I serve on the Board of Trustees for Villa Academy, a private independent school in Seattle educating children in kindergarten through the eighth grade. In the past several months, I have been thinking about how Facebook could be used by Villa and other elementary and middle schools to help them achieve their top objectives.
I began brainstorming by reviewing a New York Times article that highlighted how small businesses are using Facebook. After all, if small businesses are benefiting from social media, why can’t schools?
As I pondered this, I came up with a list of reasons schools should have a presence on Facebook. I also conducted some research to see how other schools are using Facebook and Twitter. Here are my conclusions.
Facebook provides schools with a powerful opportunity to achieve the following:
1) Communicate about school activities. Facebook can be used to publicize information about school events / performances or highlight the progress of particular classes.
2) Build community and school spirit. Social media is an excellent vehicle for community building as it allows people to engage with other parents, administrators and alumni.
3) Motivate people to donate time and money to the school. School’s can leverage Facebook to make appeals for support.
4) Support school admission goals and publicize open houses. As schools look to expand awareness of the breadth and depth of academic programs, Facebook can be another resource for them to showcase information.
5) Stay connected with alumni. Many alumni are interested in the happenings of their schools. By creating a Facebook page, there is an opportunity to stay engaged with former students and employees of the school.
6) Stay current on how technology is changing the way we communicate and collaborate. After all, teaching the Facebook generation is going to require some firsthand experience of the 21st century tools they use.
7) Monitor what is being said about the school. Social media is an excellent way to gain feedback from key constituents and get a sense of the general sentiment of an educational institution.
Consider Denver Academy, which is a private school focused on educating children in first through 12th grades with learning differences. Administrators of the school are using both Facebook and Twitter – in addition to its Web site updates and e-newsletters – to inform its community of the latest news and events.
According to Bridget O’Toole, PR and communications coordinator at the school, the use of social media has been well received by parents and students alike. “We have received a lot of positive feedback about our use of Twitter and Facebook. Parents, alumni and prospective families all enjoy visiting our Facebook Fan Page as it provides them with a way to learn more about our community and school activities. It is an easy and hassle free way for us to share information about school activities and build awareness of our unique academic programs.”
While Facebook provides many organizations with tremendous opportunity, it is not without its risks and challenges. For instance, Facebook has a policy that children under the age of 13 are prohibited from having accounts, but it does little to enforce the policy. So what is a school administrator to do when a child under 13 wants to become a friend?
To provide more control over comments and content posted, as well as to avoid dealing with the underage “friending” issue, Denver Academy uses a Facebook Fan Page. A Fan Page is not the same as an individual profile page. It is simply a page where an organization (company or nonprofit) can post information, applications, photos or videos.
Also, contrary to an individual profile which limits you to 5,000 friends, a Fan Page allows for an unlimited amount of fans.
The bigger the fan base, the more the page will be viewed. When people become a fan of a page, it shows up on their personal wall and is visible to their friends. Friends can then click on the alert and immediately be taken to the Fan Page.
Fan Pages also allow you to place a varied amount of security settings. This gives you the freedom to make your posts as public or private as you want.
With regard to people posting comments on the Fan Page, O’Toole acknowledges, “We actively monitor our Facebook page and delete any comments we deem inappropriate. Thus far, the benefits of the page have far outweighed the risks.”
Twitter also has served as a highly beneficial means of communication for the Denver Academy. O’Toole commented on the ease of setting up the site. “The beauty of twitter is its simplicity and straight-to-the-point format,” she said. ”Our followers can go to the page and see everything the school has tweeted about.”
Finally, O’Toole explains, once the school created its Fan Page and Twitter handle, it posted links on its Web site and e-newsletter and began noticing an increase in both parent and alumni involvement with its social media pages.
So whether you are looking to increase enrollment at your school, or simply stay engaged with parents and alumni, using social media is an easy, free way to communicate.