Every University, collage and school should have a social media policy, not only to cover safety, security and raise awareness of all the pitfalls and problems of social media, but to promote the positive use of social media to help with job hunting and careers advice.
I also believe that Educators should have sufficient familiarity with LinkedIn and other social media, together with the implications for career and employment, for their own benefit and to be able to support learners to use it for their studies and career development.
With the introduction of University pages on LinkedIn and the announcement that from September the age limit will be lowered to 13 (in the UK) it made me think again about the way people use the different types of profile. Something which I find annoying is when people don’t understand the difference between personal profiles and Company pages (read my previous post) , now with new University pages it could get even more confusing.
So I looked at LinkedIn to find what they had to say on the subject.
‘University Pages is the destination on LinkedIn for your school to market itself and build a community. It’s a place to showcase what makes your institution special – academically, socially, and culturally. You can have conversations with the audiences interested in your school, including alumni, current students, parents, prospective students, and even employers, faculty, or donors.
Company Pages is the place for your school to brand itself as an employer. Administrators of Company Pages can share employment opportunities, updates relating to the business, and highlight products and services. Learn more about Company Pages.’
This means that there are now at least three reasons for Universities and higher educationalists to understand LinkedIn; to have effective personal profiles, to have appropriate profiles for their University, School or Collage and to give relevant support and advice to students.
University pages will allow prospective students and parents to do the same for their education, while gaining valuable working knowledge of LinkedIn. Students (and parents) can use LinkedIn to research careers and employers, network, initiate and participate in discussions, get introductions and even apply for jobs.
Connect with me if you would like more assistance with social media policy or creating a University page
Catherine's Social Media Blog 