Internet has changed a lot of things for the student community. When the World Wide Web started gaining popularity, the utmost use of the net would be just limited to sending copies of notes before exams. But thanks to some of the web gurus who went a step further and gave us social networking sites, the way these sites are used today by students is quite interesting.
All said and done, networking sites have changed the way students communicate. Right from posting pictures to updating status messages and sending mails, the list is endless. If one wonders what happened to the good old ‘spread the word' and meeting up personally. It still happens, Online.
Take anything for instance, college events, exams, fresher's parties, farewells, fests or just a get together. A scrap, a scribble on the profile page or just a tweet is enough to ‘spread the word'.
Academics
“Apart from college a lot of students spend their free time online. Therefore it is easier to say one thing to a lot of people at one time and it is easier than calling everyone to inform them about an event,” says Y. Sashank, an engineering student. Which means, sites such as Facebook, Orkut, Myspace and Twitter are a means to communicate on a larger scale not only for business but hold good for student communities as well. “These sites are not just used to send invites for fun events, there are times we use it for academics too. Some of the problems we come across related to programming languages are posted on forums or pages. A lot of glitches in programming languages are easily cleared as you have a large number of like-minded people on these sites,” says Ashwin Kumar, a computer science student.
Creative platform
With one having an option to upload pictures, notes, links and videos, these sites are turning into a platform for those with a creative bent of mind to showcase their work. Be it short films, stories, blog posts or just photography, the boundaries of expressing one's creativity is seamless.
“At first logging on to Facebook or Orkut was just to know who was doing what. But today, the whole dimension of social networking has changed. An online profile has changed into a readymade resume with all the details which give away one's personality,” says Tanisha Mitra, a graphic designer.
“A lot of people upload their works, photographs, and writings online. But with social networking, you can upload them at one place and connect with like minded people.
This will boost your creative quotient in a different way because you are not only sharing your work with others but also learning from them, which is a necessity when u are in a creative field like cinema, photography or even advertising,” Ms. Mitra adds.
