Social Networks and University Communication: The Challenges of Universidad Veracruzana in the Time of the Internet

Abstract

The use of the Internet and social media has transformed the world of communication. Citizen empowerment through these technologies has been very controversial, and public universities in Mexico are not an exception because this issue is of special political and social importance. Thus, the article “Social Networks and University Communication: The Challenges of the Universidad Veracruzana in the Era of Internet” is intended to reflect on the many facets of this epiphenomenon. On the one hand, the reconversion of their use must be located in the context of the sociological causes that determine these attitudes towards anything that is considered an authority. A second thought is conceptual in nature and is related to the economic and political situation that universities in Mexico live, specifically in the state of Veracruz. A third reflection is stated in epistemological terms because a traditionalist approach to communication still prevails, which is vital to transcend with a modern vision of what is happening on the stage of globalization. The challenge then is to overcome the demonization of this means for the Internet and social networks to be included in a policy of university communication with fair assertiveness to form better citizens, which, in the future agenda, will surely be one of the main challenges for higher education in Mexico, most likely in Latin America and perhaps in the world.