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"Top 10 Most Social Media-Savvy Universities\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n1. Harvard University\n\nHarvard -- which has more than 1.6 million fans on Facebook and 107,000 Twitter followers -- posts everything from news about its latest research to video footage of its men's basketball team winning the Ivy League championship.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n2. University of Pennsylvania\n\nThe University of Pennsylvania encourages students to follow the school on various platforms to keep up with its latest news.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology\n\nMIT not only posts research articles and updates on social media sites, it has a wide variety of Twitter handles, from @MIT_Alumni and @MITSloan to @Medialab and @TechReview.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n4. University of Michigan\n\nThe University of Michigan interacts with the Twitter community and often sends messages directly to students. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n5. Stanford University\n\nStanford University adds pictures to its Twitter account to give the community a good feel of the campus culture.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n6. University of California, Berkeley\n\nThe University of California, Berkeley interacts with its fans and followers by asking its social media communities engaging questions.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n7. University of Oxford\n\nAlthough U.K.-based universities aren't as active on social media sites compared to those in the U.S., Oxford University has nearly 500,000 fans on Facebook.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n8. University of Sheffield\n\nThe University of Sheffield in the U.K. posts various videos on YouTube to give potential students a better look into what to expect at the school.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n9. University of Wisconsin, Madison\n\nThe University of Wisconsin, Madison also interacts with its students and community via Twitter and Facebook.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n10. University of Texas -- Austin\n\nThe University of Texas, Austin doesn't have its Facebook Timeline set up yet, though it is still very active on the site. It posts videos, news and pictures to its various platforms.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHarvard University is at the head of the class when it comes to using social media to connect with students, potential applicants and the community, beating out University of Pennsylvania and MIT for the top spot.\nSocial media consulting company Sociagility revealed a list of which of the 25 highest-ranked universities in both the U.S. and UK are best at using social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Sociagility selected which schools to analyze based on the 2011 - 2012 Times Higher Education World University Rankings.\nThe results are determined by how each school attracted attention to its social media pages \u2014 based on site traffic, followers, views and engagement \u2014 as well as receptiveness to listening to comments, interaction, network reach and trust. Here are the top 10:\n\nHarvard\nUniversity of Pennsylvania\nMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)\nUniversity of Michigan\nStanford University\nUniversity of California, Berkeley\nUniversity of Oxford\nUniversity of Sheffield\nUniversity of Wisconsin, Madison\nUniversity of Texas at Austin\n\nHarvard \u2014 which has more than 1.6 million fans on Facebook and 107,000 Twitter followers \u2014 posts everything from news about its latest research to video footage of its men's basketball team winning the Ivy League championship. Meanwhile, MIT manages a variety of Twitter accounts to spread updates, from @MIT_Alumni and @MITSloan to @Medialab and @TechReview.\n\nSEE ALSO: 9 Ways Students Can Use Social Media to Boost Their Careers\nAccording to research from the Office for National Statistics, people between the ages of 16 and 24 are the most connected group in history, and visiting social networking sites takes up a lot of their time. So universities are ramping up efforts to connect more with this demographic on social media platforms.\nAlthough U.S.-based universities dominated the top ten, two British schools made the list: University of Oxford and University of Sheffield. The report indicates that UK-based universities might be missing out on student recruiting opportunities. \n\"It must be acknowledged that many of the U.S. institutions dominating the rankings are very large and very well-funded compared to their U.K. counterparts, and that sheer size and volume of activity may boost some individual attribute scores, like 'popularity' and 'network.' Success breeds success,\" Sociagility said in the report.\nDo you think it's important for universities to connect with students and the community via social media? Which schools do you think are doing it best? Let us know in the comments."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2012/03/30/universities-social-media-savvy/>