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Industry News  Crisis Management Local universities consider official uses for... |
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Local universities consider official uses for Facebook
Print - FPinfomart - MCT Regional News - Tuesday May 27th, 2008
May 26--Check your Facebook inbox. Say "Hi" to friends. Learn about a lockdown on campus.
Facebook, the wildly popular social networking site, has already established itself as the unofficial source of campus chatter, whether it's to announce a wild party, a protest or a campus emergency.
Now, at least two Florida colleges, the University of Florida and Florida Atlantic University, are studying whether to have a more official Facebook presence, using it for marketing or emergency information.
Several other schools in Florida are using the site for marketing and advertising.
UF officials said they are pondering whether to use Facebook during a hurricane or an emergency such as a shooting. UF and other schools already have systems where they send e-mails, text messages and phone calls to students during emergencies.
"We just conducted a test of all our crisis communication tools and one of the questions that came up is could we keep up a Facebook page in the midst of everything else we're doing?" said Steve Orlando, a spokesman for the University of Florida.
When FAU had a reported shooting on campus April 30, many students used Facebook to stay in touch. While the university used its Web site and e-mails to send alerts, students used Facebook to let other students, family and friends know they were safe.
Right now, FAU is not using Facebook for any official communications, but it does plan to conduct some focus groups this summer to find out if it's a good idea.
"We want to be careful how the university enters that space," said Randy Goin, associate vice president of marketing at FAU. "We don't want to turn people off."
FAU sophomore Rolando Herrera, 19, of Pembroke Pines, said he sees merit in universities' putting information on Facebook.
"It's a good way to communicate to people," he said. "I know every event that happens on campus, if it's going to be successful, it needs to be on Facebook."
The site has proven it can impact policy in Florida. About 19,000 people in the state joined a Facebook group to oppose a bill sponsored by State Sen. Jeremy Ring, D-Parkland, that would have made cuts to the Bright Futures scholarship program. After seeing the huge response, Ring withdrew the bill.
It's unclear how many universities have an official presence on the site, or how many students from each university are on the site. Facebook officials could not be reached, despite a request by e-mail.
FIU has a site on Facebook run by the school's marketing department that posts news stories, spokeswoman Maydel Santana-Bravo said.
The University of Miami has started buying ads promoting intramural sports and other activities, said Patricia Whitely, vice president of student affairs.
UM has not explored putting emergency information on the site, officials said. Such an idea could be a problem, said Patricia Sanchez Abril, an assistant professor of business at UM who has done research on social networking sites.
She said Facebook can remove users who are suspected of sending spam e-mail, putting inappropriate material on their pages or for any reason it chooses, she said. Those students then wouldn't see any official announcements sent through Facebook.
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Copyright (c) 2008, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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