With over 340 000 people liking the University of Johannesburg’s (UJ) Facebook page, and a variety of topics posted almost daily, the University earned high honours in the 2018 Facebook world university rankings – placed in the top 200 of the newly released 2018 uniRank Facebook University Rankings. UJ is the only South African university ranked in the top 200 (at position 117).
Most universities establish their place in the global village and connect with their communities by making use of social networks and platforms. UJ has shown a good social media outlook, ranked above 8 000 other universities in the world.
“This ranking is an especially impressive achievement if we take into account that 8 293 official university Facebook pages were analysed worldwide. We are really proud of this feat, and this means that the only way up is to continue introducing better content and ways to engage the University community,” says Ms Lesmarie Bentley-Steyn, Acting Executive Director: Institutional Advancement, UJ.
uniRank selects universities for this ranking based on: (a) being accredited, licensed and/or chartered by the appropriate higher education-related organisation in their country; (b) offering at least four-year undergraduate degrees (Bachelor degrees) and/or postgraduate degrees (Master or Doctoral degrees); and (c) delivering courses predominantly in a traditional face-to-face, non-distance education format.
“The UJ Facebook page was created seven years ago after approaching a proud alumnus to assess whether UJ could access already involved and interested people and grow a community. From there, the page has grown organically and systematically. From a one part-time person behind the page postings in the first few years, to evolving strategies – the page reached an astounding growth expanding by 6 000 followers to 100 000 in a year! Despite a few paid-for campaigns and content strategies that underwhelmed and had to be reworked over and over, the page continues to evolve and now has a full-time team managing all sorts of interesting campaigns and daily interactions,” says Ms Dale Kitchin, Social Media Manager, UJ.
