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7 things you should know about...
Facebook
Scenario
Angela will spend next semester studying at a univer-
sity in Budapest, and—so she can make the most of
her time in Hungary—she wants to learn as much as
possible before she leaves. For a couple of semesters,
Angela has had a profile on Facebook but hasn’t post-
ed much information about herself and doesn’t use the
site frequently. Because she attends a relatively small
college without extensive resources for study-abroad
students, she decides to find out what she can learn
from other Facebook users.
Angela starts by updating her profile to include infor-
mation about her upcoming semester in Budapest
and her major. She joins several Facebook groups
related to studies abroad and international student-
exchange programs. Through these groups, Angela
finds students at her own college who have studied
abroad—even some she knows but who never told
her they had studied overseas—and many more from
around the country. Contacting members of these
groups gives Angela insights into aspects of studying
abroad that she otherwise would not have gained un-
til she got there. She searches for users with “Buda-
pest” or “Hungary” in their profiles and finds dozens
of students from that part of the world or who have
traveled there. From their perspectives, Angela learns
about the current and past political climate of former
Soviet Bloc nations. This, in turn, leads Angela to other
Facebook searches focused on European politics and
culture generally.
As the weeks progress, Angela’s Facebook profile be-
comes increasingly detailed. She creates several new
online groups, one of which quickly has more than
200 members. Other Facebook users regularly con-
tact Angela, sometimes with questions, sometimes
with answers to questions. By the time she leaves for
Budapest, she has a good understanding of what to
expect in terms of the study-abroad program and of lo-
cal culture, restaurants, and weather. She has also met
onlin