Social Networking in Universities (with Gretta Mitchell).

Social networking in universities
In the early years of the twenty-first century, the world for the first time has its universally-linked culture defined by two separate “worlds” within Earth itself: the real world, and the online world. The real world remains more or less the same as it was at the end of the 1990s. In cyberspace, social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook and to a lesser extent YouTube have allowed us to make new friends and stay in contact with old ones, or even to form relationships, just at the click of a button. But they have proven to be useful also for advocating social causes, heightening the self-esteem of users and for generating additional revenue for groups, organizations and institutions through free advertising. Why, then, are a momentous number of tertiary education institutions shunning the idea of creating their own similar sites?

Without a question the most persistent element of the hype surrounding web 2.0 is social networking and how it is driven from our homes rather than institutions. University students are the reason for this, and they already have extensive experience with using social networking tools from home for leisure. Given this blooming relationship, education institutions must begin to reinvigorate their curriculums with emphasis on social networking. There are examples of this occurring, but at sluggish rates. Forging connections between random people is what social networking is at its core, and the ensuing fraternizations between pairs are intrinsically social, often relating to interests and hobbies. If the fad of social networking is going to grow in popularity any further, tertiary education institutions must act to buy into it because it will be the easiest way to tap into the collective interests of their students. Just as their parents went to the local burger joint or the ice-skating rink in their free time, Generation Y use sites such as Facebook and MySpace to hang out (Gonick 2007).

Early adolescence is a time when self-esteem is of the utmost concern. We will try the craziest, most dangerous things all in the name of looking cool in front of our friends. These days, an average fifteen-year-old can be considered cool just by meriting a Facebook or MySpace account. Facebook, MySpace and other online portals for social networking allow young people to form friendships with people their age on the other side of the world just by sending a quick and easy friend invitation. They can create personal profiles and blogs that can be viewed and commented on, thereby providing them with a platform for publicly expressing their personal views on life (Valkenburg et al, 2006). Thankfully, most adolescents know not to spend sixteen hours a day on social networking sites, as addicts of that nature find it has decreased their self-esteem, and thus it has sent their self-esteem flying, given there is a desire within us to all protect our outlook on oneself. Valkenburg, Peter and Schouter maintain that teenagers would instinctively steer clear of social networking websites if it was obviously going to have a detrimental effect on them. Compared to face-to-face situations, friend networks give teenagers notably more freedom in terms of who they can and cannot communicate with, and unlike memories of mean things people have said to them face-to-face which are not ones they can easily shut out, social networking allows them to permanently erase negative comments to keep the positive ones, which provides another boost to their opinion toward themselves (Valkenburg, 2006).

A recent study conducted in the United States has shown a large number of university graduates, some of them web designers, bloggers and computer programmers, through the discovery that working in a café or even from home does not always deserve the glowing reputation it has, instead long for the professionalism, communication and good old social interaction of an environment to which most swore to never return: a traditional office (Horowitz 2007).

Facebook’s revenue is mostly generated by the enormous amounts of advertising to be found on the site – the flipside being that users are allowed to endorse any organizations, morally appropriate ideologies and even their own planned functions, the surprising potential of which 18-year-old American student Andrew Leavitt discovered last year when he hosted a public charity fundraising event (Rathi, 2007). With this in mind, Facebook becomes a potential economic goldmine for universities and colleges, as a decision to advertise their services and details on such a prominent worldwide network will work to increase the enrolment levels of the institution dramatically.

One of Facebook’s most popular tools – or “applications,” as they are so dubbed on the site – gives users the chance to join or create specific groups dedicated to specific social causes or groups just meant for fun. Following the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, countless Facebook groups established by Virginia Tech and other tertiary educational institutions across the United States emerged, promoting unity within their communities and support for the victims of the massacre (Fox, 2007). A group set up for victims of the massacre by the Pennsylvania State University staged a tribute at one of their football matches, which proved so successful that co-organizer William Solomon said he had never been so proud to be a Penn Stater (Koons, 2007). Though one can only hope Australia never experiences its own Virginia Tech massacre, here Facebook can still work to unify all a university’s members, especially off-campus students but also on-campus alumni, through easy possibilities like online study groups.

A university’s own intranet can also assist in providing a greater feeling of belonging to non-Caucasian students who go to a predominantly white university. In the United States, male African-American students at several Ivy League colleges reacted very positively to their institutions’ intranets and later, when they became recognized as high achievers, attributed this to the positive learning and social environment generated by the specific institution’s online network (Harper 2008).

Arguably the central theme of concern for university deans involving social networks is depiction of illegal activities. A number of colleges and universities are still stuck at the point of wondering whether they must monitor their social networks – or possible social networks if they have yet to jump on the bandwagon – to prevent any form of hazardous or illegal activity (Van Der, 2007). Only if the activity described or depicted involves a child should it really be reported, and most students in their right mind would report an act of this nature if they witnessed one. Rhode Island School of Design general counsel Steven J. MacDonald is one of a few noted college teachers who do not believe a university’s intranet needs to be heavily monitored. It does not matter that they are doing it on their university’s computers; the law confirms the students alone are response for information and images they access and upload, which denies staff the need to monitor their online network 24/7 (Van Der, 2007).

New intranet software now also allows information and imagery to be viewed with much greater speed than other areas of the internet when using on-campus computers. The e-Professor works in a cyclic nature, sharply reducing transferal time for links and information to another vicinity of the portal. This will especially be of benefit to lecturers with larger-than-average classes (Ottosson, 2003).

Online social networking is an ever-growing force to be reckoned with. Through cross-promotional ventures a university can further get its name around, specific group pages enhance the crucial unification of at least one faculty if not the university as a whole, individual profile pages will have the same effect for each student’s self-esteem, an intranet provides faster access to information and web links, and best of all, a university intranet does not need to be heavily monitored by staff since only students themselves by law can be prosecuted for any and all illegal information and images they access of post to the intranet, irrespective of where they are working from. These are reasons enough to prove that an individual intranet for Central Zone University can only help us prosper financially, and educationally.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

· Gonick, Dr. L. 2007, Social networking and other new technologies on the university campus, http://www.caudit.edu.au/educauseaustralasia07/workshops/Workshop%204%20-%20Gonick.pdf
· Valkenburg, P. M., Peter, J. and Schouten, A. P. 2006, Friend networking sites and their relationship to adolescents’ well-being and social self-esteem, CyberPsychology & Behaviour.
· Horowitz, E. 2007, Co-working can solve non-traditional office issues, Knight Ridder Tribune Business News, ProQuest.
· Rathi, R. 2007, Students tap Facebook to spread word, Boston Globe, ProQuest.
· Fox, M. 2007, Mourning Tech on Facebook, Knight Ridder Tribune Business News, ProQuest.
· Koons, S. 2007, Support grew quickly for Tech tribute, Knight Ridder Tribune Business News, ProQuest.
· Harper, S. R. 2008, Realizing the intended outcomes of Brown: high-achieving African-American male undergraduates and social capital, American Behavioural Scientist, Infotrac.
· Van Der, M. W. 2007, Beware of using social networking sites to monitor students, lawyers say, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Infotrac. Ottosson, S. 2003, Dynamic production development of a new intranet platform, Technovation, Infotrac.