Giáo án Những kĩ thuật gia tăng giá trị thương hiệu Chương 4The Impacts of Social Media inHigher Education Institutions:How It Evolves Social Media in UniversitiesThe purpose of this chapter is to highlight the importance of social networks in higher education institutions and how today is an essential tool to expose all their activities, achievements, among others, and stay connected with students (and the university community usually). To establish the content and define the strategies, which must be used in the social networks managed by the university; It is essential to know the profile of the users that exist in our social media community. This encompasses multiple audiences ranging from undergraduate students, alumni and future students to parents, teachers, collaborators, researchers and other institutions, the entire community.
47 Chapter The Impacts of Social Media in Higher Education Institutions: How It Evolves Social Media in Universities Verónica Gutiérrez Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, Ecuador Ariana Daniela Del Pino https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0629-2994 Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, Ecuador ABSTRACT Today, social networks have become an important part of an individual’s life Most people use social networks to interact and communicate not only with people, but also with different companies or institutions in search of information This includes higher education institutions The role of social networks in a higher education institution is important; It helps show what the university does, what services it offers, the achievements of its students, what achievements they get, etc Social networks, with the right strategies, can create a great impact on how students see the university and what to do, and also they become an admission tool to generate interest in future students INTRODUCTION The purpose of this chapter is to highlight the importance of social networks in higher education institutions and how today is an essential tool to expose all their activities, achievements, among others, and stay connected with students (and the university community usually) To establish the content and define the strategies, which must be used in the social networks managed by the university; It is essential to know the profile of the users that exist in our social media community This encompasses multiple audiences ranging from undergraduate students, alumni and future students to parents, teachers, collaborators, researchers and other institutions, the entire community DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-4930-8.ch004 Copyright © 2021, IGI Global Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited The Impacts of Social Media in Higher Education Institutions This chapter also explores different tips for the correct use of social networks for higher education institutions In addition, it provides advice on certain errors that should be avoided and that may cause a negative reaction from users These reactions can increase and many users can begin to expose their discontent in an important way, through social networks, the situation can lead to a crisis According to Maresh-Fuehrer and Smith “Social media has been recognized in crisis communication research as facilitating both the spread and mitigation of crises” (2015, p 621) What is a social media crisis? How can it intensify if a quick response is not given? And how can it be managed? They are also part of the analysis that involves understanding the functioning of social networks Universities are not only managed under the brand scheme, but a global academic institutional identity scheme, showing all their strengths, advantages and including all the intellectual material created by academics and students as part of their contribution Universities must disseminate and disseminate everything that is forged as ambassadors of knowledge, therefore, it must have a presence in different events, be they scientific, sports, educational, in newspapers, internet and social networks, where they demonstrate progress, inventions, academic achievements, congresses, conferences and other outreach events Depending on the extension of the university where you show your careers, postgraduate degrees, faculties or school, you can use multiple pages, it can cause traffic in the cyber city for trend brands and move search analytics As indicated by Castillo et al (2013) “The most advantageous universities when it comes to transmitting their brand in the online environment pay attention to innovation as a variable that gives differential value in the coordinates in which higher education currently operates” (Castillo Diaz, Carillo Durán, & Tato Jiménez, 2013) Two decades ago it was only planned to handle face-to-face classes, the new advantages of virtual classrooms change the focus on the way of teaching through portals, online games, digital resources such as social networks, videos or audios, adaptation of materials, digital materials hypertext, content on web pages, ICT skills, etc (Barberá & Badía, 2004) We have edX, which is one of the virtual classrooms worldwide that has quite a lot of prestige and is endorsed by several of the best universities and institutes, it was founded by Harvard University and MIT in 2012, they seek to increase the level of virtual or face-to-face education in anywhere, it has 90 partners and they offer quality courses from the best universities in the world (edX, 2012) Social networks and especially in universities, academic social networks are a great tool to expose the information that you have generated with your team Relations between institutions are managed through simultaneous digital communication media, there are more and more users, some of them allow you to share information, documents, among others, they are a good option to work as a team, where they can share comments in real time, topics of interest, experiences and hypotheses, among others According to Merlo in their article on science 2.0: application of the social web to research, they comment that “social networks are excellent virtual laboratories, since they offer all the services that a research group demands: communication resources systems, communication systems, document warehouse and discussion forums” (Merlo Vega, 2010) In addition, you can speak with the Academic Community Manager, who knows how to disseminate and disseminate research results and upcoming scientific publications, the person who will help the teaching researcher to know how to inform through social networks, academic and professional social networks the progress of your research, through the use of online resources that allow remote information to be shared with different researchers worldwide (Del Pino, 2016) 48 The Impacts of Social Media in Higher Education Institutions BACKGROUND Lau said “In today’s society, social media have become an almost indispensable part of daily life, particularly among university students, who are generally heavy social media users” (Lau, 2016, p 286) For this reason, it is essential that a higher education institution has a presence on social networks and can connect with different users at any time of the day This is due to the fact that, although publications on social networks are mainly carried out under a publication calendar design by the Community Manager (the person who manages an online community of the institution) of the University; Users can see them the moment they connect Achieving a strong university community in social networks is essential not only to attract the target audience to the university, but also to maintain them throughout life, with positive loyalty and word of mouth after completing all levels of education Students’ experiences and emotions can be improved through the social networks of higher education institutions, as well as through communication with former students and the development of the brand over time In addition, it is a tool to identify the university and can help increase student engagement (Nevzat, Amca, & Tanova, 2016, p 551) Even if a large part of the online university community are students, it is important to create content that may be of interest to other users, which reinforces the institutional image Teachers and doctorates, for example, can attract students with results It is also essential that the content of social networks generate engagement and interaction of the community in social networks, positive responses By engagement, it refers to users who interact in the different social networks in which the university also has a presence MAIN FOCUS OF THE CHAPTER The Importance of Social Media in Universities The dissemination of information in digital media or spaces such as social networks or web pages allows your digital brand to become known, with relevant aspects, products or updates and with the purpose that your company has a place of digital recognition Through the networks you can know everything that is said about the company, who our clients are, which allows us to achieve business intelligence and improve the strategy used, it is important to keep all innovations and everything that may be viral monitored, in the future in favor of the brand The technologies developed for monitoring both social networks and web pages gather national and global statistics Looking for all the mentions, impacts, interactions, popularity and opinions that the brand causes, it can also be of one or more products or services of the company There are some tools that allow us to keep up to date with Trends and analytics, many of them analyze more or less in depth, others offer services to manage the programmed content, it all depends on the needs of the company, transforming all this into data and relevant conclusions Young people in general, this includes university students, who use social networks more and more frequently as a communication tool This communication includes from issuing opinions on a specific topic, to making inquiries and requesting assistance in solving academic problems For these reasons, it is important that universities have a presence in social networks It is not only a direct channel of communication with students, but also an opportunity to expose what the university is, what it does and show them not only to the students, but also to their community in general (teach49 The Impacts of Social Media in Higher Education Institutions ers, alumni, collaborators, strategic partners, among others.) everything achieved Using social media to highlight what the university offers also helps draw attention to future students, especially during the admission process Trends are known for their creativity, empowerment of social aspects, and their capacity for massive reproduction, through trends, a great movement or change in the behavior of users is created Universities have a large presence in social networks, creating trends, social media trends analyze behaviors or reactions to them, provide statistics and results with keywords, from which strategies can be created to improve the visibility of the brand, with this we can determine who are the influencers in various areas, people who contribute to our brand in a positive way and who have greater contact with our customers, who recommend the product or service, appearing something called, network of contacts and invisible circles scientists for academics (Crane, 1972) It is necessary and important to know the search statistics, who make up our interest groups, the keywords and the people who can disseminate information quickly In part, contact networks allow the interaction of groups of people for a specific topic, theme or activity, it helps to spread profiles, knowledge and skills, through networks they can be social, academic or professional, the members who have a greater number of contacts, allow to have a nexus with each other, their main function is to share information, experiences, knowledge and disseminate information (Palavecino, s.f.) The invisible scientific circles arise within “the academic-scientific intellectual life is exercised primarily by a system of informal social circles called invisible universities” (Schlesinger, 1987) By contacting professors or researchers in the world, we achieve a small invisible thread, with benefits for editing or writing articles or books We know that this system is managed under academic and scientific peers, this generates a network of academic contacts and this is where a professional social network also arises, widely used worldwide such as LinkedIn that allows you to share your professional achievements, skills, knowledge and more of the work or academic point of view Another important point with social networks, the beginning of the influencers who have become the face of many products, including universities, through their students, so now, we can talk about academic influencers, professors, researchers or professors who share information, articles, books, statistics or classes through their blogs, social networks or academic social networks and who can hold a gathering of people for scientific events such as conferences or talks, among others Also the so-called academic social networks such as ResearchGate or Academia.edu, where articles or books can be shared Don’t forget Google Scholar, which is a complete platform and automatically updates your information Developing the University Brand on Social Media An interview with Ballouli and Hutchinson to Amy Martin entitled ” Digital-Branding and Social-Media Strategies for Professional Athletes, Sports Teams, and Leagues: An Interview with Digital Royalty’s Amy Martin ” she said in a kind of analogy, that success in Social networks depend on the ability of the seller and the desire to live the brand, delivering value “when, where and how fans want to receive it” (2010, p 396) Before starting to develop strategies to be used in social networks, it is essential to know the brand, in this case the University Regardless of publishing the different activities, events, congresses, among others, which take place weekly in the institution, strategies must be developed that allow users to learn about the life and culture of the campus; to show the online community what differentiates the University from others: with added value 50 The Impacts of Social Media in Higher Education Institutions The effective university brand goes far beyond a logo, stamp, emblem, brand or key phrase The brand is the story that tells about its institution, the soul that sells, the distillation of its most prominent values and characteristics and its identity as a place of learning throughout life This is what prospects, students and graduates think when they hear the name of their university or find their content online, news or talking with others (Full Frabric, s.f.) The variety in the content of the publications is important Making the same type of posts constantly will cause users to stop paying attention It is advisable to focus on different areas that may generate interest in students and also attract the interest of future participants For example: • • • • • • • • • • News: Activities of the university, its faculties and other academic units Notes or Reports: About the University, its activities and achievements in the media Student Achievements: Featured projects, academic awards, triumphs in competitions, international recognitions, etc Non-Academic Activities: Student clubs, languages, sports practices, etc Academic Exchange: Experiences of students who have participated in exchange programs with universities abroad Contribution to Society: Linking programs and volunteering Life and culture of the campus Campus facilities and nature Alumni: Success stories of the graduates of the university Research: Project development, papers published by researchers and professors of the university Most universities are made up of several faculties; The larger the university, the greater the number of faculties it will have It is practically impossible for the social networks of the University to publish all the activities carried out by each of them It is for this reason that they must manage their own social networks For everyone to function as a hole, it is recommended that there be guidelines for shared content and that there is a brand unit in each of them, through a social media manual In higher education institutions, faculties are often responsible for maintaining the same values, vision and mission as the university or higher institutions to which they belong, but they operate separately when they teach specific content These faculties provide unique educational experiences, so allowing them to provide unique experiences on social networks seems correct, as long as they maintain the parameters set forth by the institution (DMI Daily Digest, s.f.) Set Your Content Schedule According to the Social Network Once the different areas of the university that will be shown on social networks have been defined, it is important to establish in which of them the University will have a presence There are several, but the most popular are: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, YouTube is more for music There must be unity among all official social media accounts of the University, from the names, users, the description of the institution and, of course, the profile photos with their respective colors that are used according to the brand (This also includes the social networks of the faculties) 51 The Impacts of Social Media in Higher Education Institutions Facebook Facebook is the most popular social network that brings together millions of users worldwide Through a fan page on Facebook, a university can reach many people It is important to denote that a fan page is for companies / brands and that users, that is, different people, connect through a personal profile As George explains in a digital post “Unlike a personal Facebook profile, fan pages are visible to everybody on the Internet Anyone on Facebook can connect to and receive updates from a page by becoming a fan (i.e ‘Liking’ the page)” (George, 2012) Among the advantages that Facebook has is that you can make publications with several photographs and you can also create albums You can upload videos directly with different periods of time (although it is recommended to use short videos, because users not always watch the video completely, especially when it is extensive and with a lot of information) Ideally, show the activities of the University through countless photographs and videos, something that works very well on Facebook Another very useful tool is live streaming The event of the University can be transmitted directly from Facebook and also allows users to interact in the moment, give opinions, ask questions, comments, hearts, etc We can see the handling of the images in figure The Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, has about de 36 official Facebook accounts associated with its name These are some examples that can be visualized of how this social network is managed Twitter Twitter, like Facebook, is a social network, an online news site, through short messages called tweets From these new networks, new words emerge, such as Tweet, which is to publish short messages, that anyone who follows you can see and be interesting to someone in your audience (Gil, 2019) Twitter features allow users to post different tweets in a row on a specific topic It is especially practical when the activities of the University are shown at the same time they occur, which allows to reach the community in real time In return, account followers can share information through RT (retweets) or I like it, which makes the content reach more users The use of hashtags on Twitter is common and helps users find and follow a thread on a specific topic It is recommended that when a university event is tweeted, at the time it takes place, especially the most important ones, such as an anniversary ceremony, graduation, etc., and even a unique hashtag (including the name of the University) By using it in each of the tweets and with the help of RT, likes and responses from other users, the hashtag can become a topic of local, national or global trend, which means that a conversation has been built around the University event “Also called TT or trend, these are the words, hashtags or phrases that are repeated more at a given time In the case of Twitter, 10 stand out and these change according to their popularity” (Socialpubli, 2018) The same example of image handling in figure and The Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, has about 42 twitter accounts associated with its name These are some examples that can be visualized of how this social network is managed 52 The Impacts of Social Media in Higher Education Institutions Figure Graduation ESPOL 2019 Source: Espol, 2019 Instagram Instagram is a social network used to share photos and videos, that is, for visual content Unlike Facebook, Instagram only allows up to 10 photos per post and the videos in the feed can only last up to a maximum of one minute; however, a publication may contain photographs and videos For universities, it is a well-used social network that allows students and future students to visualize the campus; culture, student life and different events Instagram stories (photos or short videos in a 15-second vertical format that only remain published for 24 hours), allow the University to display its activities at the time they are happening and include many tools that can be added to the content such as filters, texts, emojis, etc In a paragraph written by Higher Education Marketing said that: 53 The Impacts of Social Media in Higher Education Institutions Figure Graduation ESPOL 2019 (first tweet prior the ceremony) Source: ESPOL, 2019 Unlike the more stylized and virgin publications that dominate the rest of the site Stories was designed as a way for Instagram users to share more spontaneous and less polished content With that in mind, schools that want to use the feature should focus on creating fun and informal publications that capture daily events Special events such as graduations, social activities for students, guest conferences and conferences can be particularly good sources of content (Higher Education Marketing, 2019) It is important to see Figure 4, an example of how through Instagram, students can be recruited The use of hashtags is also common on Instagram; Through them, users can discover content while searching The use of hashtags related to the University will allow greater interaction with the publications It is also highly recommended to use popular hashtags for specific purposes For example, publish an old photo of the University campus with the hashtag #tbt (setback on Thursday) A schedule of content must be administered for each of the University’s social networks; It must be done every month and establish what will be published week by week, day by day This schedule must be constantly updated and flexible; In the case of universities, there are activities that can be carried out overnight, for example, the visit of some authority of another institution or university 54 The Impacts of Social Media in Higher Education Institutions Figure Hashtag #GraduadosESPOL2019 was trending topic during the live coverage of the event Source: Trendsmap, 2019 It is important to keep in mind that social networks are constantly evolving, that is, their platforms are constantly updated, as are certain tools for creating or editing publications It is necessary to have identified blogs and web pages from which this information can be obtained and reviewed frequently The Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral has, about 12 Instagram accounts associated with its name These are some examples that can be visualized of how this social network is managed, and in figure 5, we can see an example Built a Relationship With Your Audience Having a presence in social networks is a daily commitment It is very similar to maintaining a friendship Friendships require constant attention and communication to stay strong Social networks are no different As in real life, if you only talk about yourself, people will soon get bored of that If you ignore your fans or followers when they talk to you or publish on your profile, they will not continue talking to you, they are looking for an interaction Constant communication in both directions is crucial to the success of social networks (Burkhardt, 2010) Interacting with its users is essential for the success of the university’s social media management More and more people seek information and make inquiries through social networks The comments in the publications, and above all, through private messages that work on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, students, future students, etc., seek to obtain answers on different topics that occur in the University, immediately 55 The Impacts of Social Media in Higher Education Institutions Figure Number of recruit students by instagram Source: Hobsons, 2017 In terms of social networks, we can now communicate with consumers instead of with them, everything becomes more personalized The social term, in itself, speaks of the fact that it really is a place to communicate from person to person, instead of serving as a marketing channel, the brand and dealing with customers becomes more human It is important to understand who is the user asking the question or query The tone or way of responding depends on this Although the majority of users are young people (students or people interested in studying at the University), they can also be parents or representatives of another institution A kind and effective response may be the difference and may influence the decision to study at the University or not Social networks are a form of brand exposure in which your presence must match relationships and followers To build these relationships, you must be constantly listening to your audience and providing the information they are looking for (Ballouli & Hutchinson, 2010, p 397) Frequently, users expect different situations or problems to be resolved through social networks For example, a student may have trouble registering for a record Although the registration cannot be done through a social network, there must always be a response and the will to help and guide the student 56 The Impacts of Social Media in Higher Education Institutions towards the faculty, the academic unit or others, of the University, where they will be in charge of providing assistance to resolve the problem Figure Anniversary 61th Source: Espol, 2019 Trolls Negative comments always exist on social networks But there are cases in which users are recurring and, in different publications, where they express complaints and discontent on certain issues, even if the problem is not related to the publication These types of users are called trolls Trolling, another word created from the beginning of social networks, associated with the creation of discord on the Internet when starting disputes or disturbing people by publishing inflammatory, offensive or off-topic messages 57 The Impacts of Social Media in Higher Education Institutions in an online community Basically, a social media troll is someone who deliberately says something controversial, insulting or misplaced to encourage other users to the same (Hanson, 2017) How to deal with this type of users? Respond with facts and generate positive actions Although the troll probably will not find any satisfaction with the answer, because its purpose is only to annoy, the rest of users will notice it and will realize that the University is attentive and reads what they comment in their publications In extreme cases where trolls resort to insults or aggressive comments, it is important to review the content policies of the different social networks If the user is committing a violation of them, the situation can be reported to the social network and will be analyzed It is recommended to have a crisis manual with answers for these cases Engagement and How to Measure It Martin explain a very significant idea: There are two important things to when measuring your social-media efforts The first is to establish key performance indicators, and the second is to remain consistent in tracking and measuring those indicators We recommend that brands identify at least two key performance indicators each in the categories of volume, engagement, and conversion Examples of volume indicators include the number of fans or followers you have following your brand and the number of original topic trends on your page With regard to engagement, the kind of indicators we’re looking for are metrics that speak to the amount of time a fan spends with your brand online (Ballouli & Hutchinson, 2010) When publishing content, it is necessary to know if it is reaching users and if it is to their liking It is not about the quantity of publications that are made, nor of the “likes”, but that they fulfill the objective of generating interest in the users and for this, it is important to measure the commitment of the publications How engagement works? It can be in different forms, taking into account the social network: • • • Facebook: Making comments on the publications and sharing them Twitter: Replying to tweets and retweets Instagram: Through repost, saving the post or sending it to another user And, of course, “like” so you can generate a post on different social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram Creating interaction in social networks is not only based on answering user questions, but also calling for action to interact in specific publications or begin to share content For example, if a photograph of the university campus is published on Instagram, a good strategy might be to invite them to share photos taken by them of the campus; You can make a publication with the selection of the best, giving credit to the students who took them Another way to generate interaction is by publishing and writing a question related to it For example, a publication in which some students give their opinion on a certain topic of the University, the idea is that users respond on the subject or give their opinion How to measure commitment? Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have their own analysis with which different metrics can be obtained in general (number of followers gained over a period of time) and more specific ones, such as the number of people reached by a publication and the commitment generate 58 The Impacts of Social Media in Higher Education Institutions Social Media Crisis According to Liebowitz explains that “a social media crisis is an event that can have a negative effect on a brand’s, company’s, or individual’s reputation It can be something that occurs offline and is then brought to social media channels, or it can begin on social media channels, and then spread” (Liebowitz, 2014) As mentioned earlier, the existence of negative comments through social networks will always exist This situation is something that you have to keep in mind on social networks, regardless of the content, all brands are exposed to this; Social networks are an open platform for all types of users to comment But when the University performs a specific action and triggers a series of negative comments about it that become viral, it is called the social media crisis We will present a case study, where you can see a social media crisis Case of Study: Rebranding of Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, ESPOL (Guayaquil, Ecuador) On May 27, 2019, the Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, ESPOL, unveiled its new logo and it was made known through its social media accounts This University for many years had as an emblematic symbol a Galapagos Turtle (representing the vernacular of Ecuador, seen internationally in relation to the Galapagos Islands); the new logo did not include the Galapagos Turtle in its design The response from the users was massive and a large percentage of react negatively in all institutional social networks Facebook In the social network Facebook, users showed a rejection for about six months In table 1, you can see the amount of person who accepted or rejected the new profile picture (new brand), the option of anger, laughter or sadness, is the one that has more Clearly, the sense of belonging with the seal or emblem used so far, people felt part of the community and was recognized by everything The rejection of the new brand was abysmal What the users had not understood is that the Turtle was never the mark of the institution, it was always the seal or emblem, something that continued, while the new brand was created as such, to represent the institution in a way business, the negative comments stopped at six months, users have not fully accepted the new image Table Reaction of the community in fan page Facebook People Reached Comments and Shares Like / Love Wow Haha / Sad / Angry Profile picture 163.933 1.944 / 1.136 times 1.143 274 3.555 Video (rebranding) 62.368 275 / 266 times 830 39 866 Video cover 16.861 64 / 85 times 184 10 411 Source: Fan Page Espol, May to Sept 2019 The Facebook profile picture generated an organic engagement of 163.933 Most of the reactions where: sad (more than 1.5000) and angry (more than 1.300) Also there where approximately 2000 com- 59 The Impacts of Social Media in Higher Education Institutions ments, in the majority, negative The majority expressed their discontent of the turtle not being part of the logo anymore, the data is shown in table Twitter On May 27th 2019, the unveiling of the new logo of ESPOL was heavily discussed on Twitter Words and hashtags related to the University became trending topic: (Trending Ecuador, 2019) • • • • • #ESPOLyoteexijo (approximately minutes) #DevuelvelaTortugaEspol (approximately minutes) Polito, the name of the Galapagos turtle in the symbol (3:30 minutes) Espol (3:20 minutes) #ESPOL (1:35 minutes) Table Reaction of the community in Twitter Twitter Impressions Retweets Likes Video (rebranding) 90.561 191 344 El Universo (newspaper) link 26.788 23 62 Source: Twitter Espol, May 27 and 28, 2019 Instagram On Instagram, because of the collage feed, there were posts published related to the new ESPOL logo In every one of them, users wrote negative comments They weren’t massive like in Facebook, but specially in the last frame of the collage, the comments were approximately 250 The data shown in table is from the launch video and a mosaic photo (ESPOL, 2019) Table Reaction of the community in Instagram Instagram Engagement Impressions Likes Video (rebranding) 7.512 11.611 610 Collage feed frame 5.628 7.631 151 Collage feed frame 5.285 7.019 123 Collage feed frame 5.210 6.795 128 Collage feed frame 4.991 6.795 142 Collage feed frame 5.852 8.327 154 Collage feed frame 10.690 18.090 482 Source: Instagram Espol, May 27 and 28, 2019 60 The Impacts of Social Media in Higher Education Institutions Timeline of the Social Media Crisis Approximately one month before the presentation of the new logo, on April 30, 2019, during the welcome of the new students, the presentation of a character called Polito (a Galapagos turtle) The introduction of Polito was planned as a strategy so that, at the time of the revelation of the new logo (without the Galapagos turtle), it was assumed that the university community was in love with the character; The plan was for Polito to become the mascot of the university Unfortunately, Polito was not well received The design generated question marks and the strategy failed Other strategies were planned: a contingency plan was designed, where several scenarios that could occur were raised, such as the questions that would arise on social networks and the answer that would be given to users These questions and answers were shared internally with the people responsible for managing the different social networks related to the University In addition, the Rector of the University conducted an interview with one of the most recognized newspapers in Ecuador, explaining the reason why the logo was changed This note was released the same day of the presentation But none of these preventive actions helped during the time of the crisis Users showed rejection of the new logo in different ways: through memes, emojis (a turtle), expressing their opinion, some politely, others with insults There was also the association of the new logo with other existing logos Two days after the revelation of the logo, the University published a statement to try to stop the wave of comments on the subject Little effect had Users demanded that the symbol or emblem with the turtle be reinstated How Did the Social Media Crisis Develop on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? After the declaration, the university decided not to publish more information in the next days Publications were made about the regular activities and events of the Institution Instagram In the photographs in which the logo was shown, users continued to comment on the turtle, but to a lesser extent than in the publications published during the presentation This situation lasted approximately one month (until June 2019) Finally, Instagram users stopped commenting on the matter, even in photographs containing the new logo Example: a photo of the main building (showing the logo) with a sunset in the background Twitter Because Twitter works differently from Facebook and Instagram, instead of comments on tweets generated by the University’s Twitter account, users turned to tweets and mentions to give their opinion on the new logo There were recurring users who created conversations on the subject (with other users) However, like Instagram, after June 2019, tweets and mentions decreased and practically disappeared Facebook The situation on Facebook was totally different It is important to clarify that the ESPOL account on Facebook is the oldest and has more followers 61 The Impacts of Social Media in Higher Education Institutions Regardless of the content of the publication, several users began to perform the following actions: • • • Use of Facebook reactions in posts: users begin to react massively to posts with angry emoji, a way to express their discontent over the new logo Comments not related to the publication: especially in the publications that showed the new logo Use of emojis, gifs and memes: users completed the comments with these visual illustrations, most of which showed a turtle This situation continued until August 23, 2019, the day the University launched a new statement through social networks The authorities expressed that they had heard the opinion of the community and that the decision had been made to restore the symbol with the turtle to accompany the current logo on diplomas and different institutional events (for example, commemoration of graduation and anniversary) SOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS In social networks, administrators or community manager, who can use social networks to monitor the environment of the created pages of universities dynamically, adaptively and prepare completely for the occurrence of crisis events When a crisis occurs, mostly through the Internet, universities can understand and understand in time the various publications that they must make, through Microblog and other platforms on crises, and react quickly, to avoid increasing what happened In addition, through the comment function, public opinion can be understood This will encourage universities to initiate crisis early warning measures and take the necessary crisis management measures, which can improve the efficiency of dealing with crisis events (Wenting, 2019) A crisis in social networks can occur unexpectedly; A unique event can go viral in minutes when enough users start a conversation about it The University must have a communication plan and a crisis team always ready to deal with these types of situations When a crisis arises, an emergency meeting should be established to analyze what is happening and quickly decide the course of action to be taken Recommendations in case of a social crisis: • • • 62 Give a Quick Response: When a crisis event is unleashed, it is important to report it immediately so that the crisis team can make a quick decision about the actions that will be taken The longer it takes to give an answer; Users will have the opportunity to make the conversation viral on social networks On Twitter, for example, they can create a hashtag and turn it into a trend topic A quick response will not necessarily mean that the crisis disappears, but it will indicate that the University is attentive to what is happening Have a Statement Prepared for an Eventuality: In cases such as the presentation of a new logo, where comments and negative opinions are expected, a statement with the reasons and why the decision was made must be prepared and ready to be shared with the community Do not Block Users, or Hide or Delete Comments: This will only cause users to make more comments and even, if blocked, will expose this situation to other users This may even make the crisis increase or disrespectful comments contain with bad words, which may be the exception The Impacts of Social Media in Higher Education Institutions • • Stop Publications on Other Activities: If a crisis breaks out and users are talking about a specific topic, making publications that are not related to the topic gives the interpretation that the University does not care what is happening Evaluate and Learn: After overcoming a crisis, the situation must be analyzed and conclusions drawn to help in the event that a new crisis arises in the future FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS Future discussions raised contemplate the implementation of practical manuals of action for other users who have gone through a crisis in social networks and have not known how to handle it, other research on how to use social networks for universities and businesses to be useful CONCLUSION Today’s social networks are the most important platform to expose the different activities carried out by a university Being a technological tool, it is important to know the constant changes and updates of the social media experience In case of eventualities, such as the explosion of a crisis, the University must be prepared and take the necessary measures It is important to perform a detailed analysis after the crisis During these types of events, publications may obtain more commitment than other publications during a normal period This means that during a social media crisis, high participation in publications does not translate as something positive It is important to keep this in mind when analyzing what happens during the crisis Having a presence in social networks is essential for a university With the right strategies, it is an opportunity to strengthen your brand, involve your students in the different activities that are carried out, generate interest and attract future students and connect with your alumni and with the University community in general REFERENCES Ballouli, K., & Hutchinson, M (2010) Digital-Branding and Social-Media Strategies for Professional Athletes, Sports Teams, and Leagues: An Interview With Digital Royalty’s Amy Martin International Journal of Sport Communication, 3(4), 395–401 doi:10.1123/ijsc.3.4.395 Burkhardt (2010) Social media: A guide for college and College & Research Libraries, 1-3 Castillo Diaz, A., Carillo Durán, M V., & Tato Jiménez, J L (2013, March) Branding online en las universidades españolas Análisis de los valores funcionales y emocionales en sus websites corporativos Estudios sobre el Mensaje Periodístico, 85–97 Crane, D (1972) Invisible colleges: Diffusion of knowledge in scientific communities Chicago: University of Chicago Press 63 The Impacts of Social Media in Higher Education Institutions Daily Digest, D M I (n.d.) 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El Valor de la Red de Contactos – Networking Retrieved Julio 04, 2016, from Proyecto Profesional: http://www.proyectoprofesional.com.ar/index.php/el-valor-de-la-red-de-contactosnetworking/ Schlesinger, P (1987) Los intelectuales en la sociedad de la información Barcelona: Anthropos Editorial Socialpubli (2018, Agust 14) How To Be Trending Topic on Twitter Retrieved from Socialpubli: https:// socialpubli.com/blog/how-to-be-trending-topic-on-twitter/ Trending Ecuador (2019) Trending Ecuador Retrieved from Trending Ecuador: https://www.trendinalia com/twitter-trending-topics/ecuador/ecuador-190527.html Wenting, X (2019) Discussion on Strategies of Crisis Management in University Under the Background of Social Media Science Journal of Education, 14-18 KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Brand on Social Media: The brands, increasingly exposed, have life on the internet, so management must be adequate Hashtag: A word used to highlight an event or find a specific topic Rebranding: Redesign of the management or brand management, focused on a change or a new marketing strategy Social Media Crisis: A negative event that stars or develops in the social networks and can have a negative effect in the image of an institution or company Social Media for Recruitment: Means by which, people seek to know their brands and products, for their choice Social Networks: Internet social media sites that are used to connect with different people and can have different purposes like for social interaction or business 65