Canine Christmas
AIDS exhibit
Cold weather arrives
Facebook becoming primary way college students communicate
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Kathryn Welsh, 19, is only in her first year at Wright State University, but she already knows the fastest way to reach another student. Don't bother to call or e-mail — send a Facebook message.
"Because everyone is on Facebook all the time," she said.
Extras
Facebook "is essentially replacing a lot of the other ways that students communicate," including e-mails and instant messaging, said Tom Skill, chief information officer for the University of Dayton. "I've had several faculty members say, if I really want to get something out (to students), I'll post it on my Facebook (page) and hope they catch it, because they're not checking their e-mails."
The popular Web-based social networking site — used by 94 percent of Dayton area college students, according to one survey — has transformed the way students meet, chat, organize events, stay connected and catch up on each other's lives, including their current relationship status.
Some students insist a relationship isn't real until it's "Facebook official."
"If it isn't on Facebook, I don't know if they're really together," said Britney Weeks, a first-year Wright State student from Middletown.
Facebook has become a favorite diversion for many students, especially when it's time to study or do homework. "We spend so much time on the computer, writing papers and everything, it's just convenient," said Adam Martin, a Wright State freshman from West Alexandria.
In just three years, Facebook has grown to include 24 million active users worldwide. Most of them are college students even though the site opened to non-college users about eight months ago. Facebook more recently introduced a mobile service users can access on their cell phones and is now partnering with other Internet companies to provide music and shopping services.
Many students say they favor Facebook over larger social networking sites like MySpace (67 million users) because it has fewer spammers, stalkers and others who might abuse the personal information posted on their profiles.
"It's a little more of a professional base," said Wright State freshman Matt Geis.
Users can search Facebook by name or network to find someone they know or share an interest with and, with a click of their mouse, exchange messages or photos with any or all of the friends in their personal network.
As a security measure, however, users can't view someone else's profile unless that person's privacy setting permits it, or they are accepted by the other user as a "friend." Facebook users can send messages to anyone on the Web site, but recipients don't have to respond. The sender's profile is accessible to the recipient for up to a month.
College students say Facebook is an easy way to stay in touch with friends both on campus and at other colleges. They can call up a friend's Facebook page at any time to check out their latest photos, musings and relationship status. To send a message, they don't have to memorize or type in e-mail addresses. All they have to do is click on their name.
Bryan Andrews, a junior at the University of Dayton, says he uses Facebook primarily to keep in touch with high school friends who went away to other colleges. "When you don't see them as much, you tend to forget about things," he said.
Geis said Facebook is ideal for today's students on the run. "Sometimes you can't call people because your time isn't a good time for them," he said. But with Facebook, "you send them a message when you're free and they'll get to it when they're free."
It's also an easy way to send out party invitations to all your friends, remember their birthdays and stay on top of campus events, students say. "I actually get a lot of invitations on Facebook," said Amanda Fox, a Wright State junior from Columbus. "It also keeps my calendar, so I know whose birthday it is and I don't get into trouble."
Users can send private messages to friends or post public comments on their "wall."
"On my birthday, I got about a million and one (wall postings)," Geis said. "It's kind of cool because I have friends all over the United States."
Educators lament that few college students are exploring the power of Facebook to break down barriers of race and class and to organize around community causes.
A survey conducted last fall by the University of Dayton, in partnership with the Southwestern Ohio Council for Higher Education, found that only 12 percent of students in the region used the site "to experiment with Facebook groups/people I may not have approached otherwise."
Students can join online interest groups on Facebook or post topics for enlisting users in their own groups or causes. But most of the topics listed locally are agreeably frivolous, everything from "I Saw A Giant Jesus on I-75" to "Fans of Finding Nemo."
According to the UD survey, only 16 percent of college students said they used Facebook "to express my opinions about issues, topics and current events."
In April, a forum of about 200 UD students and faculty members discussed whether Facebook encouraged or discouraged student involvement in the larger community. They concluded that the impact was limited either way.
Said Caitlin Bortolotto, an assistant professor of political science at UD who organized the forum: "The conversation really showed that people use this to reinforce the social networks they've already developed."
