Education

Enlarge By John Doman, via AP University of Minnesota football coach Tim Brewster keeps recruits and any others interested updated on his Gopher program through the microblogging/social-networking site Twitter.  REPORTER'S BLOG More on higher education: USA TODAY's Mary Beth Marklein offers insight on college admissions, classes and trends, and she wants to hear from you

Consider the following, based on surveys of hundreds of colleges by the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth:

•Only 15% last year said they did not use social media, down from 39% the previous year.

•The number of colleges using social networking sites and or putting video on their blogs more than doubled from 2007 to 2008.

•41% of colleges said they used blogs in admissions, well above the 16% of marketing departments of large companies that use blogs.

There also was a dip in the number of colleges using social networking sites to research potential students: 17% did last year vs. 21% in 2007.

Center director Nora Ganim Barnes says students should think twice about posting damaging material online but adds that none of the colleges said every applicant was checked. More typically, colleges were interested in candidates for scholarships or entry into programs with limited spaces.

"Colleges and universities are not trying to be punitive. They're trying to protect themselves," Barnes says. "No school wants to give out a prestigious scholarship and then find a picture with a (recipient) with a lamp on the head."

The effectiveness of social media tools in recruiting students is not clear, but a paper released today by the National Association for College Admission Counseling, a non-profit group based in Arlington, Va., suggests the topic deserves attention.

"Social media tools, like Facebook, Twitter and blogs, are key to communicating with this generation of students," says Joyce Smith, the group's CEO.