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Interview
Social Networking: The New Face of Recruiting
A Q&A with Brad Ward, electronic communication coordinator for Butler University, on new methods for reaching prospective students
3/6/2008
Briggs: In some ways, you seem the face of the future of college recruiting--in that you're starting to use these electronic tools effectively.
Ward: We're getting there. When I came on board, we didn't have the bloggers, the forums, or any of that, so that was my job.... I would say we're doing well. We have a ways to go. I don't know what the definition of cutting edge is for admissions because I think in general most departments are behind.
Briggs: Because they're not using social networking and other online tools as effectively as they could be?
Ward: Right. [Another problem is], in terms of YouTube and sites [like it], there's not yet a defined metric of what is successful. If we put these videos up on YouTube, was that worth it? There's nothing to measure this stuff with yet.
That makes it a little tougher when we try and pitch these new sites and new ways to recruit. Hopefully, in the near future, we'll all start to be able to define what success is and whether it's worth it to be on Facebook and those kinds of sites.
Ward blogs about his recruiting efforts here.
Linda L. Briggs is a freelance writer based in San Diego, Calif.
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