Using Social Media for Learning
The power of social media comes from its ubiquity and its ease of use, making the various social media platforms ideal ways to engage students in learning outside the classroom or learning management system (LMS). This can make learning a much more immediate, 24/7 kind of experience.
Using Social Media to Support University Branding
Timothy Cigelske, currently the social media director for Marquette University, discovered the power of social media in his previous life as a journalist. “I stumbled on social media as a way to research stories; it’s a useful reporting tool,” he says. Years later, both he and social media have matured, and Cigelske currently runs Marquette’s social media endeavors with the help of four interns.
Having a social media presence is no longer unique for an institution of higher education, but Marquette’s reach and consistency of message set it apart. The university has a presence on 10 different social media platforms (see http://www.marquette.edu/social/) with the addition of Snapchat, and all of the communications support the university’s mission.