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Periscope, Twitter & SnapChat, how are universities using social media?
How are universities using social media to engage students & alumni?
Social media use has boomed in recent years. This post explores universities that are maximizing Twitter, Periscope, and SnapChat to engage students and alumni.
The University of Michigan’s alumni account, @michiganalumni, leads among 406 university alumni Twitter accounts with 85,400 followers. Over 50 Michigan departments maintain active daily Twitter accounts with substantial followings.
A website dedicated to social media strategy
Michigan ensures consistent social media practices through a public resource site with guidelines. Their strategic framework recommends: “Successful UMich accounts update Facebook once to twice each day, Twitter 5-10 times.”
Engaging Twitter content
Michigan’s alumni account demonstrates two core engagement techniques:
#1 Extremely regular tweeting Multiple updates per hour maximize potential reach.
#2 Consistently excellent, well-linked content Their feed integrates tags, photos, links, and hashtags strategically:
- Photos: Celebrating current students and alumni projects
- Tagging people: Regular mentions to increase visibility
- Relevant hashtags: Centralizing engagement (e.g., #triviatuesday)
University of Essex’s @Uni_EssexClick employs similar techniques for their student crowdfunding platform.
Periscope
Launched in 2015, Periscope is a live video streaming platform enabling universities to share on-campus and classroom content with distant prospective and current students.
Vanderbilt University uses Periscope for real-time campus tours. According to Bailey McChesney, Senior Assistant Director of Admissions: “Web chats are a great way to reach a large population of prospective students and a convenient method for these individuals to interact with staff and current students.”
The University of Manchester similarly experimented with campus tour broadcasts via Periscope.
Educational Technologist Fran Siracusa notes that “As a powerful education tool, the Periscope app inherently allows students to be active learners and content producers within each new session.” She highlights potential applications including virtual field trips, expert speakers, student collaboration, and parent engagement through school events and presentations.
SnapChat
SnapChat’s user base reached 100 million active users by September 2015, with 77% being college students. The app allows users to send disappearing images or short videos.
The Geofilter feature holds particular value for universities. It enables branded overlays (such as “NYU”) on SnapChats taken within a selected radius, typically a campus. Students applying the filter create collages visible to prospective students anywhere, capturing authentic campus life and sporting events.
Examples showcase NYU and DePauw students using geofilters to document their experiences.
