Even though he knew almost nothing about Syracuse University, Neilsen Hing-Mahn Kwan applied and was accepted to the College of Human Ecology. Then a high school senior in Hong Kong, Kwan had no idea what life at the university would be like.

However, Kwan was eager to learn about every aspect of the social and academic life at SU, what the campus looked like and where his dorm was located.

‘I came across the ‘Syracuse University Class of 2011′ group on Facebook. The group had almost 1,000 confirmed members,’ Kwan said. ‘Those were the people I was going to college with.’

Kwan, a senior and pre-med student, said he was not the only student curious about what the next four years would be like upon joining the group.

‘There were several questions and facts posted on the group wall. Everyone got the chance to learn many things they didn’t know,’ he said. ‘The group also gave a better insight of the people incoming students were going to be surrounded with.’

September of 2010 marked the five-year anniversary of Facebook opening its doors to high school students. Kwan said the ‘Syracuse University Class of 2011’ group was a great way for him to learn more about SU and gave him a better idea of what to expect.

‘You arrive on this campus, you don’t know anyone, and you have to adapt,’ Kwan said. ‘This group helped me meet new people, make friends and informed me about events around campus. It was very helpful.’

Anthony Rotolo, assistant professor of practice and social media strategist at the School of Information Studies, said in an e-mail interview that social media websites are becoming very influential when it comes to picking and joining the right college.

‘Prior to social media, the only way for prospective students to get a feel for a college campus was by visiting,’ Rotolo said. ‘For many, these visits are limited to carefully scripted tours and meetings with pre-selected student representatives.’

Facebook, as well as many other social media websites, allows prospective students to have a more personalized experience as they prepare for arrival on campus, Rotolo said. By engaging with a college’s social media presence, students can gain a much broader sense of campus life, he said. Students can interact with other students, faculty, alumni and even other current-decision applicants before deciding on a college.

Facebook has helped incoming students participate in the campus community before moving in, Rotolo said. Students may arrive on campus already aware of student organizations and events they want to participate in, he said.

Rotolo said many new students arrive on campus with their social network already forming because they prefer finding roommates and making friends even before arriving at college.

‘Facebook can be particularly helpful in providing context when meeting classmates or roommates in person for the first time,’ he said. ‘It is not uncommon to see incoming students participate in conversations on the SU Facebook and Twitter pages.’

Maddie Kirshenblatt, a sophomore television, radio and film major, was worried when she found out her roommate would be selected randomly. She said she was afraid that her roommate would be nothing like her and that they would not get along.

‘I wasn’t comfortable with taking that risk,’ she said.

After Kirshenblatt joined the ‘Syracuse University Class of 2013’ group on Facebook, she found a link to another group created specifically for finding female roommates.

‘You filled out these questions and posted your answers to the wall. Then girls would message someone they thought they were compatible with,’ Kirshenblatt said. ‘I found this girl, we talked for a while and decided to room together.’

Up until this day, Kirshenblatt does not regret her decision.

‘It was a great experience, learning to live with someone else,’ she said. ‘We got to know each other’s lifestyle. I made a really good friend out of it.’

Four years later, Laura Foti, a sophomore public relations major, is the creator of the ‘Syracuse University Class of 2013’ group on Facebook. The group currently has 2,356 members. Foti said the response she got from incoming freshmen last year was incredible.

Now often referred to as ‘the Facebook girl,’ Foti said that though she created the group, she had no idea what she was getting herself into.

‘All of a sudden, people started messaging my personal account. They had questions about when school started, when they could move in — all questions they could find on the website if they looked,’ said Foti, a former staff writer at The Daily Orange.

Rotolo said it is sometimes easier for new students to locate information on social media websites because they receive a large amount of information from schools, making it difficult to locate an answer quickly. Students often post their move-in questions to social media sites and receive quick and personal responses as an alternative to sorting through a university’s website, he said.

Foti said she was eager to help, so she started sending out mass group messages and reminders to answer as many questions as she could.

‘Going to college for the first time can be very difficult and scary, and you want to ask a lot of questions,’ Foti said. ‘I think that the group turned out to be a forum where students could ask those questions.’

Rotolo said social media websites allow students, future students and alumni to stay better connected online and offline and that social media will even become more dominant in the future. A university benefits from a community that is active both online and offline, he said.

He said: ‘The more we can engage these three audiences and the more they connect with each other, the more successful we are as a university.’

mgegkolf@syr.edu

Published on November 7, 2010 at 12:00 pm