Here’s a Snapchat story: College students love taking selfies, and universities are using the new social media to recruit them.
Tennessee Wesleyan College and the University of Michigan have started using Snapchat, an app that allows users to take a picture or video to send to friends, as a social media platform to recruit and keep in touch with students.
Bruce Floyd, social media specialist for university relations, said that there isn’t a plan at this time for UF to use Snapchat.
“We’re focused on optimizing accounts that we already have,” Floyd said. “It takes time to review and execute for better platforms.”
UF’s Twitter profile has 66,000 followers, and UF’s Facebook profile has more than 544,000 likes, with the numbers growing daily.
The best way to use social media as a platform, Floyd said, is to present content that encourages people to like and share information.
“Our goal is to align our wants and needs with our fan base,” Floyd said.
Traditional recruiting tactics, such as billboards, mailers and print advertisements, are more likely to connect with parents, Cleveland.com reported.
Alexandra Giordano, a 20-year-old UF anthropology sophomore, said she isn’t sure how Snapchat would function with so many people having access to the application.
“It’s such a short-term thing. The picture disappears after 10 seconds, and then it’s gone,” Giordano said. “I’d rather look at Facebook because if I forget, I can look up information.”
[A version of this story ran on page 3 on 4/11/2014 under the headline "UF won’t follow other universities’ Snapchat-recruiting techniques"]
Emma Neagu, a 19-year-old UF telecommunication junior, takes a selfie using Snapchat on Thursday morning in Weimer Hall. The app is becoming a recruiting tool.
