SOCIAL MEDIA TO INVOLVE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS IN THE RECEIVING UNIVERSITY LIFE: A CASE STUDY

Social media has been appointed as a key socialization agent on domestic university students. The present study aims at analysing the use of social media by international students and, in particular, if they interact in the social media profiles of their receiving institution. The results of a survey on 100 international students at the Faculty of Economics of the Universitat de Valencia (Spain) reveals the intensive use of Social Media -in terms of number of social media used, years of experience and frequency of use-by international students. In contrast, our findings show scarce attention and participation of international students in the activity of the host university institution through their different social media profiles. From this evidence, implications for university community managers for social media planning are inferred. In general, it is evidenced that the management of the university profiles in social media may have a great potential to enhance the brand image of the receiving institution and to engage international students in activities as well as in the community of the receiving institution.