Professors and departments increase use of social media

It’s getting easier and easier to keep track of UNC online.

You can like it on Facebook and you can follow it on Twitter.

And it’s not the only university whose social media presence is on the rise.

Professors and administrators nationwide are creating Twitter accounts, and academic departments are launching Facebook fan pages to increase communication with students and even, in some cases, to assign homework.

A survey conducted by Faculty Focus, an online resource for higher education professionals, found that of the 1,372 college faculty members surveyed, more than a third — 35.2 percent — use Twitter in some capacity, a 30.7 percent increase from last year’s survey.

At the first UNC Board of Trustees meeting Wednesday, Jean Folkerts, dean of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, is scheduled to give a presentation on the merits of using social media websites.

UNC’s academic departments have already taken steps to improve their online presence, and Folkerts’ presentation could further advance those measures.

Department of Public Safety spokesman Randy Young said the department created a Facebook page in August to expand access to its breaking news website.

“The fact that it is used by such a large percentage of the University’s population, and the population in general makes it a valuable tool,” Young said.

He said the page is used to inform fans of anything from traffic jams to emergency siren tests.

The University’s official Facebook page has more than 54,700 fans, making it a useful tool for communicating with students, said Courtney Mitchell, the publications services editor who manages the University’s Facebook page.

“We’re coming to where you are,” Mitchell said.

The page was launched last October, with the first official post coming out on University Day, Oct. 12, 2009.

Students can also follow University updates on Twitter.

The official account has more than 2,700 followers and tweets news from various departments, Alert Carolina updates and stories from the UNC home page.

Scott Jared, the director of web content, said the decision to create a UNC Twitter account came when administrators realized how popular social media had become.

“You couldn’t escape seeing Twitter mentioned in the media,” he said. “We thought it would be a good thing to try.”

While use of Twitter by college faculty has increased across the board, the survey found that higher education experts are still unsure of its advantages in the classroom.

Educators were more likely to use the social media site to share information with peers rather than as a learning tool in the classroom.

UNC journalism professor Andy Bechtel said that he started using Twitter in February 2009 to collaborate with other professors.

He also began instructing students in his editing class about the uses of Twitter as an effective news medium, he said.

Bechtel said his students complete an assignment in which they pretend to be an intern for their hometown newspaper or TV station and tweet news online.

“Students really enjoy this assignment, which I’ve found interesting,” he said.

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.