The Illustrious Twitter University: How Social Media Has Changed the HBCU Experience

When one makes the decision on where they plan to expand upon their education and attend a college or university, they are overwhelmed with the variety of options that come with choosing a school. One of the options that a prospective college student must choose from is an Historically Black College or University, or HBCU for short. An HBCU is a form of an American college that were created to provide educational opportunities for African Americans (Gasman, 2013, p.5). By keeping low and achievable admissions requirements, many African Americans were provided with the opportunity to receive an education (Gasman, 2013, p.5). Today, HBCU’s are viewed as a way for young black people to pursue a higher education without the cloud of prejudice and discrimination looming over their heads as they receive their degrees. Overtime, HBCU’s have grown, expanded, and updated. The HBCU experience, although slightly different between campuses, is one that makes you feel as though you are with family, you’re comfortable with truly being who you are,, finding what you’re good at, and ultimately graduating a better, educated, and wiser in being a African American than when you started. When making the comparison of the HBCU experience throughout the decades, one can see the stark differences from the way that students interact with one another to the turnout of campus events. The major factor in these differences, when comparing the modern day HBCU experience to the 90’s HBCU experience, is the usage of the internet, mainly in the form of social media. If we were without social media, in today’s day and age, the HBCU experience would be the same as it was two decades ago; therefore, one can conclude that social media has completely changed the HBCU experience.

Although students use social media, colleges and universities use social media to serve as their form of public relations with their patrons to inform their students of emergencies and changes on campus, recruit prospective students, and build a relationship with their students (Ridley, n.d.). Many resources on campus as well as the administrative resources utilize social media to share information with students of the institution as far as changes in operational hours or even school closing: “Campus Recreation Closing early on Wednesday! We hope all Eagles enjoy Thanksgiving Break! @NCCULife @NCCU_SAB” (NCCU Campus Rec, 2017, November 20). This route is very effective due to the fact that many students on a college campus have a cellular device and a social media account. Colleges and universities also use social media for recruitment methods to share campus life as it happens through Instagram photos, YouTube videos, and tweets (Ridley, n.d.). By creating an online community of the specific college, prospective students can just search up a hashtag or the school name and really be able to see what life is like at a specific institution: “they can really get a sense of what life is like on campus through social media….” (Pidaparthy, 2011). Institutions, such as Johns Hopkins University, have created social media campaign solely for recruiting top students to their school (Pidaparthy, 2011). Institutions’ use social media to also create connections with their students by giving recognition through tweets and answering students’ questions via social media (Ridley, n.d.). Social media allows students and their superiors to connect on a more personal level and allow their superiors to seem more approachable when there are issues that arise. Institutions utilize social media in various way to inform current students on relevant information, recruit prospective students, and to build a connection between the institution itself, and its students.

With how engrossed social media is in the lives of college students, the current HBCU experience is vastly different than the experience prior to the internet, but the usage of social media in college has positive outcomes. A positive outcome of social media usage on college campuses is the increase in campus involvement, defined by Mastrodicasa and Metellus (2013) as the social capital. In short social capital are the benefits that individuals receive through social relationships and interactions with others (Mastrodicasa & Metellus, 2013). Through school and class hashtags students are able to post and interact with each other over topics ranging from posting pictures for likes, to canvasing about a survey for students to voice their opinion on the dining hall and the food it provides. Another benefit of social media usage on college campuses is the increase in student engagement: “social media acts as an accelerant for student protests and makes weak ties stronger” (Mastrodicasa & Metellus, 2013); and, according to a study, researched by Mastrodicasa and Metellus (2013), it was found that “civic participation, life satisfaction, and social trust were related to the intensity of college students’ Facebook use.” Social media provides a platform for students to discuss the issues that they may have with the campus to their fellow peers, student leaders, and superiors as well as connecting with like minded individuals in a virtual way. Social media provides the opportunity for college students from all kinds of HBCUs to connect, compare, contrast, and enhance their college experiences. An example of social media sparking changes in the HBCU experience is the posting of the poor living conditions of students at Hampton University sparking the posting of the housing and financial aid issues that students at Howard University are currently going through. Through seeing the problems going on at two of the most popular HBCUs, many other HBCU students at other campuses are demanding change to enhance their HBCU experience by changing the meal options on campus, to demanding for a better housing process. The platform of social media has positively sparked changes to come on various HBCU campuses and made the students that attend them more attentive to their institution and the problems that accompany it.

Although social media is a tool that is very beneficial and helps to build the institution, it has its drawbacks in how it changed the HBCU experience. Many students that attend an HBCU tend to crave the HBCU experience that is portrayed in the television show, “A Different World” and thank movies and shows like such as the defining reason for why they chose to attend an HBCU: “’I was introduced to HBCUs through movies and tv shows like #ADifferentWorld and #StompTheYard’” (MyHBCUInterview, 2018, March 28). “A Different World” was a sitcom about the life of being a young black student at an HBCU, you grew fond of every character as you watched them grow and come into their own throughout the seasons. Fans of the show can’t help but to wish for the lifestyle portrayed in the show yet, are let down when they attend an HBCU in today’s day and age, it’s not the same, and this is due to the advancement of technology specifically in the form of social media. The family aspect of the HBCU is suppressed due to twitter pages that dedicate themselves to tearing down other individuals that attend their institution, for example, North Carolina Central University students have built a twitter page dedicated to such behaviors entitled “nccuconfessions.” Their tweets range from wild sexual stories with classmates to making uncomfortable comments on fellow students. Even pages dedicated to the HBCU experience have a platform for students at any HBCU to voice their confessions such as the page “HBCUConfess.” Although entertaining, it does place HBCUs in a negative light as well as heighten tensions between students throughout the campus, preventing the true HBCU experience from taking effect.

To close, social media has completely changed the HBCU experience in progressive, positive, and negative ways. The institutions’ usage of social media has allowed for students to be connected to the school on a more personal level. By allowing students easy access to asking and receiving answers on topics and to allow them to connect with their student leaders, the school can progress in maintenance and overall quality of the school. HBCU students’ usage of social media has positively impacted the HBCU experience by allowing students with the ability to connect with students that attend other HBCUs and allowing students to be more verbal and attentive in their institutions in order to create change on their campus to enhance their HBCU experience. Lastly, social media has also negatively change the HBCU experience by making it less of a family environment. Social media allows anyone to post whatever they want whenever they want weather it be through an embarrassing video posted on Snapchat or a shady post on Twitter that causes drama on the campus between fellow students. All in all, the HBCU experience is ever changing, but in order to return to the family feel of the HBCU experience that is expressed on “A Different World,” we need to disconnect from virtuality and connect with reality.

References

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