Maybe Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t like all those headlines about social-network uprisings among Facebook’s old student base. This week Facebook threw a bone to students, in the form of a new “Universities on Facebook” page. The idea is to help students better use the site for campus activities like newspapers, dorm groups, and student government. In an announcement, Facebook called the page an attempt at “reconnecting” with students.
“The very existence of a page like this serves as a reminder of how Facebook has changed—where it was once a site designed by and for universities, they are now a specialized audience with a page catering to their specific needs,” blogged VentureBeat.
Still, this project doesn’t seem nearly as controversial as the “community pages” that had college marketing types freaking out back in May. By one account, at least, those are “still a big mess.”
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4 Responses to Facebook to Students: We Still Love You
arrive2__net - September 1, 2010 at 3:50 am
I wonder if Facebook’s reaction is partially due to concerns about possible competition from sites like CollegeOnly: http://chronicle.com/blogPost/blogPost-content/26519/ Perhaps niche social networking sites could, in the long run, effectively compete with Facebooks services. Bernard SchusterArrive2.net
emmadw - September 1, 2010 at 7:23 am
It’s also got a very US centric slant at the moment – they probably need to develop some for other countries …
scottfore - September 1, 2010 at 7:48 am
Or SweatMonkey.org: http://campustechnology.com/articles/2010/05/05/academic-it-for-students-a-new-growth-area.aspx
nextgenlc - September 1, 2010 at 7:10 pm
It’s a good move on Facebook’s part to get back in touch with its roots. Many people probably forget that at one point Facebook was closed to anyone without a valid college email address. Also, it can actually prove to be a useful tool to promote campus engagement.