Will i need Facebook for university?

I don't have one, and i'm wondering if it is essential in order to have an active social life at university?

Personally i hate the idea of Facebook, I like my privacy, and have no interest in what my friends have had for dinner, etc. But it has it's other uses too i've heard..

Reply 1

timothytom

11

do you hav a social life now?

Reply 2

SpiggyTopes

14

I use Facebook for purely practical purposes and don't have an ounce of personal information on there. I get by without any problems, I'm sure you could do the same! :smile:

Reply 3

Andy Bernard

OP

Original post by timothytom

do you hav a social life now?

Not as much as i would like, no. But in order to make and maintain friends at university am i going to need Facebook.

Reply 4

gagaslilmonsteruk

18

It will help you with university events, societies and even study groups on your course as they are best publicised on Facebook. That being said, for union events my uni does publish a pamphlet in both English and Welsh for events going on throughout the term, but they use Facebook as people prefer electronic communication these days.

Reply 5

littlemissmidget123

16

Original post by Andy Bernard

Not as much as i would like, no. But in order to make and maintain friends at university am i going to need Facebook.

yeah

Reply 6

Nice.Guy

11

Yeah, I'd suggest getting it - don't put info and stuff on if you don't want, and only accept people you know if you're worried about privacy etc.

It is useful though, especially with events and stuff, like they can invite the whole year to a party or something :biggrin:

(and you can keep up with the goss :tongue:

)

Reply 7

JoeLatics

9

Original post by Andy Bernard

I don't have one, and i'm wondering if it is essential in order to have an active social life at university?

Personally i hate the idea of Facebook, I like my privacy, and have no interest in what my friends have had for dinner, etc. But it has it's other uses too i've heard..

Just get it and put on max security? You'll be able to get by without it though, I'm sure :smile:

Reply 8

desijut

10

It may hinder you slightly, but I wouldnt have thought so (Im not at uni yet though)

Reply 9

deadsmurfette

11

You don't need Facebook but I expect you would find it very useful if you're trying to be more social, I would consider getting it now if I were you as your uni will have a Freshers group on there where you'll be able to meet people living near you or doing your course.

I don't really like Facebook much either, have no interest in what 99% of my 'friends' are up to, but it is still really useful because people arrange stuff on there. You don't have to enter any of your personal details apart from your name and date of birth, which you can hide from your profile, so I think you should go for it!! :smile:

Reply 10

Schmokie Dragon

17

It's not essential, but it can be useful. A lot of university societies use Facebook to promote events and contact members (although they'll probably use e-mail as well). Society members will often have discussions in Facebook groups which are unlikely to be reproduced in the society e-mails. It's useful for contacting people on campus - if you need to contact someone on your course but you don't know their e-mail, Facebook will often come good.

As I said, you don't need it but there is little harm in having a profile and checking for messages every so often. You don't have to keep an eye on the 'boring' status updates and you don't need to put a lot of info on your profile.

Reply 11

SnoochToTheBooch

17

I never bothered with facebook throughout 5 years as an undergraduate and it did me no harm.

Reply 12

Podcaster

I don't get the logic that you won't make any friends if you don't have fb because you're making it difficult to keep in touch. 1) nothing trumps face to face contact when building friendships. Get plenty of that in and you have nothing to worry about 2) If people aren't bothering to talk to you just because you're not on facebook what does that say about their level of interest in you? I know that if I met someone I liked I would still try contacting them whether they had fb or not. So in fact not having fb is a better way to make friends because it allows you to sort out the true friends from the ones just sending you invites just because you're on their fb list.

Reply 13

Anonymous #1

I would like to know this as well, I don't hate the idea of fb but personal reasons have stopped me getting it.

Reply 14

StacFace

18

Original post by Podcaster

I don't get the logic that you won't make any friends if you don't have fb because you're making it difficult to keep in touch. 1) nothing trumps face to face contact when building friendships. Get plenty of that in and you have nothing to worry about 2) If people aren't bothering to talk to you just because you're not on facebook what does that say about their level of interest in you? I know that if I met someone I liked I would still try contacting them whether they had fb or not. So in fact not having fb is a better way to make friends because it allows you to sort out the true friends from the ones just sending you invites just because you're on their fb list.

It's not that you won't make any friends, it's that it's more difficult. Eg right now there are Facebook groups for Freshers and people are chatting on them, making friends and arranging whether to get the Freshers band etc with their flatmates. People who aren't on there may not get one when their flatmates have arranged to go to the Freshers events or may get one when their flatmates have arranged to go to town. They're now left out as nobody wants to pay £50-odd and waste it by not going.

Also when events are on people may just post it on Facebook because it's easy and pretty much everyone is on there. You then meet people at those events and make friends. If you're not on Facebook you don't hear about them and although face to face contact is better you do need to meet these people and become friends with them first. Of course this can be done offline but doing so online doesn't mean you can't offline as well.

Plus you'd only make the effort to contact someone not on FB if you really liked them eg you would class yourself as their friend. If they are just someone you met on your course then you're unlikely to go to the extra effort for that one person you don't even know that well, but if they had FB you might chat to them on your course page there and then decide you do like them and then arrange to go out somewhere, swap numbers to keep in contact other ways etc.

Reply 15

farrow000

11

Use MSN or Skype for more private things.

Reply 16

Podcaster

Original post by StacFace

It's not that you won't make any friends, it's that it's more difficult. Eg right now there are Facebook groups for Freshers and people are chatting on them, making friends and arranging whether to get the Freshers band etc with their flatmates. People who aren't on there may not get one when their flatmates have arranged to go to the Freshers events or may get one when their flatmates have arranged to go to town. They're now left out as nobody wants to pay £50-odd and waste it by not going.

Also when events are on people may just post it on Facebook because it's easy and pretty much everyone is on there. You then meet people at those events and make friends. If you're not on Facebook you don't hear about them and although face to face contact is better you do need to meet these people and become friends with them first. Of course this can be done offline but doing so online doesn't mean you can't offline as well.

Plus you'd only make the effort to contact someone not on FB if you really liked them eg you would class yourself as their friend. If they are just someone you met on your course then you're unlikely to go to the extra effort for that one person you don't even know that well, but if they had FB you might chat to them on your course page there and then decide you do like them and then arrange to go out somewhere, swap numbers to keep in contact other ways etc.

I agree with all of this but what I'm saying is that without fb you wont be prevented from making friends you will just do it the old fashioned and slow way i.e building up a slow rapport in real life then eventually becoming close enough to make the effort to contact each other without fb. These sorts of friendships are far more healthy than the "junk" friendships fb cultivates during freshers. I had fb at the time and only made 2 friends during freshers. Talked to plenty people and was invited to plenty things but none of them stuck around because their invites were superficial "click as many contacts as you can" fb invites. The 2 I did make friends with I only really started talking to them about a year after freshers and it had nothing to do with fb.

Reply 17

Daisymydarling

2

Original post by Andy Bernard

I don't have one, and i'm wondering if it is essential in order to have an active social life at university?

Personally i hate the idea of Facebook, I like my privacy, and have no interest in what my friends have had for dinner, etc. But it has it's other uses too i've heard..

Not necessarily. Facebook is not the only social network available and means of communication required to have a healthy social life. Texting is not as outdated as might think so if you at least have a mobile phone, you'll be fine :smile:

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Reply 18

Andy Bernard

OP

Well from the general consensus of this thread, it seems useful, so i'll probably make one. No point yet though, I only have like 5 people who i would actually add :L

Reply 19

Anonymous #1

Original post by Andy Bernard

Well from the general consensus of this thread, it seems useful, so i'll probably make one. No point yet though, I only have like 5 people who i would actually add :L

Make it at the start of Uni?

Will i need Facebook for university?

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