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Facebook and University Life

The article “Facebook, social integration and informal learning at university: ‘It is more for socializing and talking to friends about work than for actually doing work’” analyzes the way university students use Facebook for social and academic purposes. The study focused on 213 first year undergraduate students at a British university.
From a social perspective, many first year students joined Facebook right before or right after attending university (25% and 13% respectively) to ease integration into the university. Some of the reasons for joining included planning social events, making new social links, and keeping touch with old friends. It is important to note that while most of the respondents agreed that Facebook was a beneficial social resource, most felt that it was not a necessity.
Academically speaking, most of the students had used Facebook for informal educational purposes such as arranging group meetings or working on projects. However, when asked about the use of Facebook for formal educational purposes, most of the respondents thought it was a bad idea due to the informal, social nature of the site. They were mainly concerned about becoming distracted from schoolwork if the site was both academic and social.
I think this study emphasizes the benefits of making weak connections through Facebook that may lead to stronger ties or simply facilitate the flow of information. By accepting that friend request from someone you may not know very well, you may become aware of social events or university news that you were not privy to; these seemingly unimportant friendships serve the purpose of integrating people with common interests (university information/ events). Through these networks, everyone becomes connected (in varying levels), and information, whether social or academic, is more easily found and accessible. From an academic perspective, one student brought up an interesting point. She argued that relationships with professors, “[allow] students to see a more human and accessible side of their tutors,” thus, fostering a desire for approval and improving performance on both sides (151). This is a great example about how Facebook can have subtle academic benefits. Without necessarily integrating a site like Blackboard with Facebook, there are clearly educational gains from social networking sites. Therefore, I think it benefits everyone to join a social networking site, especially before a transition like going to college.

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=13&hid=106&sid=e3a81639-2d79-49c7-8761-34c916f3f224%40sessionmgr15&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=ufh&AN=42208897

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