You Are the ‘One’

A Social Networking Guide for Florida International University’s Department of Pre-Collegiate Programs

Florida International University Nashira Williams Tiffani Tallon Jamillah Stewart

Objective/Definitions

“You’re afraid of change. I don’t know the future. I didn’t come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came

here to tell you how it’s going to begin... [Showing you] a world where anything is possible (The Internet Movie Database, 1990-2011).”

Today’s plan is to guide you through how social networking will propel your department’s goals.

Social Networking/Online Social Networking

: “An association of people drawn together by family, work or hobby. The term was first coined by professor J. A. Barnes in the 1950s, who defined the size of a social network as a group of about 100 to 150 people.

On the Web, social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter have expanded the concept to include a company's customers, a celebrity's fans and a politician's constituents (The Computer Language Company Inc., 1981 2011).”

The Matrix

: Described in the 1999’s film as being “a world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind your from the truth, yet “can be more real than this world (The Internet Movie Database, 1990 2011).”

Agenda

• • • • • • • Introduction – The Prevalence of Social Networking – The Power of Social Networking – The Evolution of Social Media Icebreaker: Of Course, I Am Always FaceTweetIn Goals/Theory to Practice FOLLOWER USER FRIEND The Future…

To navigate the PowerPoint Presentation, please click when you

are ready to move on.

Social Networking: Remind You of The Matrix?

Of Course, I Am Always FaceTweetIn

• Describe the following in less than 1 minute (be specific): – “Broadcast Yourself” – Foursquare – Twitter – FriendFeed – Ping.fm

-Flickr -LinkedIn -Mark Zuckerberg -Tumblr Dashboard -NING.com

Icebreaker Results

• These were the following images… 1. YouTube Slogan 6. Foursquare Logo 2. Mark Zuckerberg/Facebook founder 7. Twitter Bird/Logo 3. Myspace Logo 8. Updates Most Sites At Once 4. FriendFeed Logo 5. Flickr Logo/App 9. Tumblr Dashboard 10. Linked In Job Search Page • • • If you answered 1-3 correctly, for the purposes of this presentation you are a FOLLOWER.

If you answered 4-7 correctly, for the purposes of this presentation you are a USER.

If you answered, 8 or more correctly, for the purposes of this presentation you are a FRIEND .

Goal

The “principal goal of the Pre-Collegiate Programs at Florida International University is to engage first generation and low-income students and their families in activities and behaviors that eliminate obstacles that impede their access to college (RicardoMena.com, 2007).”

Specifically…

• The Staff of Pre-Collegiate Programs are – planning curriculum and strategies so that students have the potential to improve their cultural, social, and academic skills – demystifying the college-going procedure with family outreach activities and – partnering with public schools to educate families and students about opportunities for further college attainment during the student’s high school career

Red Pill or Blue Pill: Take Both!

Applying Theory to Practice

College Student Development

• • “Before the emergence of on-line social networks, young people from any identity group could find themselves isolated before college and even on campus; now any student with access to the Internet can find media, blogs, entertainment, support groups, political groups, and polemics related to any identity he or she wishes to explore.” Seen as almost this “Matrix” world to many who are unfamiliar to these websites, researchers have found that “students’ identities on virtual social networks are constructed and kept more or less consistent with their ‘in person’ identities by the ways that students affiliate on-line with people who are friends in ‘real life’(Torres, V., Jones, S., & Renn, K., 2009, p. 593).”

Challenge and Support

• Nevitt Sandford presents a current reality that college student balances the issues of readiness, challenge, and support in order to develop. If individuals are not ready to exhibit certain types of behaviors, they will not. However, personal maturation and beneficial conditions in the environment brought on by an appropriate range of challenges will develop the individual. Still, these challenges need to be balanced with the support that students are given (Evans, N. , Forney, D., & Guido, F., 1998). • Social networking will provide a venue for students to seek the support that they need for the challenges involved throughout the college-going process. Students would ideally develop through online initiatives into college ready individuals. Families will also be able to conceptualize the tools needed to be an additional support system in the process.

College-Choice Process

• “The literature suggests that decision to go to college are the result of a three stage process that begins as early as the seventh grade and ends when the high school graduate enrolls at an institution of higher education (Cabrera & La Nasa, 2000, p. 5).” These stages allow for high school students to “develop predispositions to attend college, search for general information about college, and make choices leading them to enroll at an given institution (Cabrera & La Nasa, 2000, p.5).” Parental encouragement remaining a constant in each stage. – – – Students in the predisposition stage, grades seven to nine, are beginning to develop their career or educational aspirations, and supporters will begin to see intentions of continuing to postsecondary education. Students in the search stage, grades ten-twelve, begin to gather and adopt the information they receive about colleges to create a list of potential universities. Students in the choice stage, grades 11-12, grapple with making either an economic decision or a sociological one. Students either economically weigh the costs and benefits (both social and monetary), or students’ socioeconomic characteristics and academic preparation act as predictive factors to their future.

College-Choice Process

• Directly aligned with many of the goals in the department, the college-choice process if applied to social networking provides the opportunity to meet the needs of the students in each individual stage. – Students in the predisposition stage developing their goals and aspirations, will be able to have a forum that allows for nonjudgmental questioning, unstructured time for exploration and professionals outside of their daily lives with whom they can build relationships. – For students in the search stage what is most pivotal is the opportunity amass large amounts of information on colleges. Sites can be equipped with a plethora of marketing resources that directly relate to the student searching for information, such as staff members to answer questions, virtual view books, and uploaded videos of campus life. – Students in the choice stage will ideally be more prepared to sociologically and economically to choose a school. Students will be able to work through the issues that they have with fund raising tactics via social networking and add more to their repertoire of skills with virtual tutorials before they make a decision to commit to an institution.

Social Networking The Matrix… Your Reality…

Let’s Start With Choosing Your Level of Expertise

I’m a FOLLOWER.

Unlock the secrets of social networking for me

.

I’m a USER.

What else can I do to get my department involved.

I’m a FRIEND.

You mean to tell me that even I can do more.

FOLLOWER Starting Your Social Networking Journey

Welcome FOLLOWERS

“Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You

have to see it for yourself (The Internet Movie Database, 1990-2011).” You are not very comfortable with social networking. If you realize you’re a little more advanced, return to this slide and click on this icon to see what the USERS are covering… We encourage you as a FOLLOWER to complete the entire process when you feel more comfortable.

What is Facebook?

• Why start with Facebook?

– “In August 2007,comScore reported that Facebook had the highest percentage of university visitors of all Web sites in the United States. Furthermore, Facebook ranked eighth in terms of the percentage of university audience reached among all U.S. Web sites (Heiberger & Harper, 2008, p.22).” • • • Facebook is a social networking family, and business associates.

website intended to connect friends, Facebook users create a profile page that shows their friends and networks information about themselves. The choice to include a profile in a network means that everyone within that network can view the profile. – The profile typically includes the following: Information, Status, Friends, Friends in Other Networks, Photos, Notes, Groups, and The Wall.

Without a department there would be no students to reach, and thus without your own profile you cannot reach students. We need to start there.

Go to www.facebook.com

to join!

This web address will take you to the website itself.

• • – Facebook does not discriminate and is open to anyone.

• • After filling out your contact information, email and birthdate, it is then time for you to create your password. We recommend a combination of Upper and lowercase letters, as well as numbers to be included in you password to ensure security of your account.

You will then be asked to complete a security check to ensure the privacy of your account by typing in a word(s) into text box. Once you have completed your security check, you may move on to complete your profile.

– You may add if you are in high school or college, whether you work for a company or own one.

• • • • • Ultimately, the key to Facebook is to remember that it is not just one big site.

It is composed of separate networks such as schools, companies, and regions. This is how everyone stays CONNECTED!

If you want to see the profiles of your classmates or co-workers, BE SURE to use either your school or work email.

You can only see profiles of co-workers or friends that are in your own network.

Additionally, if you would like to protect your page so there are only specific items people may see within your network, there is drop down box which enlist “privacy settings” under the Account tab.

May post current events and college application deadlines You can control who sees what and when Student and parents may get their questions answered during live “chat” hours

• • • Once you have joined Facebook you have the option to “chat” with your friends, co-workers, or businesses.

You must have friends in order to create a group.

Will the daily/weekly maintenance of the Facebook page, Upward Bound would not only be able to upcoming events in the community, but important dates such as college application deadlines.

• • • Once you have created a group, the “chat” feature can be utilized by Upward Bound to answer specific questions that a student or parent may have about the program, colleges, and how to apply.

Upward Bound will be able to post office hours in order to give the community various times and days in which they will be able to access them through Facebook, and not just via phone or email.

If students or parents do not have access to a computer, they may go to their local library or Upward Bound Pre-Collegiate Office.

Possible Challenges

• • • Some students may not have daily access to the Internet regardless of going to the library or other resources.

Some parents are not comfortable with allowing their students to get involved on social networking sites.

Department turnover may make the sustainability of access and management to the Facebook account for Pre Collegiate Programs an issue.

Other Ways to Start Socializing

Here are other networks that you are able to be a member of… Twitter “Twitter is a real-time information network that connects you to the latest information about what you find interesting. At the heart of Twitter are small bursts of information called Tweets. Each Tweet is 140 characters in length (Twitter, 2011).” LinkedIn “LinkedIn helps you… -Establish your professional profile online -Stay in touch with colleagues and friends -Find experts, ideas and opportunities (LinkedIn Corporation, 2011).”

Foursquare “Foursquare is a location-based mobile platform that makes cities easier to use and more interesting to explore. By “checking in” via a smartphone app or SMS, users share their location with friends while collecting points and virtual badges (foursquare, 2011).” Tumblr “Tumblr lets you effortlessly share anything. Post text, photos, quotes, links, music, and videos, from your browser, phone, desktop, email, or wherever you happen to be. You can customize everything, from colors, to your theme's HTML (Tumblr, Inc, 2011).” YouTube “YouTube's vision is to give everyone a voice, to evolve video, and to make our partners and advertisers successful (YouTube, LLC, 2011). Flickr “Flickr, a photo management and sharing application in the world, has two main goals: To help people make their photos available to the people who matter to them… And to enable new ways of organizing photos and video (Yahoo! Inc., 2011).”

USER Getting Into the Group

Welcome USERS

What is he doing?

-Trinity He’s beginning to believe.

-Morpheus

(The Internet Movie Database, 1990-2011) You are comfortable with social networking. However, if you feel like you need to go over some of the basics click on this icon to see what the FOLLOWERS are covering… If you realize you’re a little more advanced, click on this icon to see what the FRIENDS are covering…

Facebook Group

• • • Our next step after sign up is to get everyone together on these social sites.

A “group” can be setup to specifically share news/events with a community and stimulate relevant discussion all in one spot.

Upward Bound leaders can create discussions within the group related to engaging first generations students, applying to college/financial aid and eliminate obstacles

that impede their access to college.

• The majority of Upward Bound and Pre-College students involved at FIU are connected to Facebook. This could aid in the approach to communicate with this generation of students.

• It is also a real time form of communication. It can serve as a tool to expose them to a variety of other tools through the internet considering many colleges and universities are moving toward online schooling.

On the left hand side you can find the Create Group option

Possible Challenges

• • • Some students may not have daily access to the Internet.

Others may find it difficult to navigate a Facebook group.

Administrators could find it challenging to keep the group current.

Other Ways to Group Up

Twitter 3 rd party help needed as there is no way to create inherent groups on Twitter. So, you should look at Tweetworks, Twittangle, Twittag, Filttr, Tweetdeck, and Twhirl to group your “followers” on Twitter (Carta, 2009). Linked In Invitations to LinkedIn members as well as non-members are sent out to those that you wish to be in your group. Discussions are essential to these groups, and the creators of LinkedIn are creating a way to make some featured groups open to more than just their members (LinkedIn Corporation, 2010). Foursquare Through Groupme.com/foursquare members of foursquare can locate their friends who are nearby once they have checked into their location. They are then able to create a group and by texting can plan where to go next.

Youtube Redesigning the group format. However, users can still use the discussion features and group media on your personal channel. Sounds like an amazing way to publicize advertisements for colleges, host virtual tutorial sessions, and maintain visual record of events (YouTube LLC, 2010). Tumblr Invite members of Tumblr to a Tumblelog where everyone will be able to post on their own. “As with standalone tumblelogs, you can use feeds (configured from Customise > Feeds) to import RSS feeds, delicious links, or something like that; then people don’t even need a Tumblr account to contribute (Mison, 2009).” Flickr Members can create groups where other members of the group can post pictures or videos and be a part of the discussion (Yahoo! Inc, 2011).

FRIEND Advancing Beyond the Group

Welcome FRIENDS

“This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back…you stay in

Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes (The Internet Movie Database, 1990-2011).”

-Morpheus

You are more than comfortable with social networking. However, if you feel like you need to go over some of the basics click on the icon to see what the FOLLOWERS are covering… Want a refresher on grouping up? Click on this icon to see what the USERS are covering…

FRIENDS Bring It All Together

FriendFeed Consolidates your MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other pages into one site. However, friends must become members in order to participate (FriendFeed, 2011 ).

Ping.fm

allows you to update your status on a variety of networks (Seesmic, 2011).

Wefollow.com

Members categorize themselves under three keywords so that you are able to find members by keyword instead of name. You can find discussions on a topic and find individuals to follow who have the same interests as you (Digg Inc., 2009)

FRIENDS Bring It All Together

Now that all members of the department can contribute to social networking, consolidating them on your department’s page is easy and interactive with…

Wibiya. Com

(Modular Patterns Ltd., 2010)

FRIENDS Create Social Networks?

• The student population that your department is working with are usually under the age of 18. Parents may be wary of letting them be active members of social networks designed for adults. Moreover, school districts and parents, two of the other targets in your departmental goals may be uneasy about all of the social media outlets that offer membership. One way around that for members of the department with advanced social networking skills it to create their own social network with sites such as NING.com.

Challenges for Our FRIENDS

• • • Bringing together social media outlets in itself is challenging as there are many ways to achieve this task. Students that would like to limit their social network involvement may be reluctant to create other identities on different sites. Creating social networks with the other responsibilities assigned to the Student Affairs professional may be a daunting task.

FOLLOWERS, USERS, and FRIENDS

• •

BEWARE…

There must be boundaries. Many professionals create separate profiles for social networking in their department role versus using some of their more personal profiles. Creating these online boundaries help students to understand the college environment and the boundaries that await them once they are on campus.

THE FUTURE

Remembering the start of MySpace is like remembering when only college students had access to Facebook, almost impossible. Social networking has become so ingrained in the lives of students that pinpointing when things change is futile. However, starting here with the skills you already have and building on them will create a culture of inclusion that is necessary for the students the department serves. If students are developing their identity through social networking, it is the duty of every department on the college campus to guide them by prioritizing the usage of social media.

Final Words…

“You have to let it all go, [Pre Collegiate Programs]. Fear, doubt, and disbelief. Free

your mind (The Internet Movie Database, 1990-2011).”

References

Cabrera, A. & La Nasa, S. (2000). Understanding the college-choice process. New Directions for Institutional Research, 107, 5-22 "Create a Social Networking Site with Ning, the Best Social Site Platform." Create a Social Networking Site with Ning, the Best Social Site Platform. N.p., 2 Apr. 2009. Web. 19 Feb. 2011. Retrieved from http://www.ning.com/ Computer Language Company Inc.. (n.d.). Social network Definition from PC Magazine Encyclopedia. Technology Product Reviews, News, Prices & Downloads | PCMag.com | PC Magazine. Retrieved February 20, 2011, from http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=social+network&i=55313,00.asp

Digg Inc. (n.d.). Twitter Directory and Search, Find Twitter Followers : WeFollow. Twitter Directory and Search, Find Twitter Followers : WeFollow. Retrieved February 15, 2011, from http://wefollow.com

Evans, N. J., Forney, D. S., & DiBrito, F. (1998). Student development in college: theory, research, and practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers "Facebook." Create Group. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2011. www.facebook.com/home.php.

"Facebook." Upward Bound. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2011 http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_183296245044816& "Flickr." About Flickr. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2011. Retrieved from www.flickr.com/about/ "Flickr." Flickr: Groups. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2011. Retrieved from www.flickr.com/groups/ foursquare. (n.d.). About. foursquare. Retrieved February 21, 2011, from http://foursquare.com/abou "FriendFeed - About Us."FriendFeed. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2011. Retrieved from http://friendfeed.com/about/ Heiberger, G., & Harper, R. (2008). Have You Facebooked Astin Lately? Using Technology to Increase Student Involvement. New Directions for Student Services, 124, 19-35 Hossler, D., Braxton, J. & Coopersmith, G. (1989). Understanding student college choice. Higher Education Handbook of Theory and Research 5, 1989, 5-37

References

Internet Movie Database. (n.d.). The Matrix (1999) - Memorable quotes. The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Retrieved February 20, 2011, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/quotes Mison, Paul . "How to setup a group Tumblr."notes.husk.org. N.p., 24 Mar. 2009. Web. 19 Feb. 2011. Retrieved from notes.husk.org/post/89354239/group-tumblr RicardoMena.com. (n.d.). Department Spotlight : The Office of Pre-Collegiate, Grants, & McNair Programs. FIU Division of Student Affairs New and Features. Retrieved February 2, 2011, from www2.fiu.edu/~studaff/news_grants.html

Schofield, J. (2007, November 18). Friend trends -- an overview of social networking sites | Technology | guardian.co.uk . Latest news, comment and reviews from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk . Retrieved February 17, 2011, from http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2007/nov/18/friendtrendsanoverviewofs Seesmic. (n.d.). Ping.fm / Update all of your social networks at once!. Ping.fm / Update all of your social networks at once!. Retrieved February 15, 2011, from http://ping.fm/ Simoni, A. (2010, May 7). The sexist side of social networking. Gender Across Borders A Global Feminist Blog. Retrieved February10, 2011, from www.genderacrossborders.com/2010/05/07/the-sexist side-of-social-networks/ Torres, V., Jones, S., & Renn, K. (2009). Identity development theories in student affairs: origins, current status, and new approaches. Journal of College Student Development, 50(6), 578-596 "Welcome to wefollow."wefollow. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2011. Retrieved from wefollow.com/ "What happened to YouTube Groups? - YouTube Help."Google. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2011. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1070535 "Wibiya's Web Toolbar is the Perfect Solution for Your Website & Blog." Wibiya. N.p., n.d.

Web. 20 Feb. 2011. Retrieved from www.wibiya.com/