Facebook, social integration and informal learning at university: ‘It is more for socialising and talking to friends about work than for actually doing work’

The title of this article says it all. I had a brief bit of confusion with the term "uni" until i realized they were British and this was slang. The use of networking has played a huge roll in education on all levels. Most schools now have some sort of site or page for parents, teacher and students to interact with one another. The SNS Facebook being originally for college students automatically lends itself to all university students. I thought the use of Facebook for social integration into the "uni" life prior to going to school was an interesting social phenomenon. I also found how the usage of the site evolved through their academic career equally interesting. I would love to see some data  that followed a group of students from high school graduation to beyond college, and how their use of Facebook changed over time. I certainly know my personal usage of it have changed after graduation. This study was interesting but very short term. I also found myself as a student and Facebook user agreeing with my British student counterparts. Facebook is a social tool that can be used for a variety of purposes including education but ultimately its user controlled, if a university tried to interject itself "I feel many people would find it distasteful as if the university were trying to encroach on or cripple our social lives. (Male, Biology, age 20)". I couldn't have said it better, and besides as the article already points out, universities already have blackboard and similar programs to facilitate student teacher interaction. "Unis" should continue to study and research Facebook by all means but it should remain the social domain of students.