It is the time of year when students have scattered to anywhere else besides their own college campus. Belmont University is no different...it is just a few days past final exams and graduation and the campus is just about empty.
Communication with students using any sort of official university channel while they are away can be a challenge. So, as an experiment this week, there are two Facebook Flyers running to let students know that some of their friends are blogging their mission trips and study abroad programs. For the uninitiated, Facebook.com, is a social network that connects hundreds of different networks, many of which are university student focused. If you can believe everything that is online here, then Facebook.com is the sixth most visited site in the United States. And the traffic on facebook.com does not cease when classes aren't in session...if anything, the social network site become THE preferred method for univerity students to keep up with their friends...thus the idea for using an ad (Facebook Flyer).
Connecting blogs to social networks that include blog-like (and other) features could easily result in extra traffic to the blogs and perhaps more active commenting on those same blogs. On the other hand, it may not create even the slightest blip on the social networking radar. We shall see.