TimmyHWho Needs a College Reunion? I’ve Got Facebook
March 31st 2009 05:50
A few weeks ago I received an invitation to my five-year college reunion. My reply was swift, unhesitating and final: No, thank you.
I have no desire to join the rest of my fellow University of Virginia graduates in sipping mint juleps on the sun-dappled Lawn and taking tours of the Rotunda. Why would I?
I already know which of my former classmates spent their postgraduate years planting gardens in the Dominican Republic for the Peace Corps, and which took off for the West Coast. I’ve seen photographs documenting medical missions to South Africa, vacations to Ecuador and endless albums of wedding receptions and gurgling babies.
Blame Facebook. The social networking tool first became available to my class shortly after we graduated from college. Within months, nearly everyone I knew had joined the service. As we approach the five-year anniversary of Mark Zuckerberg’s invention, the tool has reached critical mass, bordering on ubiquity. As my colleague Brad Stone reported Sunday, it seems everybody and their mothers — literally — are on Facebook .
As my friend Alexis, a 2004 Harvard graduate who also decided to skip his coming five-year reunion, put it: “The infotech out there has reduced the desire to go ‘just to know’ what so-and-so is up to. I know what just about everyone is doing.”
Facebook has become a boon for reconnecting with childhood friends, vetting future employees and connecting with potential love interests, not to mention checking on former rivals, spouses, siblings and fizzled flames.
But it’s also deflated some of the mystery of returning to collegiate stomping grounds and seeking out exes and old professors, said Ana Martínez-Alemán, a professor at Boston College and author of “Online Social Networking on Campus: Understanding What Matters in Student Culture.”
What’s more, Facebook could potentially hinder a university’s ability to collect donations from alumni, typically a crucial source of revenue for schools. “I’m sure alumni offices are happy with Facebook because they can generate more revenue through it, but they are also keeping an eye on it because it may undermine some of their efforts,” said Dr. Martínez-Alemán.
She cautioned against jumping to the conclusion that Facebook could detrimentally affect reunion attendance figures, however. “It’s an empirical question that we can’t yet answer,” she said, “though I’m sure we’re going to.”
In some ways, Dr. Martínez-Alemán said, Facebook could be reinforcing collegiate culture and strengthening bonds that otherwise could have dissipated over the years. “Now you’re far more invested in those college relationships,” she said. “It stands to reason it will reinforce those friendship bonds that make for a better alumnus.”
On Monday, the University of Virginia posted a short entry addressing the topic, saying social media would make college reunions and alumni events even more relevant.
“By helping you stay current with both your small circle of close friends and your broader second and third-level acquaintances, Facebook is giving people the opportunity to stay involved with their University when previously due to distance, or time, they might not have,” the post read. “And when people feel that connection to their alma mater, whether it’s through returning to campus, going to sporting events, reading about the University (hint), or keeping in touch via old-school means or new-fangled technology, they are more likely to want to attend a college reunion.”
By Jenna Wortham
Really Long Link
I have no desire to join the rest of my fellow University of Virginia graduates in sipping mint juleps on the sun-dappled Lawn and taking tours of the Rotunda. Why would I?
I already know which of my former classmates spent their postgraduate years planting gardens in the Dominican Republic for the Peace Corps, and which took off for the West Coast. I’ve seen photographs documenting medical missions to South Africa, vacations to Ecuador and endless albums of wedding receptions and gurgling babies.
Blame Facebook. The social networking tool first became available to my class shortly after we graduated from college. Within months, nearly everyone I knew had joined the service. As we approach the five-year anniversary of Mark Zuckerberg’s invention, the tool has reached critical mass, bordering on ubiquity. As my colleague Brad Stone reported Sunday, it seems everybody and their mothers — literally — are on Facebook .
As my friend Alexis, a 2004 Harvard graduate who also decided to skip his coming five-year reunion, put it: “The infotech out there has reduced the desire to go ‘just to know’ what so-and-so is up to. I know what just about everyone is doing.”
Facebook has become a boon for reconnecting with childhood friends, vetting future employees and connecting with potential love interests, not to mention checking on former rivals, spouses, siblings and fizzled flames.
But it’s also deflated some of the mystery of returning to collegiate stomping grounds and seeking out exes and old professors, said Ana Martínez-Alemán, a professor at Boston College and author of “Online Social Networking on Campus: Understanding What Matters in Student Culture.”
What’s more, Facebook could potentially hinder a university’s ability to collect donations from alumni, typically a crucial source of revenue for schools. “I’m sure alumni offices are happy with Facebook because they can generate more revenue through it, but they are also keeping an eye on it because it may undermine some of their efforts,” said Dr. Martínez-Alemán.
She cautioned against jumping to the conclusion that Facebook could detrimentally affect reunion attendance figures, however. “It’s an empirical question that we can’t yet answer,” she said, “though I’m sure we’re going to.”
In some ways, Dr. Martínez-Alemán said, Facebook could be reinforcing collegiate culture and strengthening bonds that otherwise could have dissipated over the years. “Now you’re far more invested in those college relationships,” she said. “It stands to reason it will reinforce those friendship bonds that make for a better alumnus.”
On Monday, the University of Virginia posted a short entry addressing the topic, saying social media would make college reunions and alumni events even more relevant.
“By helping you stay current with both your small circle of close friends and your broader second and third-level acquaintances, Facebook is giving people the opportunity to stay involved with their University when previously due to distance, or time, they might not have,” the post read. “And when people feel that connection to their alma mater, whether it’s through returning to campus, going to sporting events, reading about the University (hint), or keeping in touch via old-school means or new-fangled technology, they are more likely to want to attend a college reunion.”
By Jenna Wortham
Really Long Link
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