Over the last 8 years, Facebook has played a pivotal role in higher ed. While it’s beginning was just with current college students, Facebook now plays an influential role in a student’s transition from their high-school network and into their new college community.

In a recent sample of 163 colleges we found 50% of them are using a Class of 2016 community to allow students to meet one another, ask questions, and discuss life before they step foot on campus.

While this is a best practice for universities looking to build community and improve yield, rarely do we hear exactly what students are talking about, which conversations are most engaging, and how the medium affects the message.

In order to shed light on these qualitative aspects, we analyzed a dozen Facebook Pages and Groups for the incoming Class of 2016 at private universities in the U.S. Below is a summary of our key takeaways.

What Do Students Talk About?

Since there’s no easy way for students to find future classmates by specific commonalities (i.e., major, hobbies, etc.), many rely on “introduction posts.” We found that the majority of posts by students dealt with their hometown and intended major(s). Whether it was a school-affiliated or third-party Page/Group, these topics were the most common way for students to reach out and make an initial connection.

What’s Engaging?

An “engaged post” had five or more comments. Some of the most engaged posts were written byconfused students trying to find more information about orientation, registration, and housing, but these posts were not always getting responses.

It’s important to monitor student communities to ensure important questions are answered, whether it be by a current student, other admit or administrator. These mediums are about letting students open up and meet future classmates, but also responding when appropriate. Remember, there’s a fine line between not enough and too much administrator involvement. We observed one school’s Page with very little student-to-student interaction. After looking at the activity, the administrator responded to almost every single post, leading us to believe that the omnipresent school administrator turned students off from using the Page.

Does the Medium Affect the Message?

Although our sample size was small, we discovered significant differences between the types of posts that appeared on Pages vs. Groups, as well as what students shared on official school-sponsored communities vs. a student-started or 3rd-party-created page.

Key for graphs:

• Affirmative decision – stating their decision to enroll in the university
• Dorms – discussing the freshman dorms on campus
• Excitement – expressing their excitement about attending the university
• Introduction – introducing themselves to future classmates
• Hometown – finding others in the same hometown or region
• Major – sharing their intended major
• Roommate – students trying to find roommates

The Group format is more conducive to conversation and thus more likely to engage students.

Not only did conversations differ in each community, but engagement as well. We noticed that 87% of comments and 64% of likes on posts occurred in Groups. However, many schools had Pages for students as opposed to either open or private Groups. When creating a Class of 2016 Page or Group, schools must determine what they plan to accomplish and then monitor the community to determine whether they are moving in the right direction.

Continuing the Facebook Fun

Something to keep in mind, just because a college created a Page or Group does not mean that all the conversations were happening there. Students did not care who started the Page or Group; they just wanted a way to connect with their classmates by finding something in common – majors, hometowns, or interests.

Did your university use a Class of 2016 community this past year? We’d love to hear what trends you are seeing and be sure to check out our upcoming webinar the State of Facebook in AdmissionsTuesday May 22nd with our latest research findings and best practices to create meaningful and measurable connections on Facebook.

Photo Credit: Flickrverse by cobalt123

This post was written by Gabe Sanchez