One of the ideas we've been kicking around here in the Communications department is establishing a presence for the Law School on Facebook. As you may have heard, institutions of higher education have recently begun taking the plunge into using social networking sites, mostly as an admissions tool. With over 42 million registered users (according to Wikipedia) it certainly seems as though Facebook is here to stay, and that universities ignore it at their peril.
Why might we want to dip our toes into the social networking waters, and what might it look like if we did?
1) Quite a few of our students are already on Facebook. There are about half a dozen Chicago Law School-related groups there, and an informal survey of our students indicates that many of them log into their accounts at least several times per week. A Law School Facebook presence could thus be a way to facilitate communication between the Law School and our current students, and between the students themselves. For example, it would be an easy way to get the word out about upcoming events.
2) It would provide a means for prospective students to "meet" current students and get a taste of the Chicago Law experience.
3) It's another way to distribute some of the great content we produce via the Faculty Blog and Podcast and get the word out about the fascinating work our faculty is doing.
4) It would allow students (and the School itself) to keep in touch even after graduation.
The model that would seem to work best for these goals would be to establish a Facebook "group" for the entire Law School. It could tie together the various smaller groups (for individual classes, etc.) that currently exist and make it easier for students, prospective students, and alums to connect with each other. It would not reinvent the wheel, but rather be a means of supplementing already existing means of communication. And of course, it would be completely voluntary -- students could decide on their own whether to join the group or not.
So -- what do you think? Is this something that the Law School should pursue?