“Think of it like a Facebook update…”

So I was talking to Rachael (the head honcho of these blogs) about the previous blog post and at her “Great! Keep them coming!” remark I replied “I’m happy to write more as long as you provide the theme/subject”. Curiously enough she said that she’d rather have multiple few lines posts than a huge one every week. She ended the e-mail with “Think of it like a Facebook update…” which baffled me.
I do realize that social networking is in the “Captain Obvious” realm nowadays, especially for students, especially in England. Heck, I had to add a fair few hundred new friends and colleagues in the first few months of student life. But the thing is, many students have no idea what Facebook is when they come to Salford. Wikipedia says that Facebook is banned in China, Vietnam, Iran, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Syria and Bangladesh. A Chinese housemate of mine that only recently encountered the big F described it as “I think it’s more of a way to expose yourself than to communicate”.  Other than that, there are a lot of mature students that either didn’t hear about Facebook (which is highly unlikely), never bothered to try it out or simply don’t want to use it. Students in the aforementioned categories represent a fair amount of the population at The University of Salford.
These people aside though, Facebook is a force to be reckoned with and it inadvertently influences a big part of our life. I’ll further discuss about the advantages and disadvantages of Facebook for a student from my perspective.

Advantages:

• Homesickness: I believe that this is the best thing about Facebook. I mean, all the important information is still relayed through phone or Skype (or the likes), but Facebook aids the small interactions tremendously. Take a picture of my brother and his friends in a pub. He wouldn’t tell me he went to a pub, but he would post the picture on Facebook. And I enjoy seeing him having fun. It’s the little things as they say
• Communication: Fall asleep in history class and need someone's notes? Looking for a tutor or a study partner? Need a ride home for the weekend? Need a lead on a campus job? Wondering where and when the (next Castle Irwell) party is? Moreover, since many professors are on Facebook too, this may be a good place to ask a quick question about an assignment.
• Career: Keeping professional links with university colleagues after graduation is of immense importance, especially in fields like Politics, Business, Research or Law.

Disadvantages:

• Study distraction: Major issue spanning the entire student life history. The new game on Xbox, tonight’s party, the cute girl sitting next to you in class or your PSP, all these are examples of distractions but Facebook takes it to the next level. As I explained to so many before, the most common distraction so far is: I read a book –> Phone vibrates with a Facebook notification –> I go to my laptop and spend at least an hour watching silly pictures or commenting on random stuff –> I go back to my reading realizing I forgot everything. To make matters even worse (or better for some ?), smartphones these days empower students to be distracted even during lectures ! (Exclamation mark = I do that too but I want to spread positive messages :/ )
• Drama ( I said whaaaa ? ): X changed her relationship status from “In a relationship with Y” to “Single” –> whole social circle of both X and Y are in an uproar –> Read 1st disadvantage. People also feel a bit more comfortable with posting inappropriate messages in the heat of anger when behind a screen. Recent example of this was someone who called all her housemates a bunch of wretched skunks on Facebook because someone left a plate on the kitchen table.
• TMI and “Friends”: TMI (short for Too Much Information) might be regarded as funny by some (me) but others find it really disturbing. Everything ranging from posting the number of calories you eat at every meal, to explaining in detail the rash on a private area (o.O) get in this category. Another issue (not a major one though) is the degradation of the friend status. More and more people like to friend people that they have never seen or encountered before, effectively blurring the line between acquaintance and friend.

Love it or hate it, Facebook is already deeply rooted in our student lives and is becoming indispensible. This is my “Facebook update”
If you want to find out more about what it's like at Salford, why not watch some of our student videos on YouTube at this link: http://www.youtube.com/user/InternationalSalford.