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Email is dead for today's students who prefer Twitter, universities say
Students prefer to communicate with universities via social networks such as Twitter rather than email, which they see as outdated and slow, a leading vice-chancellor has said
The email is as good as dead among students, a leading vice-chancellor has said, as he reveals that universities are having to employ teams to communicate via social media.
Professor Sir Steve Smith, the vice-chancellor of Exeter University, said most students no longer checked their emails regularly and were choosing to tweet for help rather than wait for a response in their inbox.
“There is no point in emailing students any more," he told The Times. "They get in touch with us by social media, especially Twitter, and we’ve had to employ people to reply that way.
“We have a round-the-clock team of press officers and graduates savvy with social media.
“Students will tweet for help if something has gone wrong, or a prospective student will tweet a question about the requirements for a course and expect an immediate response.”
Exeter has a team of people working in social media, including an on-call officer to respond to queries out of office hours.
Questions sent to the university via social networks include a query about an exam timetable that would be published later than expected. The university said it would look into the issue.
Another student voiced fears that she felt isolated within the university, and was subsequently put in touch with a support network.
Katie Connolly, Birmingham University’s digital marketing communications manager, also said students preferred to communicate through social media because it was faster than email.
“We have someone manning our social media channels during business hours," she said. "You can’t really leave inquiries hanging around without a response.
"For this generation, this is a normal way of communicating and their expectations are very high. You can’t leave things a week or two. Email is slower.”