Posts filed under 'PEW'

Two Great Studies

I know all of you are doing a great job at testing your site visitors on a regular basis through one-on-one usability tests, focus groups, and open feedback. But it is always nice to compare your site visitors with the general population. Pew has been providing great statistics for the past five years, but there are two higher education studies that have come out that need a quick peek.

  • E-expectations. This ongoing study, by Noel-Levitz, James Tower, and NRCCUA, touches on the effectiveness of social networking, text and IM use, and online activities. A couple statistics of note: only 33% of prospects have used Facebook or MySpace to connect with current students; 27% have read a current student blog; and 44-49% would accept a text message from a college. This study focuses on how your prospective students want to be communicated with. It is important to remember that their entire online experience with you is not at your .edu.
  • The Game Has Changed. This study, by UMass-Dartmouth and Eric Mattson, centers around the comfort level of online communication in admissions offices across the country. Their theory is that colleges and universities are adapting to social networks and online communication more quickly than corporations. I think this has to do with audience focus (of course), but let’s pat ourselves on the back for a second. Some interesting notes: 51% of admissions offices see online tools (blogs, message boards, social networking, online video, podcasting, and wikis) as “very important”; and individual student research is starting to sprinkle into admissions (26% use search engines and 21% use social networks to review a student…scary).

The rule, as always, is to take this research and compare it to your own information, but these two studies give a glimpse into both sides of the table: prospective students’ communication preferences and admission departments’ ability to adapt.

Happy reading.

Eric Hodgson
Content Management Consultant
hodgson.eric@gmail.com

Add comment September 3rd, 2007