Once considered merely conversations between “Friends,” status updates and Tweets are now accepted as mainstream newsfeeds. Social networking applications offer corporate and institutional organizations alike new opportunities to engage target audiences, including prospective and current students, parents, alumni, faculty and staff, donors, media, opinion leaders, and others.
The values of social media for brands like Virginia Tech include:
But one of the characteristics that make social networking so attractive – that it is inherently public – also makes it precarious. Social media are all these things and more:
Because online conversations and posts are never private – no matter how stringent your privacy settings or how small your circle of friends and followers – Virginia Tech University Relations offers guidelines for department and unit use of social media. Best practices are also offered for employees’ personal use of social media in an attempt to distinguish between the boundaries of private and professional use.