A week ago, I e-mailed the College Media Advisers listserv asking if any student media outlets are using social networking sites like Facebook or MySpace to promote their web presence. At a conference in Washington, D.C. last year, one adviser mentioned that they were using Facebook, and I couldn’t remember who it was who mentioned it (my apologies again for the memory lapse).

Why use social networks? Good question. Answer: Your readers are already there, and they tend to get their news from social networks, rather than traditional media. I’ve seen it myself in classes, when students log on to their Facebook or MySpace profiles in breaks, or before class begins. Now, there’s data to back up the idea that the target demographic for college media is on social networks. (Disclaimer: I have both a Facebook profile and a MySpace profile, along with about 20 other social media profiles)

Rebecca McKinnon mentions a few reasons to join Facebook for established journalists. And Mark Glaser (as usual) has an excellent rundown of the social networking phenomenon. Also, if you’re in the sociological frame of mind, you’d do well to read danah boyd’s excellent write-up about the socioeconomic segregation between MySpace and Facebook, which would suggest that student media should have a presence on both platforms.

So I e-mailed some questions to the respondents to my earlier query to see how they’re using social media sites for their student media. Rather than try to condense comments down into short bites of information, I’m including all three responses I received to my e-mail query - from Vanderbilt, Florida Atlantic, and Wichita State U. - below the fold. If your student media is on Facebook or MySpace, drop a comment, and let us know your experience.

Here’s Paige Clancy from Vanderbilt Student Media, discussing social networking from the adviser’s perspective:

When did you start using social media?

Our students started a Facebook group in the fall of 2006, immediately after the launch of InsideVandy.com, Vanderbilt’s online student community featuring content produced by student media staff members and Vanderbilt community members. The InsideVandy Facebook group primarily includes student staff members.

I joined Facebook about a year ago, and recently I started a group for Vanderbilt Student Media. It’s open to current students, alumni, staff and everyone, really. Some of our students have said they are glad to see an “official” student media group on Facebook that’s unlike similar groups created by students who have since graduated, leaving those groups to languish.

What has been the result?

Our adviser-created student media group has 26 members so far, and I hope that once the students return for the fall semester, we can use it with our students to get the word out about educational opportunities, jobs and internships, and student media group recruiting efforts.

What has been the main “plus” for using social media?

I don’t see social media as something that provides a certain benefit. It’s more like: Participation is mandatory. Our students are on Facebook reading, learning, sharing and connecting, and so we must be there. If I didn’t use the social media they use and value, it would be difficult for me to convince students that it’s essential for them to visit other places that are useful and valuable to journalists — places to read, learn, share and connect. Those places include online locations (local and national news outlets, influential blogs, emailing with fellow students, administrators and potential sources) and real-world locations (the student center, press conferences, athletic events, student government meetings, and anywhere they can connect with fellow students to stay on top of important issues).

Any drawbacks that you see?

I have not seen any drawbacks to Facebook. Like email, for example, this technology allows people to quickly communicate with each other, but it’s still important for journalists to make in-person, face-to-face connections. Balancing those two types of communication can be a challenge, but that “drawback” has more to do with the pressure of deadlines, laziness and/or over-reliance on digital communication than it has to do with the social media itself.

Also, I’ve heard naysayers suggest that Facebook is inhabited by criminals who are up to no good or that Facebook is made up of “fake” groups and relationships that are superficial and unlike real-world connections with others. Perhaps these claims (which I’ve heard from sensible, intelligent people who notably have not tried Facebook) contain some truth, but the beauty of this social media is that you can participate as much or as little as you wish. Why not try it?

If you join a group, for example The Clancy Clan (for people who share the last name Clancy), and you find it to be worthless to you, then you can simply leave the group — and leave Facebook altogether if you wish. On the other hand, if you join a student media staff’s Facebook group, you might enjoy receiving alerts and updates about projects, recruiting campaigns and students’ achievements. It’s a lot like picking up a newspaper, subscribing to a listserv, or turning on the television: read or watch what interests you and avoid the rest.

Any particular successes you’d care to mention?

The biggest overall success for me is the increased connectivity with students. Most recently, I received several “wall” posts and Facebook messages wishing me happy birthday — a higher-than-usual volume for a summer birthday. (It doesn’t hurt that Facebook automatically reminds users when a friend has a birthday.) This example is kind of silly, but I think it illustrates a feeling among some students that I am accessible to them.

I recently “friended” and “was friended by” some long-lost high school buddies who popped up on Facebook after it opened to everyone, beyond academia. Just like any time you reconnect with an old friend, there’s great potential for personal and professional benefits. One of my high school friends, now a Facebook friend, is a self-proclaimed “total geek” who is working in technology in California and said in a message, “I go to a lot of the Web 2.0 (worst over-hyped buzz word since dotcom) stuff out here in the Bay Area. If you ever want to run some questions by me, feel free.” Almost everyone I know who is interested in media, journalism and technology is on Facebook. If you share those interests, please give it a try. I’ll be your friend!

Do you foresee any additional efforts in the future?

Several of our student media alumni are planning a reunion to coincide with Homecoming in the fall, and they’ve started a Facebook “event” to help spread the word and allow alumni to reconnect and find other alumni.

As for other future efforts, Facebook seems to surprise its users with something new every other week. Recently, I communicated separately with a journalism professional, a student and a colleague with the help of Facebook’s new Video application. It was downright cool. I foresee that anything is possible.

Here’s how Todd Vogt, editor of the Wichita State U. Sunflower, put it:

We are in fact using such social networking sites as Facebook and MySpace for promotional purposes at The Sunflower.

We first started using such sites a little over a year ago, and they are in place simply to inform Internet users about our existence while giving readers another avenue for contacting us.

Results from utilizing such social sites have not been overwhelming. We have several “friends” in each type of network, but little “conversation” takes place with our “friends” via the networking site.

To some, such results would create questions as to why it is even worth the time and effort to maintain such a site. Well, I believe the answer to those types of questions is easy ? in this day and age, not having a profile on the various networking sites is more detrimental than your site not being highly used for networking and communication.

With the target audience our newspaper tries to reach, which is of course college students, social networking sites are easily recognizable. Even if they may not have heard of our publication, we can tell them to check us out on Facebook or MySpace, and then maybe we will be able to better reach those consumers.

Granted, we could direct them to our Web site, but I strongly believe college students will be more likely to test the waters on a social networking site rather than directly going to an actual Web site.

Outside of simply trying to promote our newspaper and reach out readers, social networking sites also play a vital role in news reporting.

People pour their souls out on sites such a Facebook and MySpace, and they usually do so without considering how many people can actually see what they are contributing to their profiles.

This was beneficial to our publication in particular last year when an employee of the university was suspected of providing alcohol to minors. We were able to find pictures showing those alleged actions on the employee’s Facebook account.

Also more recently, the student government president resigned, and I was able to use his Facebook information to begin to confirm the rumor that he was resigning before he announced it himself.

Of course, such examples are the downside of social networking sites. Many people don’t think about what they are putting on their profiles. They have no concept of their Internet reputations.

Employers are just as savvy as the common user, and they can access all your profile information just as easy as anyone else. Therefore, posting pictures of underage drinking or other illegal or distasteful behavior can be detrimental because it could affect one’s job or life in general because you cannot keep any secrets in a social networking site.

Users need to focus on being mindful of what information they are putting out there. Now, if someone is okay with having negative pictures, comments or whatever about themselves out on the Internet, that is fine, but the majority of the people do not even think about that and then wonder why something happened as a result of what was on their profile pages.

Personally, I began utilizing social networking sites a little over a year ago as well. I chose to set up my profiles because I was getting into web design, and I realized I needed to market and brand myself as fully as possible to eventually get a job in the career field of my choice. Again, I saw how easy it was to find people on these networks, and I wanted prospective employers to be able to find me easily as well.

Keeping that in mind, I am very careful about what types of pictures I post, and I watch what I write while on the network because even though I think the photos are the things that really get people in trouble, I do not want to be caught saying something so offensive that I could not justify it if asked.

Basically, if I think my grandmother would be embarrassed, I try not to post it.

In the future, I see MySpace losing ground to Facebook because Facebook, in my opinion, is simply more user friendly. MySpace requires a lot of maintenance to keep in customized, while Facebook keeps things uniform and allows users to focus on the services offered. Granted, some see this as a negative because they cannot stand out in the crowd, but I see it as the biggest advantage. When others visit your profile, they will have an easier time navigating your site due to the fact everything will look normal instead of how some MySpace pages are inundated with customization that alters the location of simple navigation tools.

I do see where Facebook may change this and try to allow more customization, but at the same time, I believe the architects behind the network will see the success of their design and not want to stray too far from what is obviously working for their users.

For our newspaper, I plan on utilizing the social networking sites in a manner we at The Sunflower never have. I intend upon combing through the profiles of the students of our university and finding the interesting things people are doing. Then, on our web site, our staff will be posting such findings under some sort of banner called something like “What WSU’s doing on Facebook/MySpace.” I believe this will give our readers a larger sense of loyalty to our publication because they will be helping drive the content.

Overall, I am happy to be using social networking sites because of the ease of access to communicating with other individuals, and I believe that is the biggest reason they are so popular.

Like I said, our media outlet has not seen a huge response. However, the option is there, and I believe that is the most important aspect of it all - ease of access for our readers or my prospective employers.

Either way, the lines of communication are open. Now they just need to be used.

Here’s Michele Boyet from the Florida Atlantic University University Press.

Our newspaper staff starting using Facebook about three years ago when it became real popular. Originally, Facebook was only a place for college students to network, so we were able to make a group (its kind of like a virtual club) for our paper and then invite students (who attend FAU) to join. It’s a really great marketing tool and also very useful for recruiting. With Facebook, you are able to send out group e-mails and messages as well as comment on the groups wall where everyone can see. You can also upload pictures and fliers.

Our profile has information about when and were we hold staff meetings, what we are about and links to our web site and blogs. We also use it to promote events, special issues and recruit new
staffers.

We’ve actually hired a few members of our senior staff in the past because they found us on Facebook. So I would have to say that the main plus for using social media is for the opportunity to recruit as well as network with other students at your school.

Here’s the link to our Facebook group: http://fau.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2202568279

The only drawback is about two years ago Facebook started allowing high school students to join, but they were separate at the time - you are separated by your “network” i.e. your school - but just this year
Facebook was opened up to anyone who wants one and your “network” can just be the city you live in. Facebook is still a good way to reach students but it is now harder to find people who go to our school -
having just any friend wouldn’t really benefit us as much - we have a direct target audience.

We also created a MySpace profile this year -
http://www.myspace.com/universitypress - but it’s really more for fun. All of our staff members and our “friends” but we also make an effort to invite anyone who has listed FAU as their school. But a major
drawback is finding people who actually go to school with you - since it’s optional to include that info on your profile. There are no networks and unless you add your school onto your profile, you do not
come up in a search for FAU students.

We also use Facebook and MySpace for story ideas. There are a lot of things going on around campus so it’s easy to miss something. So we are able to check out someone’s profile or see a post about an event
and contact the person. One great thing about Facebook is that you can search anyone by their name - MySpace you can have any name you want. We often use the Facebook search to find a student we need to
contact. Some students have their phone number, e-mail or screen name on their profile and if they don’t you can just send them an e-mail message through Facebook. I’ve contacted several people this way just
to get their phone number and then talk to them for a story.

For our purposes at the newspaper, Facebook is a great resource and very helpful. MySpace, on the other hand, is just for fun.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 11th, 2007 at 4:29 pm and is filed under Learn, Community, industry news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.