<p>For all the negative publicity surrounding websites which allow outsiders to communicate with students (though I note that Facebook appears to be much safer, i.e., more difficult for predators to access, than is myspace), there appears to be a clear benefit in re college transitions. My daughter told me last night that she had joined a group oon Facebook limited in access to those who will enroll with her at her college selection in the class of 2011, and had discovered a number of people with similar interests. In that she will be attending a school where few, if any, of her classmates will attend, this seems to be a good thing.</p>
<p>Am I right about Facebook limiting access to those you allow in, or is there more we should know? If the former, it certainly seems to be a positive.</p>
<p>Facebook is a little bit more limited than myspace, but anyone can join these days and send a friend request (or whatever it is called) to someone else. The main difference is that the default settings tend to afford more privacy, because members can only see profile details of their friends and members of the same group.</p>
<p>But keep in mind that the same precautions should be taken. </p>
<p>It is definitely nice that the kids can use both Facebook and myspace to make connections before school starts. My daughter found and requested her roommate through myspace. My daughter also was able to meet another classmate - an international student -- in person when my daughter traveled abroad and arranged to meet her. I'll bet that was a big help to the international student as well as an opportunity for my daughter to make another friend before the semester began.</p>
<p>i've been out of college for a couple of years, and i love facebook because it lets me see what all of my classmates are up to these days, especially those who were merely acquaintences . you just have to be smart about not putting any info that you wouldnt want the general public to see!</p>
<p>My S will be freshman in the fall at a LAC all the way across the country and is probably the only kid from his school who will be going there. He's joined a Facebook group of his future classmates that now numbers 100 [and the freshman class will only have 450 students and they're only through EDI and EDII so far!]. They're already discussing who's from where, who's playing sports, who wants to study what, favorite TV shows, etc. It will be interesting to watch over the next several months as more kids are admitted and join the group - but so far it has been tremendously positive and somewhat nerve-calming for him. </p>
<p>From what I can tell Facebook is better than myspace from a security standpoint since you must grant permission to people to see your profile. On myspace, you have to affirmatively make your profile private in order to gain that level of protection from lurkers.</p>
<p>VeryHappy: No, you cannot see your kid's facebook profile without his knowing, unless he forgets to log off when he's done using the computer. Another possibility is if you know someone who is part of his network and can view it that way (like a coworker who is an alum of the school he is going to).</p>
<p>My daughter joined the class of 2011 facebook group of her college about two hours after learning of her acceptance. About half the ED kids have signed up, and it's been great for her.</p>
<p>You'd have to know the e-mail address she used to establish it and her password. That's another "benefit" of the better security Facebook offers - parents can't see their kids profiles by establishing fake memberships like they can on myspace. If you need to obtain your DS's password and e-mail address without her knowing, PM me and I'll be happy to share my "secrets" [which aren't very secret].</p>
<p>I know its a bit off topic - but what does DS mean? I assumed it meant Daughter, but now I'm wondering. What about some of the other similar abbreviations I see used?</p>
<p>And as to viewing the profile: there is no way for a facebook user to tell whether someone has been viewing their profile. Any one who has access via a "friend's" account can view the profile, and anyone who has or can guess the user's password can log in to their account -- and there is no trail left. </p>
<p>Myspace is a little more secure in that respect, because it reports a "Last Login" date -- so if you haven't logged in for a week, and you come to the page and see today's date... you know someone has access to your account.</p>
<p>As far as I know, both systems will allow the user to set any sort of password, no matter how rudimentary. I once saw my daughter hack a password on a desktop computer in an office in 3 attempts -- and she was about 10 years old at the time.</p>
<p>Which brings me to another point: any Facebook user should simply assume that their parents and future employers have seen the profile and will be able to continue to do so. Where there is a will, there is a way -- and when you have a network of 320 "friends" at 22 different colleges, your network isn't all that private any more.</p>
<p>D is deciding between 2 colleges. She wants to see the facebook groups from those schools. She doesn't have an email address from those schools yet...is there any way she can do this without having a college email address?</p>
<p>When a student enrolls at a school when do they get an address?</p>
<p>I think what she would have to do is set up an account tied to the city she lives in. That would put her in the city network (for example, "San Francisco" is a network). Then, she could search for keywords -- for example, she could search for the word "Dartmouth" -- the search results would bring up some groups and also individual students who go to Dartmouth. I don't think it would bring up all the Dartmouth groups, because she isn't in the Dartmouth network -- and being friends with someone in a different network doesn't make her part of that network. But some of the groups might be open -- that is, they might be assigned to an "everyone" network instead of a "Dartmouth" only network. </p>
<p>Myspace and Livejournal would probably be more useful for a student still researching schools. </p>
<p>I'm not really sure how useful it would be to see facebooks from a school anyway. The are all over the map -- some are silly, some are serious -- and I don't think they represent anything than the passing whims of the kids who create them. Myspace actually has little group boards that are more analogous to what we have here (a group forum with topics that users add to over time, but where you and select a specific topic and read the history of all the posts). </p>
<p>I think the main value of facebook is for looking up and connecting with people you already know who are at different colleges.</p>
<p>Seeing Facebook groups from a school is actually quite easy. Simply log onto Facebook with your account and search the name of the school. You're likely to get "such-and-such class of 2010" or "we hate the food at such-and-such" but you can see those group profiles and then use the "related groups" link to find other groups at that school. This has become less reliable since the advent of global groups but it often works pretty well anyway. </p>
<p>When students get an address varies by college: some Early Decision students get them as early as December. Others don't get them until the summer.</p>