next »

[ucboy1010]

I'm just curious how popular Facebook is among graduate/professional students. It's big with the undergrad crowd, but what about grad students? And, I'm sure those undergrads who "grew up" with Facebook and are now entering grad school, they would keep using it. But if you've been in grad school say for the past 3, 4+ years, are you Fb users?

[dreamingofslac]

Count me in.

I'd say a little over half of the grad students I know are on facebook.  Mostly years 1-3.  Fewer in years 4 and beyond.  It is a great way to stay in touch for non-school related issues.  A lot of my friends also comment on stories appearing in the New York Times on the weekend.     

My only rule is that I don't allow friend requests from my undergraduate students until after the semester.  I usually get 3-4 requests at the end of the term. 

[mzunderstanding]

Graduate student and FB user. I'm in student affairs and I can't name a single person in my current program who isn't a FB user.

[dundee]

I'm a FB user and about to defend my diss. All my grad. student and junior faculty friends use FB too.

[ufo_tofu]

During the last year or so of my grad years, a friend converted me.  Now, I am hopelessly addicted to the Scrabble application.  As my friend has continued to badger encourage the rest of our cohort to join, I actually find that I have quite a few FB friends.  Which, I'm surprised to say, is pretty cool.  These are friends that I wouldn't call and would only very sporadically email - but now I can write on their wall (or play Scrabble).  It's a very low-level way to keep in touch with all those folks from grad school who are now all over the dam place.

If it weren't for FB, I might have to go to more <shudder> conferences to catch up with old grad school buds!

[poiuy]

Sorry to intrude on the grad school thread, but I've been hanging out here recently. 

I haven't joined FB, (probably way way outside the demographic), but have been invited to a couple of times. 

How would you compare FB vs MySpace vs any other?

Also:  a real issue for me:  how easy is it to leave such groups when you want?  There was a NYT article a couple of months ago showing that it was near-impossible to totally remove your information from such online groups, even when you explicitly signed out....  That's really scary for me.....

Poiuy

[mzunderstanding]

Poiuy,

I'm sorry that I can't speak to "leaving" Facebook. I know that removing friends and leaving groups on FB is easy enough, but it does leave a trail. There are new privacy settings available that allow for control over who can access your information.

In my opinion FB is very different from MySpace, not only in look and feel, but in the content that people choose to share. FB is more .. I'm not sure of the word I'm looking for, somewhere between conventional and professional, than MySpace. The content is cleaner, and the random hits from strangers are almost non-existent. I deleted my profile from MySpace after a week. I've been a FB user for several years.

I agree with UFO, it is a great way to stay in touch when everyone has moved on.

[zarathustra]

During the last year or so of my grad years, a friend converted me.  Now, I am hopelessly addicted to the Scrabble application.  As my friend has continued to badger encourage the rest of our cohort to join, I actually find that I have quite a few FB friends. 

Yes, another FB scrabulous addict here. 

I've actually FB useful for recruiting students.  Occasionally I use it communicate with a wide-band of students and it has helped me figure out what's going on with the precious psyches of my students without having to seem like I'm prying.

[bs_ms_phd_2b]

I am a light user.  What I find most truly useful is when, as a TA, I have gotten an email or noticed a missing assignment or set up a meeting with a student, but had forgotten what the student looked like.  They're almost all on Facebook with a few (or several hundred) photos to jog my memory.  This doesn't involve adding the student as a friend and doesn't create any obvious link, although there is probably some trace of the search somewhere. 

[phdbliss]

I love FB for my own personal use in keeping in touch with friends and family.

I also prefer it to e-mail if I need to communicate with an individual student. Students respond way faster when I contact them via FB rather than via e-mail.

[chomp96]

I'm over 30 and finishing my PhD, and use Facebook.  Originally, the teenagers in my church convinced me to, but now it's proved useful for staying in touch with grad school classmates, and even friends from high school (many of whom are on there despite being in professions with no connection to the Facebook generation.)

[locutus]

About half the graduate students I know are on. I will say that it's more common with the younger ones than the older ones.

I use it to look up on old highschool and college buddies. It's a good we to reconnect. I actually have my privacy settings relatively high, so random students can't really see me.

[lissa_the_cocoa]

I agree with the difference between MySpace and Facebook.  Facebook was a low-level maintenance program for me -- keeping in contact with high school friends and grad school contacts (even faculty) I met in various places.  MySpace is full of horny teenagers.  I used to get lots of messages like "HeY mA, lEt Me GeT aT yOu" and weird stuff like that.

I don't spent much time on FB, but I much prefer it to MySpace in keeping up with friends and colleagues.

[graycat]

I am a 3rd year grad student, 2nd year facebook user.

Our graduate students' union has an account on FB, so I keep up with our union projects and activities through the site.

I enjoy the Scrabbulous application, and now am beginning to like the My Bookshelf application, I just wish that I was not bombarded with 10+ application requests every time I log in.

[poll_grad]

I'm a grad student and on facebook.  Practically everyone in my program is on there; what's more, probably over half of the professors (of all ages) in our department are on FB.