Schools turn to social networking sites to reach their community
By: Leah Fabel
Examiner Staff Writer
June 5, 2009
Teens’ craze over social networking has begun to entice school officials, and Fairfax County is the first Washington-area school system to join the frenzy.
But while students are jumping onto sites like Facebook to post party pictures or opine about the latest addition to reality television, the school district is far more tame.
No photos and no “favorites,” but simply a litany of information that leads parents and community members to the district’s Web site and news releases. And that’s exactly what schools officials want.
“Social media is the way of the future, the way of the world, and we’re using Facebook and Twitter among many tools to reach our community,” said Fairfax County Public Schools spokeswoman Lori Knickerbocker.
So far, the district has 797 “fans” on Facebook and 448 “followers” on Twitter, double the number from one week ago. On both sites, anyone can start his or her own account and then choose to receive updates from the schools — or from friends, news outlets or celebrities — as they’re published.
Recent postings from Fairfax include a link to a list of summer camps and news that “Carol Robinson is the June Mentor of the Month.”
Across the Potomac in Montgomery County, school officials “haven’t made that move yet,” but the topic is being discussed, spokesman Steve Simon said.
Both districts ban the sites within the schools themselves for fear that students would be sucked away from academics.
“We’re not using this to communicate with staff and students, but with those in the community,” Knickerbocker said.
Other Washington-area districts have merely dabbled in social networks. D.C. Public Schools has a Facebook page about central office job opportunities. Some specialized student groups such as the Prince William County Gay Straight Alliance exist on the networking site.
In Loudoun County, the schools don’t have a presence, but the county public library system has 108 loyal fans.
Sarah Evans, communications director for an Illinois community college and a Twitter guru in the world of higher education, said that the sooner K-12 officials start using social networking tools, the better prepared they will be to reach more families.
Newer and better technologies “may not exist now, but someone is developing them, and the [public relations] departments need to get familiar with the tools that students will be using,” she said.
