Facebook and You:

What students at Diversity College 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.
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
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 [email protected] e-mail address can
register for Facebook

• How do you become friends?

• Request an acknowledgment of “friend” status
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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”
 Presented and Created by:

Manasvi D.K. Mehta

facebook.com/manasvirajmehta