:
As a student you will face moments of over whelm. We can help before it happens. And if it is happening now we can help you overcome the challenge. You success is our passion.
Another possible by-product is making the student aware that school personnel may be looking at their social media. Hopefully, this will help them avoid embarrassment when a prospective employer looks.
Hi Tyrone,
I think you're absolutely right about the use of social media! It can really help students to find their school on Twitter or Facebook and be able to feel that "connection." It is especially true for online or distance education, I believe. One university I worked with would tweet their graduations. It was great for students who couldn't be there - they were able to feel like they were really with their peers.
Thanks,
Kate
How do you tweet a graduation, Katherine? At 140 characters/tweet, that's a lot of traffic. Hope the participants have a good data plan.
Social media is an excellent way to reach the "Millennial students" with information about school activities and tips for success. Social media may help students and faculty feel connected as a group and be quite useful in setting a desired tone for the learning community. "News you can use" can be widely broadcast in an inexpensive way with social media and act as one more communication tool with our students.
What social media are you using, Tammy? Does the institution have a policy about social media? Who can use it, what can be said, etc? How do you keep your personal accounts separate from your professional ones?
Perhaps this will make them think twice about what they post on instagram.
Leslie, do you have any examples of negative outcomes to report?
