ABSTRACT
Public communication has become more important to higher education institutions (HEIs), with many HEIs using social media to communicate with stakeholders. However, scholarship on the subject is scarce and mainly based on single-platform studies and small datasets. Therefore, we conducted a cross‐platform study to examine the communication of all Swiss HEIs on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. The results were based on two datasets: an automated analysis on data for all Swiss HEIs (n = 42) and their social media accounts from 2004 to 2021 (337,232 posts from 207 accounts), and a manual content analysis on 1,500 posts per platform. By including all HEIs in one country, this study allowed for a comparison of the results by HEI type: universities of applied sciences, universities of teacher education, and research universities. Results show that, in recent years, HEI communication increased on Instagram, but not on Facebook or Twitter. Twitter was used the most by research universities, while most Instagram and Facebook posts were from universities of applied sciences. Universities of teacher education were least active across all platforms. The content of communication across all HEI types was primarily self‐referential. Our analysis of how well HEIs used the affordances of social media communication relative to hypertextuality and multimodality revealed a generally high level of adaption. Moreover, our data showed no substantial impact of the Covid‐19 pandemic on posting activities and engagement with social media posts by HEIs for the two first years of the pandemic. © 2023 by the author(s);licensee Cogitatio Press (Lisbon, Portugal).
ABSTRACT
Major higher educational institutions exert efforts on social media to establish relationships with students, aspirants, alumni and other stakeholders. These efforts have been increased in the worldwide pandemic of COVID-19 as institutions are left only with social media channels as a medium to communicate and build their branding. Therefore, it is important to examine the various Facebook posts that become important for delivering the information and building a positive association with its stakeholders. The current study adopted the content analysis method to examine the various posts of the top 20 Indian universities during June 2020-November, 2020. The results revealed that university type, post category and post format were the important factors to increase the reachability (likes and shares) and engagement (comments and total engagement) of the post with its stakeholders during the above-stated period. Additionally, the posts in the category of events and announcements recorded the highest engagements. The current study also examined that the top relevant comments, content (positive sentiments and negative sentiments), gender, and users were not the factor in increasing engagement. This study provides strategies for universities to increase reachability and engagement concerning content creation and its format on social media platforms. © 2022. Transnational Press London. All Rights Reserved.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 raised concern for those spending time in college classrooms and dormitories. Students faced sudden changes to their lives and relied upon written messages for directives. This study investigated the language of university-based communications, based on models of crisis communication and epidemic management. METHODS: The Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count was used to investigate the language in the most salient written messages from universities to students regarding the migration to online classes. RESULTS: As predicted, certain word types were used more frequently than others. The larger the student body, the more frequently universities used positive emotion/resilience and power/organizational words. and the more likely a COVID update would be posted on the homepage within three months' time. CONCLUSION: Messages should be guided by models of crisis management and carefully crafted, given the role of universities in managing large numbers of students during ongoing pandemic illness.