Kenyon on Facebook, Twitter, and more

Kenyon wants to have a place in the hearts of alumni, on the radar screens of students and their parents, and in the minds of prospective students.

An increasingly important way to spread the word and spread the love: Facebook.

The College plunged into social networking in February 2009, when senior Dave Mastrangelo started a Kenyon fan page on Facebook and then gave responsibility to the institution. The page, which now has more than 6,400 fans, celebrates all things Kenyon in the form of news items, photos, Web links, and occasional whimsy. The Public Affairs office keeps the page fresh, updating it daily, Monday through Friday.

For colleges nationwide, social networking is a must, says Patty Burns, Kenyon's director of new media. "If you don't take control of your own electronic presence," she notes, "it will be done for you, in ways where you have little or no control."

Kenyon also has Twitter and YouTube sites, and sponsors both Facebook and Twitter sites for athletics. The Kenyon Bookstore has its own Facebook page, and the Kenyon Review reaches out to its audience through both Facebook and Twitter. In addition, the College encourages alumni classes, especially reunion-year classes, to form Facebook groups. At present, there are more than thirty class groups and a growing number of other affinity groups.

"I'm pleased that we are tailoring so much content for Facebook," says Burns. "We're not just throwing up links to news releases." She was delighted by the success of last winter's Facebook-based "Kenyon Pride" contest, in which alumni worldwide sent in photos of themselves and their kids wearing Kenyon gear. And she marvels at the insatiable alumni appetite for pretty campus scenes. "Our fans would happily gush over a picture of Middle Path every day if they could. You just don't see that love on the sites of other colleges that I monitor."

Coming soon: a "Kenyon Photo of the Day" Facebook application, plus "Kenyon Talk," allowing alumni and parents to automatically add a note to their Facebook newsfeeds announcing that they have registered for an event like Reunion Weekend or Family Weekend.