Colleges and universities are using social media, especially social networking sites, not only to recruit but also to research prospective students. It is clear that online behavior can have important consequences for young people and that these tools can, and will, be utilized by others to make decisions about them. Schools are now adopting an array of relatively new social media tools like Instagram, Pinterest, and Foursquare and are demonstrating a more strategic approach to their online communications. In addition, top school administrators have taken to social media to communicate with current and perspective students.

This report was originally distributed by the Society for New Communications Research, which officially merged with The Conference Board in January 2016.