VIT University finds Facebook a convenient platform for interaction

Updated on: Friday, October 05, 2012

While there may be growing concern in government circles regarding social networking sites like Facebook (FB) and Twitter, they appear to have their uses for students and colleges, providing them a convenient platform for interaction.

VIT University, for instance, has a Facebook page with 60,000 members drawn mainly from its students and faculty, which allows them to communicate freely with each other and also acts as a bridge with the administration.

VIT University chancellor, Dr G. Viswanathan says the university posts all its circulars on the Facebook page as most of its students are on it.

“The administration needs to go to the students and not the other way round. When we post achievements of students on the page it motivates others,” he says.

With several VIT faculty too being on Facebook, students are able to post questions on the page and have them answered promptly.

N. Aakaash, a final year electronics and communication student at VIT says Facebook helps him keep in touch not only with his peers but also with university professors abroad.

“There are several faculty in foreign universities who share their experience on FB and even chat with you. When you send an email to them it may go unnoticed but this doesn’t happen on FB,” he says. Prof S. Arul Selvan of VIT says when he was in Portugal for research, he was still able to keep in touch with his students via FB.

“Students often clarified their doubts with me and it also helped me with my research as I often used it to do surveys,” he explains.

While FB does seem to be helping students and faculty, there is a downside to social networking sites too, acknowledges the VIT chancellor. “Some do misuse it to do mischief or tarnish someone’s image,” he notes.

But ask students of IIT-Madras and they come to the defence of social networking sites. “Several IT companies abroad check students’ background on FB before recruiting them. A top IT recruiting company even asked students o solve a puzzle on their FB page,” recalls an IITian, Shravan.

Interestingly, Facebook has been a kind of an eye-opener for VIT, which is now getting accustomed to student lingo of a different kind. “We were surprised to see students using new terminologies like congo for congratulations,” says Dr Vishwanathan.

VIT University finds Facebook a convenient platform for interaction

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