Penn State’s brand is strong: In a comprehensive study, collegeatlas.org ranked it seventh of the nation’s 400 largest universities in social media influence and 11th in social media engagement.

The study employed several algorithms to analyze the five major social media networks — Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and Instagram. Penn State received an A in all categories but Twitter, for which it got a B.

Some examples of its brand in action:

Everything’s looking ducky on Old Main lawn this morning. pic.twitter.com/wfDpRZBffB — Penn State (@penn_state) May 3, 2014

The study included 30 parameters, weighing audience size and engagement heavily. Penn State did particularly well in its use of LinkedIn, ranking #3 in the nation. It got props for its authoritative yet reassuring nature and link to its LinkedIn on psu.edu, which the two universities ranked above it, University of Phoenix and Cal, do not have.

Harvard’s social media influence was ranked the highest, followed by Texas A&M and Stanford, while A&M, Harvard, and University of Phoenix topped out the engagement rankings. Big Ten schools did very well as far as overall influence, with Michigan (#4), Michigan State (#10), Wisconsin (#11), Purdue (#12), and Ohio State (#18) all also getting a nod. It had a strong showing in engagement as well, with five schools cracking the top 10: Michigan (#4), Purdue (#5), Wisconsin (#6), Indiana (9), and Michigan State (#10).

This is the second recognition Penn State’s social media has received recently — Times Higher Education has ranked @penn_state sixth in Twitter influence.

Geoff Rushton, whose work is documented here, is the manager of Penn State’s Social Media, and maintains a strong personal brand himself.