University testing new social networking site

Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Tumblr are just a few examples of popular social networking websites. If Furman's administration has its way, "EngageFurman Community" will soon be added to this list. On Feb. 10, 2010, Furman's Office of Marketing and Public Relations began beta testing for Furman's very own social networking website. Furman aims for Engage, which will launch in the second week of March, to be a medium that will connect current students, faculty, staff, alumni, current students' parents, prospective students, prospective students' parents and guidance counselors.

"With virtually any combination of those audiences, there's some real power when those people are able to connect, and we feel strongly that those connections are best made within a social network framework," said Ryan Fisher, Director of Web Marketing for Furman.

Fisher first thought of the concept of a social network for Furman in December 2008 after observing President Barack Obama's effective use of his "Obama for America" social networking website during his presidential campaign.

Since then, Furman's Marketing & PR Department has held feedback-oriented focus groups with many of the aforementioned categories of potential users. It has also examined collegiate social media use at other schools like Elon University in Elon, N.C., and Stanford University in Stanford, Calif.

Examples of interactions facilitated by Engage include a prospective student's parent and a current student's parent discussing campus life and safety as well as a current student asking for more insight about a particular career from an alumna who has a job in that field.

The primary format of Engage is similar to Facebook. It includes a profile, wall and feed for users, who will also have the ability to post blogs, photos and videos, to comment and to "like" posts and to join groups for people with similar academic interests, majors, career interests and the like. Fisher said that tools for career networking and internship networking are potential add-ons for Engage in the future.

"[Engage] would be a good means of communication . [but] prospective students might be scared away because not everyone is going to be talking about how great every aspect is. I feel like some students blog to vent about certain concepts," said freshman Nicole Castiglione, a potential business administration major from Charleston, S.C.

Fisher and Web Marketing Intern Jon Teitloff recognize that not everyone will be using Engage by the end of the spring 2010 term, but they highly encourage feedback about the site. Engage will not alter the functions of Moodle and FirstClass.

"[Engage] is something that I think that Furman is very smart to be laying the groundwork for right now because social media has changed the way we communicate," said Teitloff.

Beta testers for Engage include a selection of admissions counselors, Furman Admissions Ambassadors, other current students, parents of current students and faculty. Anyone interested in participating in beta testing for engage should contact Fisher at ryan.fisher@furman.edu.