Social Media: Could Ya, Should Ya, Would Ya?

By Diane Lambart Fleming. For several years I have been wrestling with social media as a means of communicating financial-aid information to enrolled students. Years ago colleges and universities depended on the printed word to provide information, request action by a student, or both. With the advent of e-mail, the printed word has become almost obsolete. Electronic communication became an acceptable and, more important, legal mode of communication, at least as far as the U.S. Department of Education was concerned. We have e-award letters, e-verification documents, e-satisfactory-academic-progress notifications, e-Master Promissory Notes, and more, all of which have received the blessing of the department.
Now, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are all the rage. We are told that students do not pay attention to letters or e-mails. Goodness, they don’t even answer their cellphones anymore! Unless one sends a message to a student via Facebook or Twitter, it will go ignored. Recently Pope Benedict XVI’s use of Facebook and Twitter was cited as the best way to communicate with the masses—or at least those who are technologically savvy. Read more...