A recent report has put the University of Cambridge first in a study of the “visibility” of leading UK universities on popular social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter.

The ranking, published by online market researcher Econsultancy, reflects the number of ‘links’ recorded between the websites of Russell Group universities and six major social networking sites. On Facebook, for example, the study measured the number of likes, comments or shares a university page received.

Universities will be relieved to learn that they have a generally healthy presence on these new media, with Econsultancy estimating that a weekly average of 207, 900 ‘links’ were made to their content in the eight week period the study spanned. It came as no surprise that Facebook was the most effective resource for universities, responsible for over 80% of the connections between a university and users of social media.

Cambridge University topped the table with an impressive ‘visibility’ score of 462, 823, narrowly pushing rivals Oxford, on a total of 442,758, into second place. Languishing at the bottom of the table was the University of Sheffield, which drew only 9,912 links in the period assessed, a figure which amounts to little more than 2% of the Cambridge social network presence.

When asked to comment, Cambridge University was satisfied with its position at the top of the rankings. Barney Brown, Digital Communications Manager at the University, said that Cambridge has been making a “concerted effort to use social media effectively” by creating “engaging web content” and using a “range of media channels”.

He declared the University to be particularly proud of the success of its new ‘Under the Microscope’ videos, which offer short and accessible insights into Cambridge research. A recent episode has become the university’s most watched film to date on YouTube, attracting over a quarter of a million views in its first week on the site.
Although the report showed that the majority of content was shared with current students of the universities, Cambridge University now hopes to use social media to “open Cambridge up to the world”.

A presence on social media also appears to have a considerable impact on student-run Cambridge activities. When this correspondent spoke to her Varsity section editor, she learned that the number of hits an article receives on the Varsity website sharply increases when it has been publicised on social media, particularly on Facebook.

It also appears that we trust general perceptions of what is worth reading, as many of those who regularly visit this newspaper’s website report that their first port of call is the ‘most read’ or ‘most shared’ sections of the website.

Students concur that visibility on social networks is now almost essential for Cambridge societies and events to be noticed. Carol Cheng, a law student at Murray Edwards, said that she hears about things on social networks that she doubts would otherwise have come to her attention, adding that Facebook in particular provides “a much more efficient, wide reaching and faster way of sharing information.”