Students Share Experiences Abroad on Snapchat

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 23, 2016) — Across the country, universities are leveraging Snapchat for recruitment purposes — showing prospective students what life is like through the eyes of a current undergraduate. University of Kentucky Education Abroad globalized the idea.

Each Tuesday during the summer term, a different UK student studying abroad participated in UK Education Abroad’s #TakeoverTuesday campaign. Students “took over” UK Education Abroad’s account and gave a glimpse of what their experience abroad was like to other students and UK Education Abroad’s Snapchat friends.

UK Education Abroad will extend its #TakeoverTuesday campaign into the current fall semester, giving more students a first-hand insight into what participating in an education abroad program is like.

“The goal of this initiative was to show that education abroad is accessible to all students,” said Austin Hughes, promotions and outreach coordinator for UK Education Abroad. “While a vast majority of students say they are interested in studying abroad during college, only about 15 percent of the class of 2015 did so at UK.”

UK senior Elliot Bray said that, as a marketing major, he believes Snapchat is one of the most efficient and effective ways of communicating.

“The ability to share my experiences in Singapore through Snapchat gave students in the U.S. an up-close and personal perspective as to how amazing Education Abroad really is,” Bray said.

Snapchat is a growing image and multimedia-sharing platform with over 110 million daily, active users. The @ukyabroad Snapchat account was launched in September 2015 and has seen a two-fold increase to 520 followers since the #Takeover campaign launched.

UK is the University for Kentucky. At UK, we are educating more students, treating more patients with complex illnesses and conducting more research and service than at any time in our 150-year history. To read more about the UK story and how you can support continued investment in your university and the Commonwealth, go to: uky.edu/uk4ky. #uk4ky #seeblue

MEDIA CONTACT: Gail Hairston, 859-257-3302, gail.hairston@uky.edu