I dipped into Engaging Students through Social Media: Evidence-Based Practices for Use in Student Affairs by Rey Junco with great expectations, and it did not disappoint. Mixing practical steps with assessed practices, this book is the guide every student affairs practitioner needs to read when it comes to social media. Covering everything from basic information about the most popular platforms to how to assess social media practice, this book not only gives a sprinkling of wisdom about everyday work student affairs professionals should be engaging in, it shares exactly how they can do that.

Some of my favorite parts included the information about adult normative and youth normative perspectives – something many of us have probably run into in our work. The adult normative perspective, according to the book, “takes a prescriptive and authoritarian approach to understanding youth social media use.” On the other hand, the youth normative perspective “attempts to understand young people’s experiences through their viewpoint.” This gave me a better understanding of some of the obstacles I have faced myself when attempting to use social media for programming and advising efforts.

I also appreciated that this book provided lots of background for why we should be using social media with our students. Sometimes one of the most challenging aspects of introducing social media use to a program or practice is convincing those around us that it is worthwhile. This book does a great job of providing context and data that can easily be shared with colleagues.

This is definitely a book that I will be recommending to my colleagues. And probably a book I’ll be reading again.

Did you read Engaging Students through Social Media? What did you think?

> BONUS <

Podcast With Dave Kerpen on Authenticity/ Branding on Social Media