Back then, most admission folks let Facebook groups grow organically. Some excited student would start a group for their class and others would join as they got their admission decisions. I shared that view. After the made up accounts were connected by a group of admission officers interested in social media, what was happening got picked up by the media and dubbed "Facebookgate." The full story unfolds on the Squared Peg blog, but you can read a quick synopsis on this blog.
Each year since, that same enterprising, young man has tweaked his practices and tried again, more recently for his roommate matching website. In 2010, even The Choice blog at the New York Times covered what was happening.
Why am I telling you this? So you understand why I stepped in a few years ago to create class groups on Facebook. I have absolutely no interest in tracking you on the internet or looking at your profiles. My interest is in creating a page and group for each class where content won't include advertisements and your information won't be mined (my worry with groups that are tied to a company).
Over time, I developed a plan for each class' Facebook groups. I would create the group (and more recently, a page and a group) for each class. Once the class was enrolled, I'd turn administration of the group over the current First Year Class Council, who would best answer questions and give advice. When the incoming class elected their Class Council, class officers would become the new administrators. I'm happy to say that most of the groups I created over the years are still in use.
I've already sent an email to see if we can get the First Year Class Council to take over the Class of 2016 page and group. I hope they'll be on board in a few days. Until then, you'll see my name on the groups, but know that I'm far too busy with the application review process to keep up with your conversations there.
Click the images to go to the group and page for the Class of 2016:
By the way, if you're interested in how housing works, check out this post from last year, written by the Director of Accommodations in the housing office here. He shared a ton of info about requesting a roommate or going through the roommate matching survey/process that his office runs. It's a really fantastic post!
Oh, one more thing. Every year, the Alumni Association has a logo made for the incoming class and it becomes the avatar for the Facebook group. So, don't be alarmed if the image changes at some point.
ETA: Groups that overlap can definitely co-exist on Facebook. In past years, I've seen groups created by incoming students from a certain country or students who are in the scholars programs. I think that's a great way to foster community, if there's an interest in them.
