Social Media Savvy

College students are the most essential early adopters in the world of social media. Not only are they among the most tech savvy, but their close living environment can make or break the viral viability of a product, artist, or celebrity.
 
Here are 10 schools that are using social media to their advantage, engaging and utilizing their student audience.
 
1 – Drury University
Though a smaller, lesser-known university, Drury is one of the few schools in the country to offer a Social Media Certificate Program.  They also have an excellent presence on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, including a recently revamped and beautified Facebook page (think it’s cool? Check out this video from Drury’s YouTube account showing how it was made), proving that you don’t have to be a big school to have a huge impact in social media.

2 – Emerson College
It was the perfect college tour. On Veterans Day 2010, hundreds of Emerson students took part in this six-minute  Lady Gaga lipdub that not only generated one million views on YouTube, but showcased the facilities, clubs and even the quidditch team. Emerson's Social Media class is not only one of the most coveted on campus, but it was also profiled in The Wall Street Journal. And let's not forget the #jackiessecret hashtag when it came time for President Jackie Leibergott to announce that she was stepping down from her post at the end of the academic year.
 
3 – Harvard
Sure, the birthplace of Facebook is hard to beat, but that’s not the only reason Harvard’s on our list. Professor Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, was one of the first social media researchers (when others thought it was just a fad) and now teaches his own case studies to students at Harvard Business School.  This is where social media started, and this is where it continues, as most Harvard schools are actively present on networking sites. And let’s not forget the Harvard Business Review, which was named as one of the ‘Best 140 Twitter Feeds’ by TIME Magazine.
 
4 – University of Kentucky
UK recently revamped their English and Composition classes to include social media, saying that they want students to have “the social media skills necessary to function in today’s workplace.” UK is also getting creative with their beautiful See Blue website, which makes it easy for prospective students to get a feel for the university online and provides clear links to all platforms of the UK social media presence. And let’s not forget Big Blue athletics, which features a great social media directory, spotlighted by men’s basketball coach John Calipari and his 1.1 million followers on Twitter.

5 – Johns Hopkins
Hopkins stands out with their Hopkins Interactive site, which includes links to all major social media sites along with blogs from current students and admissions officers.  Prospective students can easily access any information they might want here—and even some they don’t want!  Almost every school has a twitter, including SAIS, the international school that Hopkins partners with.  And the school uses social media in creative ways, like when the School of Public Health asked people to contribute injury stories for National Public Health week.
 
6 – New York University
NYU students took the reins with their social media use when four students created Diaspora*, a site that is supposed to be similar to Facebook, but offers more choice and control over privacy settings.  Another student, Crystal Bell, recently completed her senior thesis on social networking in the LGBT community. Students can also take a class called Music Recommendation and Discovery, which discusses music and the influence of social networking sites. 

7 – Boston University
Not many schools go as far as creating their own social media site, but BU has done just that with BUniverse, a kind of school-specific YouTube.  All members of the BU community can post, watch and share videos on the site.  In fact, BU is working so hard to stay up-to-date in the social media world that the Washington Post took notice. The team behind BU’s social media presence even put together a list of BU hashtags and their meanings.

8 – Stanford University
Located in Silicon Valley, Stanford makes sure you’re prepared for a job in the computer industry with classes like Digital Media in Society, Virtual Communities and Social Media, and the Psychology of Social Media.  You can also learn how to program iPhone and iPad applications.  While they’re teaching you how to use your social media, Stanford also is making the most of its own with homepage links to rarer social media sites such as iTunesU and Futurity.
 
9 – American University
Looking for an expert in social media?  American has plenty thanks to the Center for Social Media, located right on campus and full of staff members often interviewed by the press.  American also has a student-run chapter of the Social Media club, which recently hosted a Social Learning Summit featuring lectures like “Peace through Tweet” and “Practice Safe Text.”

10 – Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon takes the cake for best organization of social media with an excellent dashboard that displays not only Facebook and Twitter feeds, but also restaurant and public transportation information.  At CMU, students can take classes like Measurement and Analysis of Social Media and partake in the Classroom Salon, a social media site where students and teachers can work together to edit papers.