In 2011, the smartphone application Snapchat gave users a new way to communicate, with short messages that last for up to 10 seconds on the receiver’s screen before disappearing.

Now, colleges are taking advantage of Snapchat’s popularity and using it as a way to get in touch with students.

Tennessee Wesleyan College was the first of at least six universities and colleges in the U.S. to use Snapchat as a way of interacting with students, according to a March 31 Time magazine article. TWC debuted its Snapchat account in October.

These colleges use their Snapchat accounts to promote various events happening on campus and rally support for sports teams, according to the article. Some use their accounts to offer giveaways to students. TWC also used it to reach out to new students, providing hints for an on-campus scavenger hunt during an orientation day.

Brittany Shope, college editor and web coordinator at TWC, said that the college is exploring more ways to use its Snapchat account in admissions, but has been using it to reach out to current students in many ways.

“I really just started using it for sending little reminders or videos from events on campus, any messages from departments,” Shope said. “It was really more initially used for kind of fun communications, which I think is what Snapchat is for.”

According to TWC’s Public Relations Plan, the Snapchat account is used to “interact visually with audience video news briefs, announcements, engaging contests, etc. “

Shope said that the college has about 60–70 Snapchat friends. She said sometimes students will reply to the Snapchats she sends, but more often they just receive the messages without replying.

Shope said Snapchat is different than the other forms of social media the college uses, namely Facebook and Twitter, because the message may not last as long but is more personal.

“I know prospective students enjoy when the college Twitter tweets back at them and the Snapchat is just another way to personalize that communication and make those students, specifically those prospective students, feel that not only are they choosing Tennessee Wesleyan, but Tennessee Wesleyan has chosen them,” Shope said.

Since Snapchat users are identified only by username, it is difficult to designate which groups receive which messages, she said. For example, it is hard to distinguish between prospective students and current ones when trying to send a message to only one of those lists.

Shope added that it is important for colleges and universities to not be afraid of using social media to get in touch with students. She said that institutions should be willing to try out new social media outlets and see if those outlets work for them, just as TWC is doing with Snapchat.

“If someone is really considering coming to our college, they’re going to go to our Facebook page and see what our students are saying on that page or look at pictures of other students because if they can look at pictures and see students engaging in activities or winning awards in academics they can visualize themselves there,” Shope said.

She added that other institutions can also benefit from taking advantage of social media.

Said Shope: “That’s really the future of higher education communications is utilizing free platforms like social media platforms to show your college story, to show who you are as an institution to those audiences out there.”

Published on April 17, 2014 at 2:00 am

Contact: clmoran@syr.edu