Facebook and You:

1. Facebook and You: What students at Diversity College need to know

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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 (Statistics retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_(website) on February 17, 2006)

5. 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

6. Components of Facebook • Personal Profile: • Personal Information • Photo • Groups • Class Schedule • Wall

7. Components of Facebook • “Friends” • Who can be friends? • From YOUR school, from OTHER schools • Current students, alumni/ea, faculty, staff, etc • Anyone who has a abcde@diversity.edu e-mail address can register for Facebook • How do you become friends? • Request an acknowledgment of “friend” status

8. Components of Facebook • 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

9. Components of Facebook • Groups and Groupies • Thousands of groups can be joined by members of Facebook: • “I love Harry Potter” • “Procrastinators Unite…Tomorrow!!” • “Student Government Association @ Diversity College” • 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

10. Components of Facebook • 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

11. Components of Facebook • 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

12. Components of Facebook • 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

13. Components of Facebook • 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

14. Components of Facebook • 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. “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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. Diversity College wants you to be safe and have fun! • Diversity College will not “police” your use of the internet • But…if information is brought forth about activities in violation of school policy or state/federal law, Diversity College is obligated to act • Diversity College asks that you use Facebook and other internet programs and resources for “good” and not “evil”

23. Information for this presentation was found at the following sites: • www.facebook.com • www.myspace.com • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_(website) • Survey conducted by Diversity College’s Facebook Taskforce • Also check out Diversity College’s student conduct code found at: www.diversitycollege.edu