By: John Tinkelenberg
Mark Zuckerberg does not have to emerge from Facebook’s headquarters with a time machine for it to be easy to imagine Elon a few years ago. Of course, many buildings would not exist yet, roughly the same amount of leaves would be landing on brick paths and students would still be balancing the angels and devils on their shoulders of academia and having a good time. One change would be ubiquitous. None of that would be in a status update, tagged photo, or tweet.
Photo by: Tinkelenberg
To some, Facebook is a simple utility like a landline or a mailbox. To others, it is Orwellian in scope, probing into hearts and minds more than any eye in the sky. Regardless of the connotations, Facebook has tied a sheepshank between college students, but there are concerns as to how much it jeopardizes their time and focus.
In a Pendulum survey of 50 college students who use Facebook, 58 percent had Twitter accounts. More people, 64 percent, used StumbleUpon and close to half used the professional networking site LinkedIn. The most common second site for respondents was Skype, which was used by 78 percent.
Farther away, yet closer than ever
Kristen Shea, a junior, uses Facebook and Twitter daily. She also serves as the social media manager for Limelight Records, the Elon student record label. For her and many other students, the benefits are numerous: fast, easy communication for free. “If I find a humorous video or any noteworthy article, I would usually share it on Facebook to a friend’s wall or just as my status,” Shea said.
Evan Glass, a junior studying abroad in Spain, uses Facebook to keep up with what happens on campus while he is away. “It’s the easiest way to communicate with my Elon friends while I am abroad,” Glass said.
The cost of Facebook is especially appealing to students in other countries. “Facebook is the most common form of communication I have used in Spain,” Glass said. “Whether it be planning meetings for school projects or where we are partying that night, Facebook is the easiest way to talk to a group of people and cell phone usage here is expensive, so we all try to limit that.”
Social media and other instant communication can also help couple maintain long distance relationships. Alexa Dysch, a freshman from Florida, had been dating her boyfriend for years when he began attending Elon two years ahead of her. Dysch, like many Elon students, used Skype daily to keep in touch. Today, they both attend Elon and are still together.
“It was much more comfortable seeing where he was and meeting the people he was around,” Dysch said. “I could better understand the circumstances he was in.”
Long-distance relationships can isolate students loyal to their significant others. According to a January article in the New York Times, some students in distant relationships, however, are more involved on campus because of a decrease in distractions.
A frequent criticism of social media is how impersonal it is and the lack of face-to-face contact, which Shea disagrees with. “Of course, it takes away the process of face-to-face communication, but there is the option for video chat,” she said.
For blooming relationships, Tom Arcaro, an Elon sociology professor, sees potential for quick conclusions and misguided action. What would now be small talk is in some cases, bypassed as if studied on index cards. “Now, it’s a way of vetting everything from romantic relationships to professional relationships,” he said. “The downside of that is people might be steered away from relationships that could have been wonderful for cosmetic reasons. It might create more false starts and dead ends.”
Shea did not have any issue with using Facebook to meet people. “I used Facebook as a great means for communication as a freshman,” she said. “I know a good amount of my current friendships started because we both went to Elon, had mutual friends on Facebook, began conversing and finally made plans to hang out. It is definitely way to get in touch with new and current friends.”
The clock ticks no matter the clicks
The University of Wisconsin conducted a study that showed college students who use Facebook have a higher risk of developing symptoms of depression. This is especially important for the students today are considered some of the busiest people ever. Despite time management being crucial to academic success, four of every five respondents in the Pendulum survey agree that they spend too much time on Facebook.
“Time is a finite entity,” Tom Arcaro, an Elon sociology professor, said. Elon students and faculty are chronically time-starved. Email and Facebook has made the workday endless. If you’re spending more time on Facebook, you’re spending less time face-to-face.”
Arcaro was an early Facebook user when the service was at its rudimentary stages and focused on colleges. Now, As director of the Periclean Scholars program, Arcaro is excited for the impact social media users can have on causes and charities.
“Just this year, it’s turned into this major tool for people to contribute to social movements in various ways,” Arcaro said. “We saw that very clearly as the folks were gathering in Tahrir Square in Cairo.”
Greek organizations frequently promote their designated philanthropies through social media. Unaffiliated students also frequently get involved. It is easy for students to schedule and interact too much.
“Elon is an over-programmed university,” Neima Abdulahi, president of Limelight Records, said. “There’s about six things going on at an allotted time.”
A study conducted by The Ohio State University found that on average, Facebook users have lower grade point averages than non-users. The study also indicated that the change is most likely an effect of Facebook users studying less.
For most students, however, social media has boosted the efficiency of workflow. The vast majority, 81 percent, of survey respondents said they have used Facebook to organize and correspond on class projects. Shea has not. “It’s just easier and a bit more formal to keep in touch by email or Google Docs,” she said.
While happy for the efficiency social media has brought to communication, Arcaro still laments the lack of focus and diligence. “We’re giving up a certain part of our sanity by being on the grid so much,” he said. “It’s absolutely exhilarating if you’re involved in things you believe in and connecting to people that excite you, but at the end of the day, it’s exhilarating. Smell the roses? I have emails to respond to.”
How to feed the masses
Perhaps the most visible change with social media is seen on campus at places such as a mostly empty poster kiosk next to Hardin Dining Hall. Rather than chalk advertising on concrete, students have taken to social media to promote both their school events and extracurricular activities.
The survey results showed that 65 percent of the respondents learned of most events through Facebook rather the E-Net website, word of mouth, or posters. It can take hours to design and put up decent posters, but it merely takes minutes to create a Facebook event. Facebook also notifies users whenever they are invited to like a page or attend an event.
“If we didn’t have social media, there would be fliers everywhere of 120 organizations putting events up,” Abdulahi said.
One person who uses Facebook to promote ventures is Frank Hurd, an Elon graduate and musician. He uses Facebook to reach the Elon community for his band, Phoenix Highway, and solo music. “Usually, for a gig, I’ll create a page for it,” Hurd said. “I won’t invite everyone because I don’t want to be obnoxious, but most people that have expressed interest. There are so many invitations to things these days that a lot of things don’t get seen.”
Abdulahi agrees with Hurd on the overflow. “Social media can be in your face or ‘Oh, I didn’t know about that,’” she said.
Hurd still feels that promoting through Facebook is easier than other conventional marketing. “Your friends want to support you and Facebook provides a good platform for that,” he said.
Facebook events also provide an easy bulletin board for typical students. “I use Facebook to create events such as graduation and birthday parties or just to plan weekend activities,” Shea said.
Dan Anderson, the director of university relations, helps oversee the Facebook pages for Elon University along with other members of the department. Whenever one of the over 12,000 students, parents, and alumni who are fans of Elon University on Facebook see a post, either Anderson or a colleague is behind the curtain. Having worked in the department prior to the advent of social media, Anderson has seen both sides of the coin. “Prior to social media, it was just us pumping out information and not hearing anything back. Now, it’s a little more interactive,” Anderson said.
The university’s role in social media is very similar to that of the average college student. “The goal is to get people to like you and stick with you and if you’re not finding that kind of content, you’re not doing your job,” Anderson said. We don’t want to be annoying. We want to be fun, interesting, and substantive.”
While posters are disappearing from campus, E-Net has not yet become a ghost town. “We have not seen any reduction of traffic on E-Net,” Anderson said.
Anderson also had advice that applies to the average student. “It’s important to think about what’s appropriate and the frequency of posting is also important,” he said. “The right number of posts matters. If we spammed people, they probably would unlike us.”
Despite the impact social media has left on college students, it is still hard to predict the best way to share on Facebook. Anderson has noticed a small bit of chaos in which posts are most popular. “It’s fun to see what entices people to click the like button or make a comment,” he said.
It is impossible to know exactly where the river of news feeds will carry the current generation of college students. Facebook and Twitter now lord over a land once ruled by MySpace, AOL Instant Messenger and chat rooms. As the algorithms continue to crunch and change, the future impact is just as hard to predict as the media themselves. The words of the late German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche still ring true for the subject: “If you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”
