Spring Break
Facebook: your gateway to the future
Patrick Fancher
Issue date: 5/11/09 Section: Forum
Here in the forum section of The Daily Barometer, our goal is to write material that the majority of college students can relate to or will find interesting. As a columnist, I personally have struggled in meeting these criteria since the presidential election ended. I've mentioned in previous columns that I'm older than most of my peers at the university. At times, it seems like I have less-than-zero in common with fellow classmates, thus creating my weekly case of writer's block.
Yesterday, though, while playing another addictive round of the game Mafia Wars, it dawned on me like a slap in the face - no pun intended - that Facebook is the common ground that inevitably connects most college students together. Oddly enough, it took my alter ego as a mafia mogul, or level 83 master street thug, to unearth this revelation, but inspiration can often come from the most unexpected sources.
Every person I meet on campus that I find to be the slightest bit friendly or interesting is sent the necessary invite to become my Facebook friend. This practice started with making friends in my new media and writing classes, but has rapidly expanded to adding friends of friends, general acquaintances and anyone I admire.
As one of the guest speakers at the Oregon Newspaper Foundation's Collegiate Day said on Friday, "Connections, no matter where you make them, are very important in life."
He then went on to cite a couple of situations outside of his career where people he knew personally or through others were able to help him in times of need. This is some of the best advice I have ever received, and it's advice everyone could benefit from.
Facebook is used for more than just connecting people - it is an important means of self-expression and introducing yourself to the world at large. Every person I've met in the professional world, whether during a potential internship interview or just casual conversation, has said he or she checks out the Facebook pages of potential job candidates who are applying at his or her respective company.
Yesterday, though, while playing another addictive round of the game Mafia Wars, it dawned on me like a slap in the face - no pun intended - that Facebook is the common ground that inevitably connects most college students together. Oddly enough, it took my alter ego as a mafia mogul, or level 83 master street thug, to unearth this revelation, but inspiration can often come from the most unexpected sources.
Every person I meet on campus that I find to be the slightest bit friendly or interesting is sent the necessary invite to become my Facebook friend. This practice started with making friends in my new media and writing classes, but has rapidly expanded to adding friends of friends, general acquaintances and anyone I admire.
As one of the guest speakers at the Oregon Newspaper Foundation's Collegiate Day said on Friday, "Connections, no matter where you make them, are very important in life."
He then went on to cite a couple of situations outside of his career where people he knew personally or through others were able to help him in times of need. This is some of the best advice I have ever received, and it's advice everyone could benefit from.
Facebook is used for more than just connecting people - it is an important means of self-expression and introducing yourself to the world at large. Every person I've met in the professional world, whether during a potential internship interview or just casual conversation, has said he or she checks out the Facebook pages of potential job candidates who are applying at his or her respective company.
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