PVCC Puma Press

Information sharing started with text files on mainframe computers, then e-mail and chat networks. Then, the giant information aggregation sites Yahoo and Google took center stage. AOL, with its Hometown and Community, and Microsoft with Live Spaces were among the first to provide numerous communication tools in one login environment.

Online diaries called blogs came along next. Free platforms flourished such as WordPress, Blogger and Blogit allowing users to easily launch blogs and triggering an avalanche of blogs.

Currently, the biggest Internet trend is feature-filled social collaboration Web platforms such as MySpace, Facebook, Classmates and LinkedIn. Twitter, now in its start-up phase, allows users to setup and route text messages to phones and PDAs.

It only makes sense that staff and faculty at PVCC are making use of feature-rich, free social networking web platforms to reach a higher level of communication effectiveness with staff, students and prospective students.

Nielsen Online, The Nielsen Company's Internet rating service, reports MySpace.com and Facebook.com saw 60 million and 40 million visitors, respectively, during the month of September 2008. Classmates.com saw 17 million visitors and LinkedIn.com 12 million visitors during the same period.

Nielsen reported the traffic on LinkedIn.com doubled and Twitter.com tripled over one year from September 2007 to September 2008 while AOL Hometown and Windows Live Spaces have lost traffic. MySpace.com, the largest site, displayed no growth over the past year while the traffic on Facebook.com has doubled.

According to a study published by MarketingHub.info, 84 percent of the 22 million U.S. members of Facebook are between the ages of 14 and 25. The study shows the gender split is 55 percent female, 45 percent male.

PVCC has sites on both MySpace and Facebook, says Carol Myers, director, College Technology. “We use Facebook for collaboration since it is cleaner and abuses are controlled. Our MySpace site is used for advertising.”

Guidelines for the use of information technology at PVCC are directed by the Technology Resource Standards published by the Office of General Council, Maricopa County Community College District.

Many students are using the e-mail, instant messaging and chat from within their social network environment, says Helice Agria, program specialist, PVCC Student Life Center. “We are attempting to reach the students where they live, in Internet and cellular space.”

The Student Life Center has been posting a blog on the WordPress platform since 2004, says Agria. “Now the blog feeds into the Facebook site. We have a Flikr site, a YouTube channel; we use Digg and VIVO (a polling plug-in). We are considering a Twitter feed.”

“I wondered if students think the college is invading their (student) space when we began with Facebook,” says Agria. “But the response has been all positive.”

Keeping the Web presence current on both the blog site and the Facebook site takes her and the other staff members of the Student Life Center four hours per week, says Agria. “We are happy with the current (Internet) coverage that our sites offer.”

Agria encourages clubs, students, potential students and members of the wider community to become fans (form a collaborative link) with our Facebook site.

The PVCC Achievement Center has a Facebook site.

Rick Sheets, director, Learning Support Center, says that using Facebook is a good idea, and Richard Morales, coordinator at LSC, says they have talked about building a presence on Facebook to engage students and to build a community for tutors so they can help spread the word about our resources.

Mary Goff, director, PVCC Computer Commons, says the Computer Commons does not have a social networking site and sees no need. However, the Computer Commons provides support to students and staff who need help with their social networking software when it is related to coursework, says Goff.

In a survey of 20 students and six staff members, the Puma Press discovered that 17 students and all six staff members had at least one presence on a social networking site.

All 17 students are on their sites at least three times each week. Eight connected to their site(s) every day. The gender split was even.

Of the three that are not using online social networks, two said they were too busy to be on the computer for anything except school, and the third said he was not interested in using the computer for socializing.

Student Sierra Schnoebelen says she has 360 friends on Facebook and uses it in part to keep in touch with her friends back home in Iowa. She uses Facebook and feels safe because she does not invite anyone she does not know to become a friend.

Alisha Lough uses MySpace to track her friends. She keeps her e-mail addresses on her MySpace site so if she loses her phone, she can use the computer to keep in contact with friends. “There are computers everywhere,” she says.

Gozie Ibeji, a PVCC student from Nigeria, says Facebook is his choice because it protects against abusers and predators. Ibeji says he is also using Facebook to find other Nigerians living in the Southwest U.S. and adding them to his social network.

Technology will keep changing and the youth will explore and take advantage of the latest trends, says Agria. “It is our job to keep up with the changes and continue making the right decisions to sort out the latest flash-in-the-pan from long-term platforms.”