A B-School Social Media Ranking?

2013 B-School Social Media Rankings

This week, MBA50.com released its rankings of business schools’ social media reach. In compiling Twitter followers, Facebook likes, Linkedin followers and YouTube subscribers, MBA50 determined that Harvard Business School edged out Stanford in influence.

According to MBA50’s research, Stanford had nearly double the Twitter followers of either Harvard or Wharton. What’s more, Stanford had over a third more YouTube subscribers than Harvard (and nearly eight times more subscribers than nearby Haas). However, Harvard made up those deficits by quadrupling Stanford’s Linkedin followers and generating over 50,000 more Facebook likes.

In fact, Harvard and Stanford were far-and-away the most popular business schools on social media–when measured by followers on Twitter and LinkedIn, likes on Facebook, and subscribers on YouTube. Each of them doubled the totals of Wharton and Darden. What’s more, Harvard and Stanford each had more followers, subscribers and likes than the combined totals of those schools ranked sixth through ten, which includes Yale and Booth.

The big surprise: Darden came in fourth, just behind the Big Three.

So what does this all mean? First, it shows that many powerhouse programs are behind the curve. By not devoting more resources to social media, they are potentially losing students, ceding ground to emerging competitors like MOOCs, and failing to capitalize on their brand. As Matt Symonds, chief editor of MBA50, notes in his accompanying Forbes column, schools are also sending prospective students mixed signals:

“While MBA applicants are advised to review their own social media presence as part of the admissions process, what level of online engagement can they expect from the schools they aspire to enroll with?”

Please note that the MBA50 research did not “take into account the active participation of those that like, follow or subscribe.” The followers, subscribers, and likes could also theoretically overlap, though that would reflect passion towards a particular institution. Symonds also adds that social media outlets are not necessarily equal in value:

“A strong case could also be made for the respective value of a YouTube subscriber consuming hours of video content versus a fan or follower elsewhere.”

Here is MBA50’s overall ranking of the top five business schools:

Rank & School	Twitter	Facebook	LinkedIn	YouTube	Total
1. Harvard	67,811	121,678	32,670	32,436	254,595
2. Stanford	113,560	71,662	8,533	53,797	247,552
3. UPenn (Wharton)	63,670	37,285	18,523	6,070	125,548
4. Virginia (Darden)	14,017	71,850	11,991	6,012	103,870
5. MIT (Sloan)	40,943	25,061	7,878	1,237	75,119

To see where schools like Columbia, Northwestern, Yale rank in social media influence, click below:

Rankings: MBA50.com

Additional Source: Forbes

Top Business Schools For Innovation

Social media wasn’t the only business school rankings unveiled this week. QS TopMBA.com also shared its ranking of the top business schools for innovation, as measured in its QS Global 200 Business Schools Report. The ranking, based off 3000 responses from employers worldwide, is measured according to innovation found in curriculum and research. We take these rankings with a very big grain of salt and suggest you do as well.

In any case, this year Stanford replaced MIT as the most innovative business school globally. INSEAD leapfrogged Wharton for fourth, while European powerhouses IMD and IESE slipped into the Top 10, displacing NYU Stern and the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. American business schools showing the greatest improvement over the past two years include Cornell (S.C. Johnson) and Duke (Fuqua).

QS TopMBA made special note of MIT Sloan for its innovative practices. For example, Sloan partners with other departments on science and technology research. They provide a separate Entrepreneurship and Innovation track used by over 100 students, along with trimming required classes so students are freed to pursue more electives. What’s more, Sloan runs the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition, to help student teams launch businesses and spur innovation.

Here are the top dozen schools as measured by QS TopMBA:

1) Stanford

2) MIT (Sloan)

3) Harvard

4) INSEAD

5) University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)

6) London Business School

7) IE Business School

8) Northwestern (Kellogg)

9) IMD

10) IESE Business School (University of Navarra)

11) New York University (Stern)