Guest Post: The Value of Niche Communities for Higher Ed

This week, Jessica Kunkel has graced our blog with a guest post. To view Jessica’s bio, CLICK HERE. Jessica blogs about resources for college students and other higher ed professionals, reviews books, gives loan and financial advice for college students, and works as a bank of knowledge for those in and around college. You can also follow her on Twitter @jessicakunkel. Thanks, Jessica, for the awesome guest post!

A Brief History of College Selection (Jessica Kunkel)

Prior to the explosion of social networking across the ubiquitous and seemingly endless internet, college selection was made primarily through word of mouth, occasionally supplemented by self-serving college recruiters. The Ivy League schools have always had national renown, but without personal connections, it was difficult for the average high achieving high school student to determine, say, whether Harvard or Yale might have the better civil engineering program. Even more limiting was the lack of awareness of other, smaller schools, that may have had certain specialized programs - or even specialized social situations. For example, Sam Houston State, in Huntsville, Texas, has historically had one of the top Criminal Justice programs in the country. But who, outside of Texas, had heard of Sam Houston, prior to the success of social media tools of the internet?

Even more importantly, students faced an inability to gain at least a mildly balanced view of any given school. Most available information came from an individual or individuals with an agenda. The same is true today, but using social networking sites, the enterprising high school student can find detailed information and opinions from a vast variety of perspectives.

Universities and Facebook: A Good Example Gone Wrong

Initially, Facebook purportedly filled a gap left open by the unrestrictive MySpace by only allowing members with university email addresses - the .edu variety. Unlike MySpace, Facebook made it difficult to completely fabricate a profile, and made it equally tedious to create multiple profiles. Like MySpace, however, Facebook has begun the path to obscurity, rapidly becoming “old news” in the face of newer, more niche based college social networking. In response, Facebook has made a grave error, and relaxed its initial restrictions - users are no longer required to have a university based email address. This modification effectively marks the beginning of the end of Facebook; MySpace never had any such restrictions, and fell from popularity partially as a result of such. Facebook is now relegated to the same path; as a result, the various universities that have recently set up Facebook profiles for their specific colleges are in for disappointment regarding its effectiveness as a propagation tool.

The Value of the Niche

Filling the generalized gap left by Facebook, more niche sites are emerging, and even some that have been around for years have increased in popularity - and in usefulness. Nationwide American fraternities and sororities have utilized social media to create their own online social networks, increasing what was previously waning student interest. Sites that offer reviews of individual professors as well as programs and general college campuses are consistently rising in popularity - besides offering uniquely personal information, they offer a place for disgruntled students to vent, making the potential for varied information limitless.

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