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Social Networking
[Your College Here] Wants to Be Your 'Friend'
9/6/2007
INTO THEIR OWN HANDS
MARS HILL COLLEGE, a small liberal arts school in North Carolina, is encouraging
its students to generate their own news content and broadcast it online, to help
raise the awareness of the school. The effort launched in 2006 as a marketing experiment
on YouTube and "was very successful," says Andy Mrozkowski,
webmaster of admissions and marketing. "We had many colleges
like Duke University [NC] follow our lead and duplicate our
YouTube channel with their own videos." But after YouTube
removed a video and the college ran into a conflict with Viacom
International, "We decided we wanted to host our own videos,
and have more control over how they were presented. For example,
YouTube might display our video next to a banner for an
online correspondence college." By creating the school's tvMHC streaming video site, however, "we gave ourselves
ultimate control over how our material was presented." Today, tvMHC is an
online, on-campus television program operated by Mars Hill students where any site
visitor can view clips filmed by the college's students, and find out more about campus
life at the school. Students simply check out video cameras from the media center
and become on-the-scene reporters, querying campus community members
about classes, relationships, technology, fashion, dating, music, and more. "Since
we started producing a weekly half-hour news show, we've had great participation
from students," explains Mrozkowski. Now all administrators have to do is determine
how many 2007-2008 prospects found or chose Mars Hill because of its
compelling coverage.
With the Good, Comes the Bad
As the new generation of students enters school expecting forms of online social networking, offline social networking is sure to take a hit, say campus pros. "I see [online social networking] replacing a lot of the face-to-face contact between students and staff, and that is unfortunate," says Mrozkowski. Virtual tours and video blogs from admissions counselors are starting to replace a lot of that face-to-face interaction, he admits. "On the positive side, we have had the opportunity to reach students who may never have thought about Mars Hill College, and each one who decides to attend makes the project worthwhile," he says.
There is also the issue of quality versus quantity: Not just anyone can be part of these institution-managed social networks, so many of the website administrators filter who legitimately can be admitted to the "friends" list (generally limited to prospective and current students).
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