facebook and you

Facebook and You:What students need to know

What is Facebook?

• According to Facebook.com: “Facebook is an online directory that connects people through social networks at schools.”

• Facebook is a way for students to connect with people they know, go to school with, share interests with and more

• There are two versions of Facebook currently, the original version designed for colleges and universities and a newer version targeted for high school students

Facebook: a brief and tumultuous history

• Founded in February 2004• Founders: • Mark Zuckerberg• Eduardo Saverin• Dustin Moskovitz• Chris Hughes

• All were students at Harvard College at the time

• Lawsuit from website ConnectU• Alleged that Zuckerberg had stolen the idea while

employed by their company

Facebook Today

• All four of the original founders left Harvard to pursue Facebook.com full-time in Palo Alto

• It is estimated that over 2,000 colleges and universities are supported by Facebook and more than 25,000 high schools

• More than 6 million college student accounts already exist and it is projected that 20,000 profiles are added each day

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What current college students are saying about Facebook:• Our team conducted a survey and found:• 81% said they use Facebook at least once a day• 77% had been contacted by someone they did not

know through Facebook• 44% felt that Facebook has a negative impact on

their academic work• The most common advice these students provided

for students new to Facebook was:• To be cautious about what information is posted on your

profile

Components of Facebook

• Personal Profile:• Personal Information• Photo• Groups• Class Schedule• Wall


• “Friends”• Who can be friends?• From YOUR school, from OTHER schools• Current students, alumni/ea, faculty, staff, etc

• Anyone who has a e-mail address can register for Facebook

• How do you become friends?• Request an acknowledgment of “friend” status


• Details and Social Timeline• Friend Details• How you “know” this person

• Lived together, worked together, organizations/teams, took a course together, summer/study abroad program, went to school together (preschool, elementary school, middle school, high school, college, grad school), family, through a friend, through Facebook, met randomly, “hooked up”, dated

• Social Timeline• Uses friend details to construct a timeline for the user• Displays groups, friends and more that the user was

connected to through Facebook by year


• Groups and Groupies• Thousands of groups can be joined by members of

Facebook:• “I love Harry Potter”• “Procrastinators Unite…Tomorrow!!”• “Student Government Association”

• You can also become a “groupie” of a group if you know a certain amount of people with membership in that group• The groupie feature can be turned off in the privacy

settings


• Events• Groups and individual Facebook users can create,

post and invite others to events:• “John’s 20th Birthday Bash”• “Sorority Recruitment Informational Meeting”• “Fusion Hall Council Meeting”

• Personal invitations can be sent or the event can be listed as open to anyone

• There is also and RSVP feature for Facebook events


• Facebook Messages• Internal e-mail-type component of Facebook• Messages can be sent from any Facebook user to

another, regardless of school or friend status

• “Poke” Feature• This feature sends a message via Facebook to another

user stating that he or she has been “poked” by that person, then the option to “poke” back is provided• There is no specific purpose to the “poke”• Considered flirting by some, or simply a joke between

friends


• The Facebook “Wall”• Each individual and group profile can have a wall• Essentially a message board where other users can

post public messages on a user’s profile• Can be edited by the person whose profile the

message is posted • The message writer’s Facebook picture appears

next to their message


• Photo Features:• Profile Photo• Appears on the user’s profile page, attached to messages

and other things the user does on Facebook

• My Photo Page• Allows the user to post “albums” of pictures• The user can label the people in the pictures and provide

descriptions of what is occurring in the picture• The user can also “tag” the people in the picture, which

ties the image to that user’s profile in an additional photo section


• Other components:• Advertisment: can be purchased by students or

corporations• Generates revenue for Facebook

• Pulse Page• Has Top Ten lists generated from the Facebook

community and other trend driven features

Facebook: The Good

• It’s FREE!

• Thousands of groups • Can help you find others who share your interests,

hobbies, major, etc.

• Academics• Find students enrolled in your classes to form study

groups

• Locate friends• From home, high school, and other places who you

have lost touch with

Facebook: The Bad• Procrastination Tool• Most students who use Facebook state that it can

serve as a distraction from school work and other responsibilities

• Feeling of “safe” and “private” playground for students• In fact many people other than students can access

Facebook profiles

Facebook: The Ugly• Internet Stalking• Personal information such as address, phone

number and class schedule can provide many tools to individuals interesting in keeping tabs on someone

• Incriminating and questionable photos tagged to your profile by you or others• Schools and police may use as evidence• Can be used by employers who are interested in

background information

“But no one will see it later, right?”

• Maybe…maybe not!• There are companies that are collecting everything

that is posted to the internet• Companies could purchase access to such information,

allowing pages that have since been removed to still be seen

Other Internet Technologies to be aware of…• MySpace, Friendster, XuQa• Similar to Facebook

• Livejournal, Blog, and many others• Online journal pages

• WebCT, Blackboard• Online component to academics, internet support

for courses

• AIM, MSN Messenger, etc.• Internet messaging programs

What should I do?

• Be smart!• Don’t post information you would not be comfortable

with strangers having access• Don’t post information that you would not want your

mom, your teachers, the police, etc to see• Think about how something could be interpreted, or

misinterpreted, by others• It might seem like a joke to you and your friends, but

could be seen as serious by others

• Don’t be afraid to edit or delete things posted to your wall or photos tagged by others

What should I do?

• Utilize Facebook’s Privacy Settings• 3 levels of privacy as well as a custom setting• Blocking feature to keep individuals from being able

to see your profile or contact you• Allows you to control who can view your profile and

what aspects of your profile those people can see• Features can be turned off, such as the groupie

feature and your wall

facebook and you

Education