PULSE Communications Survey

The Communications Survey aimed to gather information on students’ use of and preference for various communication methods at Penn State University Park. Results from the Fall 2018 administration of the survey reveal that:

• Preferences for communications from Penn State
  • The majority of students prefer to receive information about News/information, programs/events, and resources/services from Penn State via email.
  • About half of students (49.3%) prefer to receive weekly emails from Penn State.
• Social media usage
  • Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram are the most used social media platforms, while Flickr and Tumblr are the least used.
  • 65.6% of students currently use Facebook and 49.8% use Instagram to connect with Penn State offices and units.
• Interest in news and newspapers
  • Overall, the top three types of news students prefer to read is national news (64.7%), campus news (62.2%), and world news (59.7%).
  • For campus-related news, most students read The Collegian (42.2%) and Onward State (37.1%).
• Awareness of digital and print media
  • Regarding digital media, 87.2% of students find out information through a Google (or other search engine) search.
  • The most-seen type of print media on campus was flyers (81.7%), while the least seen was brochures (30.1%).
• Radio and video usage
  • 57.0% of students do not listen to the radio, while 31.2% listen to local stations.
  • To get more information about something, 62.3% of students prefer to read about it, while 37.7% prefer to watch a video about it.

For more information, please visit the PULSE Archive Page to view or download the Campus Recreation Survey Report.