October 1, 2009

5 stages of social media

Oct. 1, 2009 at 03:47 PM | By Kate Malone | Comment Count

It still surprises me to hear that some institutions have yet to embrace social media tools for recruitment and retention, despite the success that many schools have had. The obstacles to adoption seem to be related predominantly to the attitudes of the institution, rather than difficulty of implementation or expense. So when I read this blog post by Scott Monty, the social media head of Ford on the five stages of social media grief, I laughed because it’s something that rings true for many new initiatives anywhere, but especially for social media in higher education.

Below is an abbreviated version of his stages, but you should definitely read the whole post on his blog:

Denial - “It’s just a kid’s thing,” or “It’s just a fad.”
Anger - “This is stupid,” “I’ve got better things to do with my time.”
Bargaining - “If we have a Facebook page, we should be covered,” “Let’s just create a blog,” or “Let the agency figure it out.”
Depression - “Twitter/Google/Facebook is taking over the world,” or “We’re overwhelmed with choices.”
Acceptance -“Let’s craft a comprehensive social media strategy,” or “Let’s spend some time listening to what consumers are saying about us.”

Even for institutions that are taking advantage of social media, there still remains a fair amount of skepticism on the direction that social media is going. A recent article from The Baltimore Sun highlights the stuggle of admissions officers to define the appropriate boundaries with their applicants. Some students have even resorted to friending their contacts at the admissions office in an attempt to score extra points. Most admissions departments see their prospects’ Facebook use as a positive force- one that helps their students make friends before they even arrive on campus. But perhaps illustrating the “Depression” phase, one of the officers notes, “I can see a world in four or five years where a Twitter account is a basic promotional tool for applying students. I fear that world a bit, but really, who knows what’s going to happen in five years?”

From the article, counselors are more apprehensive about forming relationships with their students online than students are about interacting with the school online. Many enjoy speaking with the admissions office one-on-one and putting a face and personality to what can be an intimidating process. At the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, the dean of admissions noted that over 90% of the accepted applicants who signed up with the school’s network, wound up enrolling. Eventually social networking can be just as powerful a tool for connecting prospects to the institution as the campus visit.