Social Media and College Admissions

Are colleges using social media as part of the student admissions process?  Schools.com explored this topic with the Reading Students like an Open Facebook infographic.  It’s hard enough to get teenagers to understand that online photos and status updates will be a permanent record of their behavior for the rest of their life, but even more immediately it could impact their entrance into college!

As Facebook has become more and more popular—if it were a country, it would be the third largest in the world—its use in the field of education has expanded, too. In fact, more than 80% of college admissions officers report using Facebook as part of their recruiting process. 

Are admissions officers really looking at the Facebook profiles of prospective students? And if so, are they making admissions decisions based on these profiles? Below is an infographic that highlights the answers to these questions and more—which might surprise you.

Thanks to Kristen for sending in the link!

The Conversation Prism 3.0 for 2010

Brian Solis and JESS3 have released v3.0 of The Conversation Prism for 2010.  The Conversation Prism is a great infographic showing the major players in each of 28 different online conversation categories.  The original 1.0 version from August 2008 (image available on Flickr) only had 22 categories, and some of those only had one player.

You can buy the poster (I’ve got v2.0 hanging in my office) for $20, or there are also some great multi-pack deals for 3 posters for $40 or 4 posters for $50.

One of the best projects I’ve worked on is to use this idea to help companies map out their own corporate online strategy.  Which if these categories and tools are you trying to use to drive your business?  My advice, don’t try them all, be targeted about which ones are best to reach your target customers.  Use this as a guide, but make your own company-specific conversation prism.

Found on FastCoDesign by Cliff Kuang

Online Dating Is Bigger Than Porn [Infographic]

New infographic, Ever Gotten A Date Online?, from OnlineSchools.org examining some of the data behind online dating.  As Mashable points out, one of the most surprising statistics is that the online dating industry is larger than the porn industry.

From Jennifer Van Grove at Mashable: Per the graphic — which pulls data from a number of sources, including Reuters and The Washington Post — online dating is worth more than one billion dollars per year, with the mobile phone dating market worth $550 million.

Found on Mashable via @hessiej on Twitter