Abstract:

Reputation is a critical issue for Higher Education Institutions (HEI) demanding to attract and retain students in today's competitive world. Nowadays, with the advance of social media is also important to compare online engagement of Higher Education Institutions with its position on rankings.

Purpose:
This paper is based on an international research study with the objective of analyzing the relationship between webometrics ranking, facebook engagement and website engagement in Higher Education Institutions.

Methodology:
Utilizing quantitive analysis based on Webometrics Ranking to analyse online reputation, this paper provides insights of the top 100 universities in webometrics ranking, relation with facebook and website engagement of HEIs.

Originality:
The originality of this study is demonstrated by the using of facebook engagement rate in relation to website and online reputation namely trough higher education ranking Webometrics. As we can understand nowadays is not only important the number of fans or visits to a website but also the engagement that they have. So, it’s crucial to analyze if the level of engagement could have a positive impact on the ranking in webometrics. On the other hand, it’s relevant to understand if the greater engagement on Facebook as also a greater engagement on the website.

Theoretical and managerial implications about facebook engagement importance to HEIs are provided leading to directions for future research.

Keywords:

Facebook Engagement, Website Engagement, Webometrics ranking.