Comments on: Fake University Facebook Groups :: Marketers Further Dirty the Waters

By: Robert

Robert — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 11:33:24 +0000

@Mark: The idea of “in loco parentis” with regard to online behaviour is interesting. Given the legality issues are still there, it does not mean that we shouldn’t be educating students about the potential pitfalls. Of course, as is evidenced by the post from Nicholas below, the students (or recent graduates) often think they know all the answers. I’m all for “in loco parentis” – but, I don’t know how it can play a role outside of educational attempts.

@janelle: Thanks. Yes, it does make the entire practice look bad. In this instance, the practitioner (Justin) is an immature example of someone eager to achieve some goal, regardless of the methods. I doubt Miami teaches such strategies, so Justin is likely more rogue “do anything to make a buck” than “I care about best practices” in his approach.

@Nicholas: It seems the joke is on you, Nicholas. I don’t see anyone trying to “now take control of things im (sic) facebook.” I see a call for best practices. You do recognize the difference, I hope. Also, your broad brush claim that “None of the student users were fooled by this, as it has been done in the past for years.” doesn’t hold water, Nicholas. Scams that have been running for many generations are still fooling people today. Scams like this one in Facebook – pretend to be an “official” effort – when you’re not, are just a new venue for an old flim-flam.

I did a little looking around, Nicholas, and found a Nicholas Dobias (from your ndobias @ aol.com email) that is also a recent graduate of Miami (like Justin). Perhaps you are a part of this effort? Doth thou protest too much?

By: Nicholas

Nicholas — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 23:11:17 +0000

If you think you have actually caught onto something by just figuring this out you really need to start using facebook more. None of the student users were fooled by this, as it has been done in the past for years.

many times the products that are marketed to college freshman are very useful.. and the fact that college admissions staff want to now take control of things im facebook – while locking marketers out is outrageous.

WHAT A JOKE

By: janelle

janelle — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:14:33 +0000

This is a really well-presented post. I find it sad that marketing companies would resort to such uncouth tactics. When something like this happens, it makes the rest of us look bad.

By: Mark Greenfield

Mark Greenfield — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 01:27:35 +0000

Robert,

Excellent analysis on this story. I want to share the following comment I made to Brad’s original post:

As I try to get my arms around this discussion, a couple of things come to mind. This week I’ve been reading Don Tapscott’s latest book called “grown up digital”. Tapscott is the author of “growing up digital” and “wikinomics”, and has done a tremendous amount of research on the millennial generation. He feels this generation is making a serious mistake, and don’t realize it. They are giving away their personal information on social networks and in doing so are undermining their future privacy. This may come back to haunt them.

This raises the question of the role colleges should play in educating students about potential privacy issues. How does “in loco parentis” apply in the digital world? That’s a question each college will have to consider. This conversation has been a great starting point.