W&M earns silver for social media innovation
Collegesurfing.com has named William & Mary as one of the top 50 social media innovators in higher education in its first-ever "Web 2.0 College Olympics." Ranked as 24th on the list, the College falls into the "silver medal" category along with the likes of Boston University (12th), Princeton University (23rd) and Dartmouth College (26th).
According to the Web site, William & Mary earned the silver medal placement in part due to its use of the University Relations' Twitter site to popularize the video of students breaking the "Thriller" dance record last year. The site also gives kudos to the College's student bloggers: "Prospective and current students can also gain lots of insight into the school by reading the numerous student blogs."Offices around William & Mary use numerous social media outlets to promote the College, including Flickr, LinkedIn and my1693. The aforementioned University Relations Twitter site currently has 2,768 followers. The William & Mary Twitter site, operated by the Office of Creative Services, is also very popular, with 2,580 current followers. Creative Services also operates the school's Facebook page, which currently boasts 13,556 fans. The two offices also operate the William & Mary and the William & Mary News YouTube pages. A listing of more social media sites utilized by offices around the College may be found at http://www.wm.edu/communities/.
According to its site, Collegesurfing.com "allows visitors to research, find, and request information from more than 900 educational institutions and 3,500 campuses offering thousands of degree and certificate programs." It is part of The CollegeBound Network, which has connected learners with education opportunities since 1987, according to its Web site.
