The Top Social Media Savvy Universities
By Doresa Banning | Apr 26, 2012
Certain colleges and universities are better users of social media than others. This list of the Top 50 can help you to see which schools are on the cutting edge and whether the school that you are attending or thinking about attending is on it. Those that made the list did so for a number of reasons: it could be because of their audience reach and numbers; distinctive offerings, such as social media courses, workshops, clubs, private networks and so on. It could even relate to the quality or quantity of the content they produce. Well, enough talking about it ... here is our list, please take the time -- between all of your social media use -- to peruse it.
American University: AU's Center for Social Media, part of its School of Communication, showcases and analyzes media for public knowledge and action, through research, events and conferences.
Arizona State University: ASU offers social media courses and is on several social media platforms, including Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, foursquare and devil2devil, ASU's private social network -- check out its comprehensive directory.
Baylor University: Staying connected at Baylor is easy through its Facebook (with more than 40,000 likes), Twitter (it's ranked the fifth most influential college there), iTunesU and RSS feeds along with its comprehensive social media directory.
Berklee College of Music: In addition to its All Things Social Media page, the college features the Berklee Music Network, an online music community open to students, alumni and faculty of the school for musicians to collaborate, find employment and obtain equipment.
Birmingham City University: With a thriving social media scene, through its School of Media the university offers an M.A. program in social media that explores techniques and more.
Boston University: Two aspects of this school's social media network are BUniverse, a video community, and BU Today, a news and information site containing lectures, student and faculty shorts, videos and more.
Brown University: Through its social media menu, you can learn about and connect to sites people at Brown maintain on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, iTunes U and LinkedIn.
Butler University: Butler boasts more than 35 Twitter accounts (including one for its bulldog mascot), nine blogs and 13 Facebook pages.
Carnegie Mellon University: You'll find the university on many social media channels -- Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, YouTube, iTunes U, Flickr -- providing the most recent content from the campus community.
College of William and Mary: This college's Social Stream, divided into Official, Official-ish and Unofficial categories, links you to numerous sites on Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, foursquare, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogs.
Columbia University: The school hosts several social media accounts including Columbia Magazine, has a social media club, offers social media workshops and offers an MBA program with a focus on social media as a marketing strategy.
Dartmouth: The college is quite active in social media, with several blogs, Facebook pages, Twitter tweets, YouTube videos and Flickr photos -- its directory lets you zero in on what you're looking for.
DePaul University: Some of this school's social media outreach includes its Spirit Flickr group, Demon Tracks blog and alumni communities on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
Drury University: Drury's social media certification program, worth three graduate credits and delivered via on-site and webinar classes, trains students in the design and piloting of social media campaigns.
Duke University: Through social media at Duke, you can learn about events, athletics, news, lectures and more; watch favorite school videos; and interact with faculty and fellow students.
Emerson College: This college's online community that spans Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr and ProArts Connect runs deep, with involvement of students, faculty, organizations and departments.
Excelsior College: A concentration within the college's MBA program, Social Media Management, teaches students skills for building Internet communities, online branding and creating content.
Florida International University: Along with offering social media workshops, FIU uses various platforms -- YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Tumblr and foursquare -- that its business school won a national award for; the university also offers social media workshops.
Full Sail University: As part of its campus-based and online degree programs, this school offers a handful of social media-related courses, including "Distribution Channels & Social Media Presence," "Social Media Optimization" and "Social Media and Online Community Engagement."
Harvard: The school's social media dashboard and directory allows for easy browsing of tweets, posts and videos on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, Google+, StumbleUpon and foursquare.
Ithaca College: Its online presence encompasses Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, foursquare, blogs and myIthaca, a community of new students; most are accessible right from its home page.
Johns Hopkins University: With contributions from academic departments, athletics, alumni, even the registrar, the university is prominent on the social web through outposts like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, iTunes U, Google+, blogs and others.
Louisiana State University: A highlight of LSU's social media campaign is tweets by Mike the Tiger, the official mascot of the LSU Tigers and "the baddest cat in the Twitterverse" (he has more than 9,000 followers).
New England College: This college's MBA in digital and social media, for part- and full-time professionals, helps them develop skills necessary for leadership roles.
Ohio State University: The school's official athletics mascot, Brutus Buckeye, provides official news from Buckeye sports; OSU also has accounts on Facebook, del.icio.us, Flickr and YouTube and an on-campus student social media group.
Penn State University: With a presence on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, particularly relating to athletics and alumni, the university boasts a social media club and hosts social media summits for employees.
Princeton University: Princeton deftly uses social media to encourage engagement, interaction and discourse and deliver news and information, particularly with its blogs and input on Twitter, YouTube, Wikipedia, Facebook and StumbleUpon.
Rutgers: Its mini-MBA in social media marketing addresses the issues surrounding the phenomenon and helps individuals and firms navigate social media for a competitive edge.
San Francisco State University: SFSU offers The Social Media Marketing program, a professional development certificate, requiring six courses that can be taken independently, too. Students learn social media skills, tools and strategies for the workplace.
Southern New Hampshire University: This school has an online MBA in social media marketing program that covers successful marketing strategies, research and targeting audiences.
Spelman College: Spelman not only uses social media in the classroom but also helps you get and remain connected, engaged and informed via its presence on major social media networks, particularly Facebook and Twitter.
Stanford University: At Stanford, once rated the most influential college on Twitter, students use foursquare to check in on spots around campus and have available to them social media classes like "Digital Media in Society" and "Legal Frontiers in Digital Media."
Syracuse University: The school posts on Twitter more than any other college, making it the second most influential college on that platform. Foursquare allows its community to make connections and exchange information.
Texas A&M University: This university has a robust social media presence and audience across various platforms. TAMUtimes, for example, is a collection of school bloggers who talk about campus, and student and academic life and experiences.
Tufts University: Keep track of Tufts on the social media web via its hub, which features links to its blogs in addition to its sites and pages on Facebook, foursquare, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter.
United States Military Academy: Check out the West Point Band on YouTube, recreational event photos on Flickr, Army Strong Stories on its blog, athletics info on Twitter and more than 20 pages on Facebook.
University of Alabama: UA uses the popular social networking tools to connect with students, faculty and staff, alumni, supporters and prospective students. Use them to get the latest information; interact with other students, alumni and staff; enjoy streaming video and audio content; and the like.
University of California, San Diego: UCSD has an extensive social media network that encompasses each individual college, several departments, the bookstores, alumni, the medical center, the Institute of Oceanography and lots more, on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.
University of California, Santa Barbara: Widely embracing social media, this school provides a huge list of UCSB-related social media sites, all with links, including alumni and Facebook groups, Flickr groups and profiles, and content on MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.
University of Florida: For students wanting to learn how to turn their social media expertise into a career opportunity, this school offers a Media & Society track for mass media majors.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: The university library is greatly involved in social media on Flickr, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, provides RSS feeds and maintains several blogs. The school in general has several blogs for students, housing, admissions and more.
University of Kentucky: Ranking high as a social media college, UKY employs Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr to communicate and build relationships with its varied audiences, even using Facebook Places and Pandora to reach out to prospective students.
University of Maine: Found on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Flickr, this school offers a social media course that teaches students how to use social networks to promote themselves and/or their businesses.
University of Miami: Several departments and divisions, including Student Life, Libraries and Alumni, have accounts on the most popular social networking sites -- Facebook, YouTube and Twitter -- and RSS feeds.
University of Michigan: At this university that's hired its first social media director, dozens of departments and groups use Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and RSS feeds to connect its populations with information and each other.
University of Mississippi: Keep up with Ole Miss on your favorite social networks; it has more than 35 Facebook pages and 15 Twitter feeds.
University of Notre Dame: Along with expansive adoption of social media like its Irish Alert text messaging, this university has an integrated marketing and communications agency, AgencyND, which helps you reach your audience through social media.
University of Oregon: This school has a presence on Facebook as well as Twitter where people follow The Oregon Duck, university admissions, the university itself, Oregon Duck Baseball and more.
University of Texas: A highlight of UT's use of social media is its use of UDiligence, software that helps monitor the social networking of the school's student athletes.
Vanderbilt University: VU boasts a photo album on Flickr; an iTunes U channel where students can download coursework, lectures, music, sports and more; an RSS feed for news; a YouTube channel for college videos and others.
