Posts Tagged ‘Facebook’

Whether heading back to school as an upper classman or starting off as a freshman, transitioning into college used to come with a lot of freedom. Students spoke with their parents daily, or even weekly over the phone, sometimes sending emails back and forth and almost always limiting the amount of information they provided with their parents.

Times have since changed with the evolution of technology and now, much to some students’ dismay, parents have started keeping tabs on them via social networking sites. According to an info graphic from onlineschools.com, more than half of all parents have been using Facebook to spy on their teenage kids. Even still, of the roughly 150 million Facebook users, some 28 million of them are over the age of 45, reports Inside Facebook.

It’s easy for parents to want to keep tabs on their college-aged children via the social networking site but this can often hinder the child’s ability to make social connections and learn to live independently. With parents often a Facebook message away, it’s much easier for a child to go to them for help before first thinking of a solution to a problem on their own.

On the opposite end of the spectrum it’s easy for parents to snoop around on their child’s page, interjecting into otherwise “private” conversations or tagging their children in photographs without asking. What parents see as being helpful (shouldn’t you be studying instead of going to that party?), many college students see as being a nuisance, as is evidenced by a host of new websites such as “Oh Crap. My Parents Joined Facebook.”

A recent article posted by Mashable highlights several tips to help parents communicate with their children via Facebook without seeming overbearing.

1. Let your student set some ground rules: When a parent “friends” their child on Facebook, it’s up to the child to limit what mom and dad can and can’t see. Set some ground rules and discuss what your child feels is acceptable (commenting on a status update, versus tagging them in a photo, let’s say).

2. Respect your student’s space: It’s easy to want to jump into a conversation and call your child out on something they did. Instead, message them privately to spare everyone the embarrassment later.

3. Brach out from the usual platforms: Now, more than ever, there are more private ways of connecting with your child online. Skype now offers a group video feature which means mom, dad and other family members can all join in on a chat session with a child who is off at school.

4. Avoid over-communicating: Just because social networking keeps you connected to your children 24/7 doesn’t mean you always need to be reaching out to them. Going off to college is about growing up and learning to live independently from your parents.

Sure it’s nice to hear from mom and dad once-in-awhile, but when parents become too connected they might as well just pack up and move into their child’s dorm room too.

CourseSmart®, the world’s largest provider of eTextbooks and other digital resources, recently launched its latest innovation: a social commerce shopping experience that will allow students to rent CourseSmart materials directly from the brand’s official Facebook page.

Students will be able to access CourseSmart’s catalog of eTextbooks and eResources directly on Facebook through a secure shopping cart and tab on the brand’s page. Shopping within the tab, students will be able to search for eTextbooks by title, ISBN number or keyword and then add the items to their cart. When ready to checkout, students will be linked directly to secure checkout at Coursesmart.com.

“CourseSmart has always made it a priority to provide students with the course materials they need in the most convenient way possible, and our new Facebook experience is the latest breakthrough in that arena,” said Jill Ambrose, chief marketing officer at CourseSmart. “We are excited to provide accessibility to more than 20,000 of the latest eTextbook offerings to college students where they already spend time, on their favorite social networking site.”

With so many college students already on Facebook, using the social network for social commerce was a natural transition for CourseSmart. This new Facebook feature is the latest in a series of industry firsts for the brand, which launched a beta version of its first-to-market HTML5 eReader earlier this summer, allowing users to access CourseSmart materials online and offline.

To purchase eTextbooks via Facebook or for more information on CourseSmart’s new social commerce tab visit www.facebook.com/CourseSmart.

Huffington Post College recently reported on a Kaplan survey that found more than 80% of college admissions officers used social networking profiles when considering applicants. If students ever needed more proof that their social media presence could affect them in a positive or negative way, this is it!

Most high school and college students are quick to point out their profile privacy settings prevent any questionable content from reaching the eyes of future employers, college admissions officers, or worse, their parents. But, is completely isolating your profile from public view in a students’ best interest? With the newest round of changes to sites like Facebook, a students’ social media profile can be an asset rather than a liability.

In its latest round of updates, Facebook enhanced users’ ability to create pages that function more like a personal profile. How does that affect the average student? Any user can now create a page that can serve as a public professional profile, keeping their personal profile visible only to friends. By creating a personal page, students can use status updates and wall posts to showcase, interests and hobbies, volunteer work, or share content that is relevant to their area of study. A page can now “like” other pages, allowing students to “like” and showcase their favorite schools, membership to professional organizations, and even brands or companies they love. Students, especially arts majors, can use page elements like the photos banner and albums to showcase their creativity, making the page an interactive portfolio. Much like the info section on a personal profile, the page info section can feature educational experience, internship information or anything that might be of importance to whomever will be viewing the page. Making a Facebook page an extension of a resume or college admissions essay, could prove to be a valuable piece of gaining admissions or getting that dream job.

Need some creative inspiration for making a professional Facebook page? Check out some cool uses on Mashable.com.