PilotLabs IBS - Facebook analysis rankings

Christian SiebmannsGina KunkDr. Peter Stegelmann

Analysis of Facebook PagesRankings

November 2012

EDU-CON Strategic Education Consulting GmbHSalzbergener Str. 64

D-48431 Rheine

FON: 0049[0]5971.911 210FAX: 0049[0]5971.911 21-29

Internet: www.edu-con.eEmail: [email protected]

Prokuristin: Dr. Gertrud HovestadtGeschäftsführer: Dr. Peter Stegelmann

Handelsregister Steinfurt: HRB 4130USt-Nr.: 311/5821/1705

USt-ID-Nr.: DE231174389

IndexA Introduction

B Research Method

C Criteria I. Introduction II. Find-Rate III. Number of Likes/Friends IV. Post Count V. Likes by Users VI. Comments by Users VII. Shares by Users VIII. User Interaction IX. Photos X. Videos XI. Degree programs XII. Admission requirements XIII. Testimonials XIV. Housing XV. University City XVI. Social Media

D Rankings

E Conclusion

A Introduction

This is an analysis of Facebook Pages of Universities and Universities of Applied Sciences from the Netherlands, Germany and Great Britain as presented at our annual Social Media Seminar on November 15th. The idea was to find out how universities advertise themselves to prospective students on Facebook. The analysis focuses on how prospective students view Facebook pages. The entire analysis was conducted by two prospective students. In the beginning we developed criteria on what was important for making study choices (e.g. degree programs, admission requirements, testimonials etc.).

246 Facebook pages have been analyzed in total: 55 The Netherlands, 98 Germany, 93 Great Britain

This is the only analysis of Facebook Pages of educational institutes we know of, so if you have any questions or suggestions on how to improve the re-search method, feel free to contact us.

B Research Method

The data of the analysis was directly gathered on Facebook by two prospective students. The criteria were developed by prospective students who will begin their studies within the next two years. The result formulas were developed by the prospective students in cooperation with the EDU-Research team.

mailto:conference%40edu-con.de?subject=Feedback%20on%20Facebook%20Analysis

C Criteria

I. IntroductionFacebook has become an important tool for marketing. Therefore it is important for universities and universities of applied sciences to be active on Fa-cebook. It can be used as an effective marketing tool to attract prospective students. What is important for prospective students when selecting a degree program and university? To find out we did brainstorming at the office with all the people who will start studying within the next two years. We wanted to find out what is important to us as prospective students, when we look for a place to study. Our five most important aspects were:

• Information about the university• Information about the degree program/faculty & admission requirements• Testimonials from current students• Information about the university city• Impressions of the university (in the form of pictures and videos etc.)

From this list we deduced a list of criteria for Facebook pages.

II. Find RateThe first thing prospective students have to do to find information about the educational institute is find an information source. Sometimes it is not easy to find a university page on Facebook because of influencing factors, such as the name of the page.

Therefore the first criterion was the Find-Rate. The question was: If we search for a university by name on Facebook, how well can we find it?By clicking on the first result which was displayed and landing on the correct page, it meant that the Find-Rate was Excellent.If a time span of ten seconds for consideration where to click was needed, the rating was Average.The rating was Bad if a page was chosen but it turned out as unofficial or an automatically by Facebook created Community Page. If no page was found, it was marked as such.

Facebook sorts its search results by a number or different factors. It is suspected that they consider how much you are paying them for advertising.Prospective students do not care if the page of the university is hard to find. They want to find out about their study and will look elsewhere to get the desi-red information.

III. Number of Likes/FriendsHow many people have liked the page of the college? If the college still uses a Facebook profile (and not a page), the friends of the profile will be counted instead.

IV. Post CountBeginning in July 2012, all the posts by the university in June 2012 were counted. To simplify the counting process, actions automatically posted by Face-book like cover picture changes or upload of photos were counted as posts as well.

V. Likes by UsersHow often did page visitors like the posts of the university? It is important to note that the analysis was started in July, but this is no guarantee that the Likes were actually counted in July. This is considered the easiest form of interaction for the user, since it only requires a single click.

VI. Comments by UsersHow often did users comment on the posts by the college in June 2012? The quality was not judged, just the total number of comments. Also comments by the college itself were not excluded. This was considered a stronger form of interaction than giving a like because it requires a thought and some time.

VII. Shares by UsersHow often did the users share the posts by the college? This was considered the strongest form of interaction, because it makes the university’s post appear on the user’s timeline and the user can still add his/her own description.

VIII. User InteractionSometimes students and prospective students ask questions that need to be answered. Here it was important to determine who answers those. Possible options for this criterion are: University, Visitors, Both and Unascertainable.

Of course it is important for the university to maintain their page and keep contact with their target group, but the rating is even better if other users who are not closely involved with the university answered the questions. This shows that they care enough to stay on the page for a longer period of time and take an interest in its content.

On some pages this interaction is simply not there or questions are not answered, so this criterion cannot be determined which resulted in a bad rating.

IX. PhotosMost people are familiar with the bounce rate which determines how long someone stays on a site to look at its content. The bounce rate for this criterion was ten seconds. Every user will have made the decision whether or not he or she wants to take a look at the photos after ten seconds or go back to the previous page. Therefore it is usually better to have a good album structure and many high resolution pictures.

Here very few and/or low quality photos qualified as Bad. A few photos of good quality made the result Average. A lot of high quality photos meant an Excellent result.Flickr and Pinterest where included in the inspection as well.

It is important to say that especially for this criterion, the measurement was a bit subjective because everyone will have a different opinion.

X. VideosThe rating for the Videos criterion was very similar to the Photos one. The time before the judgement of the videos added up to twenty seconds because sometimes.Very few videos of bad quality result in a Bad rating. A few videos lead to an Average and a lot of high quality videos mean an Excellent rating.If there were no videos available, it was marked as such. YouTube was also included in the analysis.

It is important to say that especially for this criterion, the measurement was a bit subjective because everyone will have a different opinion.

XI. Degree programsInformation on degree programs is usually the first thing prospective students look for. Therefore it is important to add that information in places where they will look – such as the Facebook page of the university. It turned out that information on degree programs was mostly nonexistent, but if it was available, it was usually a list of links to the websites.

Here the rating could be Excellent, Average or Link to Website, Bad and Not found.

XII. Admission requirementsAdmission requirements are usually displayed on the same site as the degree programs. That is why they were mostly nonexistent as well. But if they were available, they were simply links to the website.The rating is the same as for degree programs.

XIII. TestimonialsIt was looked for testimonials. If there were at least two, testimonials were considered Available. All forms of testimonials were legit (videos, text etc.). Links to testimonials on the university website were rated as Link to website.

XIV. HousingProspective students oftentimes have problems finding a place to stay and sometimes the university offers help with finding an accommodation. Here the option for the rating were either Available or Link to Website and Not available.Housing might be important in some seasons, like at the start of a semester.

XV. University CityIncluded in this criterion were photos and videos, and apps that were specially created for giving information on the town. The measurement here was subjective.The rating could be Appealing, Link to Website and Unappealing or Not found.

XVI. Social MediaDoes the university offer other ways to connect? All social media platforms were legit. If there was at least one other social media platform offered (for example in the form of an app) on Facebook it was rated Available otherwise Not availabe.

D Rankings

All the presences were analyzed using the criteria explained earlier. The results were then entered into the House formula found in the graphic below. The post criteria (Shares, Comments, Likes) were entered into the Life in the house formula. Both results were then multiplied to get the final score.

To get comparable results, institutes were divided into weight categories determined by their student count.

Only the rateable results are listed. Rateable in this case means that a page or profile was found, and that neither the House nor the Life Score equaled zero.

EDU-CON Social Media Seminar 2012Analysis of Facebook Pages - Rankings

Universities with less than 1000 students:

Universities with 1000 to 20000 students:

I. The Netherlands

Name of the University Find-Rate User Interaction Photos Videos Programs Admissions Testimonials University Town Housing Social Media House Score Life Score Final Result

Pabo Hogeschool Helicon 5 3 3 1 5 2 1 2 2 1 1800 167 300600

Hogeschool Edith Stein 5 3 5 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 375 255 95625

Design Academy Eindhoven 3 1 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 30 54 1620

Windesheim Honours College 5 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 15 80 1200

Iselinge Hogeschool 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 10 84 840

Gerrit Rietveld Academie 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 36 108


Wageningen University 5 3 5 5 5 2 3 3 2 2 135000 336 45360000

Technische Universiteit Delft 5 3 5 3 3 2 1 1 1 2 2700 439 1185300

Universiteit Maastricht 5 3 5 5 1 1 1 1 2 2 1500 507 760500

Christelijke Argrarische Hogeschool Dronten 5 2 5 1 3 2 3 2 1 1 1800 216 388800

Hogeschool van Hall Larenstein 5 1 5 5 3 2 1 1 1 2 1500 64 96000

HZ University of Applied Sciences 5 3 3 3 1 1 5 1 1 1 675 108 72900

Technische Universiteit Eindhoven 5 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 2 270 251 67770

Stenden University of Applied Sciences 3 3 5 5 1 1 1 1 1 2 450 64 28800

HAS Den Bosch 3 3 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 45 152 6840

Gereformeerde Hogeschool 5 1 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 25 264 6600

6 of 12 rateable



Leiden University 1 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 2 54 56 3024

NHTV Breda 5 2 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 100 20 2000

Universiteit Twente 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 54 22 1188

Open Universiteit 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 10 107 1070

Hogeschool Tio 3 2 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 60 6 360

HBO nederland 5 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 15 20 300

Tilburg University 5 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 30 8 240

ArtEZ Institute of the Arts 3 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 24 216

Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten 3 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 18 162

Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen 3 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 8 72


Rijksuniversiteit Groningen 5 3 5 5 3 2 3 2 2 2 54000 105 5670000

Hogeschool van Amsterdam 5 1 3 5 3 2 3 2 2 2 10800 158 1706400

Saxion Hogeschool 3 3 5 5 3 2 1 2 2 2 10800 68 734400

The Hague University of Applied Sciences 5 3 5 5 3 2 1 1 2 2 9000 16 144000

HAN 3 3 5 5 3 2 1 1 1 2 2700 40 108000

Hanzehogeschool Groningen 1 3 5 5 3 2 3 1 1 2 1800 51 91800

Hogeschool InHolland 5 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 135 116 15660

Universiteit van Amsterdam 3 2 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 30 81 2430

Fontys Hogescholen 3 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 18 78 1404

Avans Hogeschool 5 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 45 31 1395

Erasmus Universiteit Amsterdam 3 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 3 27

20 of 28 rateable

11 of 15 rateable

Universities with more than 20000 students:




II. Germany


EBC Hochschule 3 2 3 3 3 2 1 1 1 2 648 124 80352

Karlshochschule International University 5 3 5 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 375 125 46875

Deutsche Sporthochschule Köln 5 3 3 1 3 2 1 1 1 1 270 139 37530

Deutsche Universität für Weiterbildung 5 2 3 5 3 1 1 1 1 1 450 77 34650

Mediadesign Hochschule für Design und Informatik 5 1 5 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 250 111 27750

Hochschule Bochum 3 3 1 1 5 2 1 1 1 1 90 216 19440


Universität Potsdam 5 3 5 3 5 3 1 1 1 2 6750 149 1005750

Universität Bremen 3 2 5 5 1 1 5 1 1 1 750 262 196500

Universität Bielefeld 5 2 3 1 3 2 1 3 1 1 540 304 164160

Universität Erfurt 5 1 5 3 1 3 1 1 1 2 450 284 127800

TU Bergakademie Freiberg 5 2 5 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 405 152 61560

Hochschule Ruhr West 5 3 5 5 3 1 1 1 1 1 1125 49 55125

Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg 5 2 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 2 540 97 52380

Universität Hohenheim 5 1 3 5 5 2 1 1 1 1 750 65 48750

Universität Mannheim 5 1 3 5 3 1 1 1 1 2 450 91 40950

TU Braunschweig 5 2 5 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 250 97 24250

6 of 21 rateable



Universität Stuttgart 5 3 5 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 375 97 36375

TU Ilmenau 5 2 3 1 3 2 1 1 1 2 360 85 30600

Otto-von-Guericke Universität Magdeburg 5 1 5 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 75 261 19575

Universität Paderborn 5 3 3 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 225 87 19575

Fachhochschule Münster 1 2 5 3 3 1 1 1 1 2 180 89 16020

Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg 5 2 3 1 3 2 1 1 1 1 180 78 14040

Hochschule Ostwestfalen-Lippe 5 3 5 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 225 53 11925

Universität Trier 5 2 3 1 3 1 1 2 1 1 180 52 9360

Fachhochschule Bielefeld 3 2 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 54 152 8208

Universität Konstanz 5 2 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 60 97 5820

Leuphana Universität Lüneburg 5 2 3 1 3 1 1 3 2 1 540 10 5400

Universität Siegen 5 2 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 90 57 5130

Fachhochschule Köln 5 1 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 135 35 4725

Universität Augsburg 5 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 15 268 4020

Universität Bayreuth 5 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 15 169 2535

Universität Rostock 5 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 15 38 570

Fachhochschule Dortmund 5 1 5 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 125 4 500

Fachhochschule Düsseldorf 3 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 47 423

Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf 1 2 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 70 420

Leibniz Universität Hannover 5 2 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 30 12 360

Universität Regensburg 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 56 168

Europa-Universität Viadrina 5 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 15 10 150

TU Hamburg-Harburg 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 22 132

Fachhochschule Südwestfalen 5 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 15 4 60

34 of 55 rateable




Universität Bonn 5 2 5 5 3 2 1 3 1 1 4500 230 1035000

Universität Leipzig 5 1 5 5 3 2 1 2 1 2 3000 163 489000

RWTH Aachen 5 2 3 3 5 3 1 3 1 1 4050 74 299700

Humboldt Universität zu Berlin 5 3 3 3 3 2 1 1 1 2 1620 182 294840

Universität Duisburg-Essen 5 3 5 1 3 2 3 2 1 1 2700 52 140400

Universität Hamburg 5 2 3 1 3 2 1 1 2 1 360 377 135720

Ruhr Universität Bochum 5 2 5 1 3 2 1 2 1 1 600 209 125400

Goethe Universität Frankfurt 5 2 3 5 1 1 1 1 1 2 300 377 113100

Universität zu Köln 5 2 5 5 3 2 1 1 1 2 3000 34 102000

TU München 5 2 5 5 1 1 1 1 1 2 500 86 43000

Fernuni Hagen 5 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 45 162 7290

Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz 5 2 5 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 250 20 5000

Universität München 5 1 3 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 75 64 4800

Universität Würzburg 3 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 18 144 2592

Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg 5 2 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 50 37 1850

TU Darmstadt 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 56 336

Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster 1 1 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 28 252

TU Berlin 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 69 69

18 of 22 rateable




III. Great Britain


Regent‘s College London 5 3 3 5 3 2 1 1 2 2 5400 2 10800

Askham Bryan College 5 3 3 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 135 9 1215

Cranfield University 5 2 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 30 9 270

Leeds College of Art 5 1 1 5 3 1 1 1 1 1 75 3 225

University of Buckingham 5 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 15 8 120

City College Norwich 5 2 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 60 1 60

St. George‘s University of London 3 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 2 18

Barking and Dagenham College 3 1 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 15 1 15

Cardiff Business School 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 5 3 15


Oxford Brookes University 5 3 3 5 5 3 3 2 2 2 81000 1 81000

University of Sussex 5 3 5 3 3 1 5 3 1 2 20250 3 60750

University of Glamorgan 5 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 135 81 10935

University of Gloucestershire 5 2 5 5 3 1 5 1 1 2 7500 1 7500

Roehampton University 5 3 3 3 3 2 3 1 1 2 4860 1 4860

Loughborough University 1 2 3 3 3 1 5 1 1 2 540 8 4320

University of Leicester 5 2 5 3 3 1 3 3 1 1 4050 1 4050

Edinburgh Napier University 5 2 3 5 1 1 5 1 1 2 1500 1 1500

9 of 11 rateable



London South Bank University 5 2 3 5 1 1 5 1 1 2 1500 1 1500

Bangor University 5 2 3 5 1 1 5 1 1 2 1500 1 1500

University of Warwick 5 1 5 5 1 1 5 1 1 2 1250 1 1250

Royal Holloway University 5 2 3 1 3 1 5 1 1 2 900 1 900

University of Derby 5 3 5 1 5 1 1 1 1 2 750 1 750

University of Hull 5 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 2 270 2 540

Staffordshire University 5 3 5 3 1 1 1 1 1 2 450 1 450

Southampton Solent University 5 3 5 3 1 1 1 1 1 2 450 1 450

Glasgow Caledonian University 5 2 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 2 180 2 360

Aston University 3 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 36 324

Anglia Ruskin University 1 2 5 3 1 1 5 1 1 2 300 1 300

University of Aberdeen 3 2 5 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 90 3 270

City College Brighton and Hove 5 1 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 2 270 1 270

University of Reading 1 1 5 1 3 1 1 1 1 2 30 8 240

University of Westminster 5 1 3 5 1 1 1 3 1 1 225 1 225

University of Greenwich 5 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 15 13 195

Nottingham Trent University 5 1 5 3 1 1 1 1 1 2 150 1 150

Bournemouth University 1 1 1 1 3 2 3 1 2 2 72 2 144

Canterbury Christ Church University 5 2 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 90 1 90

University of Cambridge 5 1 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 2 90 1 90

University of Dundee 5 3 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 75 1 75

Goldsmiths, University of London 5 1 1 1 1 1 5 3 1 2 72 1 72

City College Norwich 5 2 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 60 1 60

Newcastle University 1 2 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 12 5 60

De Montfort University Leicester 5 2 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 60 1 60

University of Bolton 5 1 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 50 1 50

University of Bradford 5 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 45 1 45

University of Bedfordshire 5 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 45 1 45



Keele University 5 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 45 1 45

University of York 5 1 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 45 1 45

University of Bath 5 1 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 45 1 45

Middlesex University 5 1 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 25 1 25

Cardiff Metropolitan University 5 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 15 1 15

Imperial College London 5 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 15 1 15

University of Huddersfield 3 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 1 9

Oxford University 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 2 6 1 6

Swansea Metropolitan University 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 5 1 5

University College London 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 3

46 of 68 rateable



Sheffield Hallam University 5 2 3 3 1 1 5 3 1 2 2700 1 2700

University of Birmingham 3 1 5 5 3 1 1 1 1 2 450 4 1800

University of Sheffield 5 3 3 3 1 1 1 3 1 2 810 2 1620

Cardiff University 3 1 5 3 3 1 1 1 1 2 270 3 810

University of Central Lancashire 5 3 3 1 3 1 3 1 1 2 810 1 810

University of Nottingham 5 3 5 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 225 2 450

Edge Hill University 5 3 3 1 3 1 1 1 1 2 270 1 270

University of Leeds 1 2 5 3 1 1 1 1 1 2 60 4 240

University of Edinburgh 5 2 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 2 60 1 60

9 of 14 rateable

E Conclusion

From the rankings can be deduced that a lot of educational institutes do not use Facebook as a marketing tool to present themselves to prospective students. Especially information on degree programs and admission requirements is lacking. In addition, testimonials are rarely ever found.Most universities seem to provide a Facebook page as a service for current students, not for student recruitment.

The quality of photos and videos is surprisingly bad. Especially videos are oftentimes just not available. Photos have a very low resolution and usually do not show things prospective students actually want to see.

The Life in the House Scores are generally pretty low which means that the universities should boost user interaction in the form of likes, comments and shares on their own posts. It can be suspected that most of the posts are just not interesting enough.

Universities can deduce guidance from their individual score in the ranking.

All in all, there is still a lot of room to make Facebook presences more attractive to prospective students and therefore for Facebook Marketing.

PilotLabs IBS - Facebook analysis rankings

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