Winter 2010 Report of Results from the Survey of Personal and Institutional Use of Electronic Communication and Social Media at Colleges and Universities

Abstract

To find out how colleges and universities are using social media to communicate both on and off campus, CUPA-HR and Sibson Consulting invited HR professionals in higher education to take a brief, online survey in 2009. Participants were also asked about their own use of social media. This report summarizes the results of the Survey of Personal and Institutional Use of Electronic Communication and Social Media at Colleges and Universities.

The following are among the survey findings:

  • A large majority of respondents (76 percent) see social media's potential for business use.
  • Forty-six percent indicated their institutions have a strategy for using social media, are developing such a strategy, or need a social media strategy.
  • When "constant" and "regular" users are grouped together, the following are the five types of electronic communication and social media used most frequently after e-mail: listservs, Facebook, text messaging, LinkedIn and wikis.
  • More than half of respondents use the following types of electronic communication and social media for personal use only: Facebook (52 percent), YouTube (52 percent) and text messaging (50 percent).
  • Most respondents were uncertain about the frequency with which their institutions are using the forms of electronic communication other than e-mail and social media to communicate on and off campus.

The survey results suggest that HR professionals at colleges and universities may be lagging behind national social media trends.

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