Colleges shouldn’t get into a "social-media-channel arms race" when communicating with prospective students — unless they want to waste time and money.
That’s one conclusion in a new white paper, "Mythbusting Admissions," that provides a nuanced analysis of how well teenagers’ behavior matches up with the perceptions of those who recruit them. In short, what some admissions officials think they know about today’s app-happy, ever-texting applicants is not quite right.
Consider this oft-heard statement: "Facebook is dead to teens." A third of admissions officials believe it’s true, the paper says. Yet two-thirds of teenagers consider Facebook the most valuable form of social media they used when researching colleges.