Log in to reach out: Connecting with students through social media Kenli Urruty, Ph.D. Hannah Gammon, Psy.D. University of Colorado Boulder

Learning Objectives Describe trends in social media use for individuals ages Explain the utility of different forms of social media (e.g., Twitter, Instagram, Facebook). Apply data-supported strategies for incorporating social media into outreach initiatives on college and university campuses. Note: To our knowledge, there is no conflict of interest involved in this presentation.

Discussion Do you use social media at your counseling center? If so, what platforms do you use? Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Outreach at CU Boulder CAPS Community Psychology focus Peer Educator and Peer Volunteer Program 4 Peer Educators, 20+ Peer Volunteers Peer Educators develop and coordinate projects Bi-weekly training and planning meetings 3+ outreach events/tasks per semester

Volunteer Voices: Social Media Research questions: 1. Examine ways in which university students engage with various forms of social media. 2. Explore possibilities for utilizing social media to improve CAPS Peer Volunteer Program outreach initiatives. Method Self-administered questionnaires Focus group interviews Participants 12 total participants, 8 female and 4 male All participants were CAPS Peer Educators or Volunteers

Facebook Utility Connecting and communicating Posting/reading any type of content from links to news, photos, videos, etc. Sharing and personal support Messaging Promoting business “Jumping-off point” to find people online Content easily searchable

Twitter Utility Fast-paced, quickly consumed content Generally posts consist of a sentence or two, photos, news, and/or videos Large number of users never ‘tweet’ or contribute content; rather, they follow sources of content they want to consume Not easy to find friends; “more a place to follow/be followed by strangers, yet still have your identity attached to it (Watts, 2015).” ‘Tweets’ are easily searchable

Instagram Utility Photo sharing ‘Liking’ and comments focused on photos More private – ‘likes’ and comments do not appear in a public newsfeed Increased control over content you want to see Higher-quality content (i.e., edited) Generally less posts from people so easier to follow what you want

Snapchat Utility Messaging app Private sharing of photos, videos, and texts Can add ‘snaps’ to your ‘stories’ for followers to see for 24-hour period Forces a sense of urgency to read or post since content is temporary Lower social pressure (no ‘likes’ or comments) Can easily track number of views Quickly increasing in number of users

Tumblr Utility Blog community Shorter format content (i.e., less formal and shorter than a traditional blog) More personal, less social or “business” Identity not attached Often seen as a “judgment-free zone” Easy to share, but generally more “in- depth” than Facebook or Twitter Requires investment by the reader rather than simply perusing headlines

Pinterest Utility A place to discover ideas for projects and interests Can search posts of others who have similar styles Generally artistic and/or innovative and has an emphasis on creativity Can ‘pin’ to your own board

Twitter Usage 4/12 of our students Students perceive this platform is widely used among peers Limited ability to connect with this platform due to difficulty gaining followers and usage patterns of age group

Instagram Usage 6/12 of our students “Instagram has overtaken Facebook and Twitter as the network with the largest population of younger users. Also, of all of those age groups, the dominant gender on the photo-sharing site is female (Patterson, 2015).”

Snapchat Usage 7/12 of our students Only in app form, SES implications What can we learn from Snapchat?

Tumblr Usage 5/12 of our students Larger focus on social justice and mental health-related posts. Most anonymous of all the platforms. Would this be an effective way to reach a vulnerable population?

Pinterest Usage 1/12 of our students “It’s mainly female-dominated and is for those who have an artsy/hipster focus. Not too many people talk about it (Watts, 2015).” Limited utility for counseling centers?

Future College Students and Social Media “24% of teens go online ‘almost constantly,’ facilitated by the widespread availability of smartphones (Lenhart, 2015).”

Teen Use Patterns by Gender

Strategic Posting What is an interesting or appealing post? What is a “bad” post? What’s too long? How to get “likes” or followers?

Best Time Peak Time Worst Time When are the best days and times to post?

Best Time Peak Time Worst Time

When are the best days and times to post? Best Time Peak Time Worst Time

Future Directions: From CU Students Social media team Creating schedule of posts Incentives Encouraging Volunteers to share posts Strategic advertising of events Connection to CU broadly Create a positive image CAPS staff/Volunteers Mascot Personal accounts Success stories Aesthetically pleasing photos Videos

Limitations and Risks National data is not for college students specifically. Our sample was very small and not randomized; self-report. No inherent risks in presentation, but with social media there is a need to be cautious and consistent in monitoring your platforms/accounts. Examples: Account security Liability issues

References Duggan, M., Ellison, N.B., Lampe, C., Lenhart, A., & Madden, M. (2015, January 9). Social media update Pew Research Center. Retrieved from Gillett, R. (2015, May). The best (and worst) times to post on social media. Fast Company. Retrieved from Kemp, S. (2015, January 21). Digital, social & mobile in 2015: We Are Social’s compendium of global digital statistics. We Are Social. Retrieved from Lenhart, A. (2015, April 9). Teens, social media & technology overview 2015: Smartphones facilitate shifts in communication landscape for teens. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from Patterson, M. (2015, May 4). Social media demographics to inform a better segmentation strategy. Sprout Social. Retrieved from Richter, F. (2015, April 22). More teens choosing Instagram over Twitter and Facebook. Statista. Retrieved from SurePayroll. (2015, April 29). Post, pin & tweet: The best time to outreach. The Payroll Blog. Retrieved from pin-tweet-best-time-to-outreach/ pin-tweet-best-time-to-outreach/ Watts, A. (2015, January 2). A teenager’s view on social media: Written by an actual teen. Backchannel. Retrieved from