The Use of Facebook and Instagram in Communication with New Students: the Case of Portuguese Public Universities Ema Almeida Nídia Salomé Morais Mestrado em Comunicação Aplicada Escola Superior de Educação – CI&DEI Escola Superior de Educação Polytechnic Institute of Viseu Viseu, Portugal Viseu, Portugal [email protected] [email protected] Abstract— The growing use of social networks and a large development of the business-oriented dimension of these number of people using them have attracted the attention of organizations" [4, p. 232]. Higher Education Institutions for some years now. These institutions have a strong presence on these platforms currently It is, therefore, crucial to deepen the relationship between and have learned to take advantage of their influence to get communication, social networks and HEIs, in an attempt to closer to their target audience, especially students. In this understand the way strategic communication practices, work context, the study presented in this article aimed to understand and to understand how HEIs take advantage of social the kind of use Portuguese Public Universities make of social networks by their specific needs. The study presented in this networks, particularly Facebook and Instagram, to article assumes that HEIs promote dynamic communication to communicate with their new students. Methodologically, a create more excellent proximity to their target audience and to descriptive study was conducted. Facebook and Instagram achieve their goals. pages of all Portuguese Public Universities were analysed in September 2018, a period that corresponds to the new students' In methodological terms, the authors chose to conduct a first contact with the institutions. The data collected and the descriptive study that allowed observing the Facebook and analysis of variables such as the kind of topics posted, shared Instagram pages of all the Portuguese Public Universities content and the kind of interaction generated made it possible (PPU) during September 2018. The choice of these two social to realise that universities use social networks to communicate networks was based on the fact that Facebook is the most with their audience, mainly when they chose to link an image to widely used social network nationwide and worldwide, and their web page (on Facebook) and when they use photographs because Instagram is a network widely used by young people and videos (on Instagram). During the period under review, [5]. According to [6], public universities play a prominent role posts focusing mainly on welcoming new students and on the in Portuguese higher education. The author also considers that welcome messages delivered by the Presidents/Boards of the their students are committed to learn and to achieve the universities were abundantly shared. highest possible scores in higher education. Keywords— universities, communication, students, Facebook, In this context it is essential, first, to understand the way Instagram HEIs use social networks in a general context and, then, to focus on a specific educational dimension, always considering I. INTRODUCTION the two social networks already mentioned. The objective is Currently, the communication carried out by Higher then to answer the starting question that guided the entire Education Institutions (HEIs) is inextricably linked to study: What use do Portuguese Public Universities make of technological infrastructure and digital media whose use is social networks during the period that encompasses their new meant to increase the contact with their audience. Over the last students' welcome reception? few years, the way people choose to communicate and to consume and share information has changed, not only due to II. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK the diversity of the existing communication platforms but also Communication is a fundamental practice for society due to the characteristics of the new generations who have because it allows the sharing of information and knowledge become increasingly connected and more confident in their [7]. In organisations, the concept of communication is closely ability to multitask [1]. related to a wide range of objectives set to achieve a specific goal. That way, can strategic communication be described as HEIs are aware of this new reality and have adopted new an institutional communication practice? Each organisation communication strategies in order to create competitive seeks answers that will enable them to understand the different advantages that will help differentiate themselves from their relationships that take place within each one of them. As it competition [2]. In addition to the importance of the activities happens with all human beings, individually or in groups, they develop following their primary mission, today HEIs these organisations develop new processes or try to improve seek to adapt to the shifting demands of the market by those that already exist based on their own experiences or the changing their communication paradigm, among other things experience shared by other people or organisations [8]. [3]. The communication departments that exist in the universities were created to improve the communication Strategic communication is directly associated with strategies of these institutions and bear witness to this organisational/institutional communication and consequently willingness to evolve. In fact, "the increase in and the plays a relevant role in the transformations of the 21st century diversification of universities' communication activities seem due to its ability to adapt [9]. According to the same authors, to be closely related to the increasing competition and to the the evolution of ICT has provided organisations/institutions Copyright © 2020 for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). with new ways of communicating. Strategic communication social networks most widely used by students and teachers are is usually described as a "strategic game in which players Facebook and Twitter and that the main reasons behind this make use of symbolic interaction to solve their problems or choice are the opportunity they provide to share content, to maximise opportunities" [9, p. 20]. engage in conversations, and to foster relationships. Understanding HEIs communication becomes even more For all the above reasons, it is a fact that the use of social relevant in such a context as these institutions realise that their networks also brings new communication practices to HEIs, audience is all over the Internet and "(...) now they are paying so it seems essential to develop research that will help identify more attention than ever before - they want to make uses, purposes, content and interactions related to the way themselves present, because they recognise that their audience information is shared through these platforms. is highly "connected" to the network (...)" [4, p. 14]. The evolution of the communication paradigm in HEIs becomes a III. THE STUDY complex challenge, and for communication to be successful, The following objectives guided the study presented in this well-defined strategies must be implemented. brief article: According to [10] one needs to identify the target To understand the use of social networks in Portuguese audience, develop the message, choose the media and, finally, Public Universities (PPU) communication during the carry out a thorough analysis to obtain opinions and reactions period during which they welcome their new students; that can help improve and understand customer satisfaction. In [3] opinion, the identification of the target audience is one To identify the social networks most widely used by of the first steps to be carried out when one starts to design PPU; communication strategies in an HEI: "(...) first of all the To identify the content shared by PPU on the different interest groups of the institution must be identified in order to social networks; associate the company with its different target audiences and define the goals we aim to achieve for each of those groups To observe the interactions created by the posts made with the help of organisational communication" [3, p. 34]. [11] by PPU on the different social networks; states that education institutions live off the relationships they are capable of creating with their audience. So it is fair to ask: To understand what PPU use social networks for; what is the HEIs’ real audience? According to [12], in HEIs To provide guidelines for an excellent social network there is no point in treating the target audience as a client, but communication strategy. the truth is that HEIs sell educational services and thus the author divides the HEIs’ audience into three different types: To achieve the objectives previously set out, a descriptive study was carried out. This option seemed appropriate, students, who are considered the HEIs’ main target considering that the objective of this research was to analyse audience; the posts made by PPUs on Facebook and Instagram. parents, since they play an important role in the According to [16], in this type of study, the objective is to students’ lives; describe a particular phenomenon by making use of the data previously collected, and by thoroughly analysing and moreover, finally, the entities that hire the students interpreting said data. according to their qualifications and the skills they have developed in the HEIs. The instrument used for data collection in this study was an analysis grid which,