Freshman Stephanie Mensah already has 488 Facebook friends-and classes haven’t even begun yet.
Gone are the days when the average freshman moves into his dorm knowing only a handful of other students. Since its inception five years ago, Facebook has revolutionized the college social experience. Its ability to dramatically shape the freshman experience increased when Facebook creators extended the social networking site to include high schools two years ago. The network extension meant that high school students could fraternize with future classmates even sooner.
But this new social dynamic begs the question: does Facebook ease the transition into college or does it set the precedent for uncomfortable encounters?
The answer depends a lot on how individual students choose to monitor their Facebook accounts.
For Mensah, it is important to make sure she has established some sort of contact with each of the people she adds as a friend. Many of them she has met in person, be it during an overnight campus visit or an ArtSci weekend. Others she has simply communicated with through the Internet. Regardless of how she “meets” them, Mensah establishes communication in order to ensure comfortable meetings on campus. In doing so, Mensah is able to get a head start on campus social life.
“If I haven’t seen then [in person yet], I have talked to them a lot on Facebook,” said Mensah. “I think it depends on your conversation before meeting. If you have a discussion, it’s fine. It’s like, ‘Oh! I know you. I’ve talked to you before.'”
Junior Dave Shapiro also had a lot of friends before setting foot on campus for his freshman year. A summer job in information technology services at NYU provided him plenty of time to instigate contact with his future classmates. Throughout the summer, Shapiro friended every single person who joined the Class of 2009 Facebook group. His enthusiasm even earned him a nickname on campus.
“I was known as ‘that kid who friended everyone,'” said Shapiro.
Though he admits he may have acted a little extremely and has since de-friended any person he does not personally know, he doesn’t necessarily regret his initial eagerness. Facebook provided him a way to transition to a new community with brand new people.
“It was kind of a loser move, but kind of smart because people knew me ahead of time,” said Shapiro.
Freshman Todd Palmer agrees. Having been unconnected to Facebook until last week when he arrived on campus for football, Palmer wishes he had joined the network much earlier. To Palmer, Facebook provides the opportunity for freshmen to establish a foundation for social success on campus, not to mention that it’s a great icebreaker for meeting new people.
“If I could’ve, I would’ve started during the summer, but I didn’t know how to use it,” said Palmer. “You always [want to] come in knowing someone or having a support system.”
While veteran and newbie Facebook users generally agree that Facebook eases the transition into college, a complication lies in how students handle their Facebook friendships. Facebook has the power to either smooth the transition into campus life or to make it pretty awkward. The outcome depends largely upon the user and his Facebook choices.
Sophomore Michelle Beasley’s first couple of months at Wash. U. changed how she used her Facebook account. Beasley found it exciting and relieving to connect with some of her classmates in advance, especially when it came to meeting roommates and suitemates. Yet, she found that this ability also left her vulnerable to some strange situations on campus. As Beasley stood in line at Ursa’s one night, someone she didn’t recognize turned to her and exclaimed, “Facebook?!” Since then, her friend list only includes people she has actually met in real life.
“It was more awkward than it had to be,” said Beasley. “Facebook isn’t a popularity contest for me. It’s more about keeping in touch with my good friends.”
Throughout the first weeks of school, members of the Class of 2011 are likely to see their friend counts continue to climb. And hopefully, as Wash. U.’s newest students learn their way around, those Facebook pals will evolve from boxes on a screen into real-life, meaningful friendships.