Social Media: Online Versus Traditional Universities and Developing Communities?

The use of online social communities for online universities seems a topic where usage can be taken for granted. This paper provides an analysis of social media usage by traditional and online universities and compares their activity levels. The paper analyzes the social media activities of the top 53 undergraduate and top 53 graduate online programs as compared to their traditional programs. Despite the need to engage through these social media sites, online universities in general and online graduate-level programs in particular are not taking advantage of these sites to build communities and deepen relationships with students and alumni as are their traditional programs. Universities invest significantly more resources in their traditional programs ' - both undergraduate and graduate programs - social media usage. This is true across the five social media platforms. Recommendations for online university engagement on the top five social media sites are provided.