Universities Ill Prepared for Social Media Crises

By Kevin Richart

While social media has become ingrained in our culture, a recent study has shown that many universities are not prepared to deal with the crises that may result from these new modes of communication.

Rick Ginsberg, dean of Kansas University’s School of Education, co-wrote the study which surveyed deans at research institutions across the country and found a varying landscape of policies, support, and preparedness for social media use.

The survey focused on six areas:

• Whether institutions had social media policies in place
• If their institution had policies to deal with social media crises
• If they had policies or practices for recognizing social media responses to scholarly work in promotion and tenure processes
• If they used social media to promote research
• If they had social media incidents involving students, faculty, or research or staff members
• If their institution provided professional development for handling social media incidents

Effective Use of Social Media

But despite the existing policies, there have been a growing number of negative incidents at these universities. The survey results show a need for better policies, but more importantly, ongoing training and professional support, and a need to be savvy with social media to reach today's students.

“What I learned is no campus is ready for a social media crisis,” Ginsberg said. “Everybody knows they have to be on social media, but what they don't know is how to handle the fallout if something bad happens. It's a great way to get the word out and share good news, but it's so ubiquitous, and there's a very blurry line between what works and what doesn't.”

More than half of the respondents said their institution had a policy to cover social media, and only about a third had established procedures to deal with related crises.

Survey Findings

Knowing that, the majority of survey respondents fell into two of four categories the researchers created for level of preparedness: no policy or minimal guidance.

The other two categories were expanded guidance and guidance and support. A surprising number of the policies were created to protect the university's brand and did not take into account assisting the university's employees, Ginsberg said.

The findings show that, while nearly everyone realizes the importance and potential of social media, few in higher education have figured out how to take advantage of its strengths while simultaneously guarding against its weaknesses.

What Happens Next?

The authors of the study recommend strengthening policies, but more importantly, offering ongoing training and professional development ;for researchers, faculty, and staff in its use.

While very few institutions recognize social media use and response to faculty sharing and promoting their work, doing so will only become more important as it becomes a more common practice.

Despite the potential for negative headlines, campus unrest, and harassment of students and employees, social media savvy is more important than ever. But social media savvy is more important than ever. And perhaps more to the point, today’s college students have never known a word without social media.

“If we're not on top of, how do we connect with this generation of students?" Ginsberg said. "If we're going to attract students to our institutions, how do we do that if we can't connect with them?"