EduMusings

There’s some stellar dectective work going on at SquaredPeg to get to the bottom of who exactly is setting up a number of “Class of 2013” Facebook groups for colleges and universities across the country. It’s scary to see just how easy it is for someone to use your brand, and (perhaps) mislead people about your institution.  While it’s unclear what the intentions of these groups are, it’s certainly not school lead which means anything can happen.

But I hope this doesn’t deter higher ed professionals from venturing beyond the walled garden of their own Web sites. The people you’re trying to reach are still out there and looking for your school…on Facebook, which is why (potential) oppportunists like the “Class of 2013” group creators are out there as well.  The question is…what are you going to do about it?

Here’s what Brad J. Ward’s doing about it:

I’ve said many times, step back and let the student group start on its own.Today, I change that position. It seems that we have been gamed, and we need to at least own the admin rights to the group in an effort to protect our incoming students. To end the possibility of them being pushed ads and “buy these sheets for college” stuff this summer. You know there is a motive behind all of this. And you know it has to do with money. And you KNOW you’re going to get calls about it when it happens.

Tomorrow I will set up the OFFICIAL Butler Class of 2013 group. Tomorrow we will promote it to our students, and explain to them why the other groups are potential spam. Tomorrow I will let them know we are not there to moderate them, but merely to provide the safe platform for them to interact and get to know each other. I encourage you to consider the same.