Prospective students choose college websites over social media for info, survey reveals
This past April, more than 4,300 high school seniors were surveyed by Maguire Associates and Fastweb.com in the 2012 Annual College Decision Impact Survey. The survey was specifically targeted to learn about what factors, such as social media and college Web sites, affect where they apply to school. Unsurprisingly, the survey revealed that 7 out of 10 students who responded said they go first to college web sites to find information about degree programs, costs, and admission application deadlines.
The survey also finds:
- Students go to college Web sites, Web sites that aggregate information about colleges, and student review sites first;
- Nine out of 10 students said they use Facebook and YouTube to find college information; and
- Approximately half of those surveyed said they use third-party sites such as College Board and College Prowler.
- Seventy-five percent said they would like to get in touch with a current student on Facebook, and 10 percent indicated that they would use Facebook to contact a faculty member;
- Sixty-six percent of participants reported using social media to look for scholarships;
- Fifty-seven percent said they have viewed a college YouTube video; and
- Forty-nine percent reported “friending” or “liking” a college’s social networking platform.
“As prospective students have more online resources to use, colleges and universities need more sophisticated online strategies for communicating with them at every touch point,” said Kim Reid, vice president for research operations at Maguire Associates. “Success here rests on understanding how and when students use the Web and social media and then prioritizing institutional efforts to meet those needs. It’s all part of a much larger digital strategy.”
