Why I almost quit Facebook

All the statistics that have came out recently have shown that increase in Facebook users 35 and older. No big deal. I just keep my profile security pretty tight. It is hard for people to find me. Usually, I have to request for someone to be my friend.

The other night I was at a gift exchange with some ladies from church. It was a lot of fun. But at one point, the hostess pull out the camera, snapped a few pictures and the yelled "I'm tagging you all on my Facebook."

I guess to get a better idea of this I need to explain the group of people. I single-handedly brought the average age down by at least 5 years. Out of 27 women, eight of us do not have grandchildren.

The hostess was the age of my grandmother. I'm finally getting over the fact that my mother is on Facebook and now I find out people my grandmothers age are on Facebook! What on earth is happening?

...and Now there's CampusBuddy?

Facebook √, MySpace √, Twitter √, YouTube √, CampusBuddy __

Wait! What on earth is CampusBuddy?

Good Question.

Campusbuddy.com is a partnership between Campus Buddy Inc and Facebook. In October 2008, the two announced their partnership to help students choose classes and meet classmates.

Now almost 6 months later I come across it. I did some searching to see what other universities are doing with it. The first few search are of universities I have friends/tweeps working for.

Quick run down of the number of users for them (in no particular order):

SUNY Oswego: 2
SUNY New Paltz: 1
Butler University: 1
University of Advancing Technology: 1
Lindenwood University: 1 (this is me, the only one for my Alma mater)

No too many users. Now for a few in the Phoenix area (again in no particular order):

Arizona State University: 1440
University of Arizona: 92
Northern Arizona State: 34
Grand Canyon University: 0

Ok, so who gave ASU, UofA and NAU students the heads up? Not that it's a big deal.

Here's my thing, all the information on the site is generated by students. "Woo, that's a good thing," you're saying. (See I can read your minds.) Content included on CampusBuddy includes grades.

Who is completely honest with their grades, unless they truly have a 4.0GPA. Perfect example, percent of F's fro ASU=0%. I have a very good feeling that's incorrect. I think the only grade from college that I let people know is my "F" in Shakespeare. (Sorry Shakes you failed me just as much as I failed you.) On this student forum, students argue the accuracy of the grades and GPAs.

How are we to keep an eye on this as it grows? Since it is run by students, we as institutions have no say in editing the information. For the time being, we should observe and see how it begins to evolve. Those students on now are the early adaptors. I guess it's up to them to see if it will sink or swim.

What's your opinion of this? Hands off? Monitor? Let it go to the wayside?

Rock on,
Lane J