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  • Shutting down social media access: I take umbrage

    By Eric Stoller September 10, 2010 4:15 am EDT

    It was announced today that Harrisburg University of Science and Technology would be conducting a "social media blackout" next week. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and AOL Instant Messenger are going to be blocked for access by the campus network. My first thought: how did LinkedIn escape the blockade? And, do students even use AIM anymore? My next reaction was to look into sending a semi trailer packed with MiFi devices to Pennsylvania.

    Blocking social media access for a week as an experiment seems ludicrous to me. Had they blocked the telephone numbers to campus fax machines, then they would have had at least one staunch supporter...A las, social media does have its ups and downs, but then again, so do telephones, televisions, video games, bubblegum and Justin Bieber. Social media is a method of communicating. It is not perfect because it is used by humans. We're fallible. Turning off a form of communication and then asking students to reflect about said loss might generate a few interesting responses, but I doubt that anything astonishing will occur. In fact, if I was a student, staff, or faculty member at Harrisburg, I would start investigating proxy servers and checking with my Droid X carrying friends to see how far their WiFi bubble can really reach.

    The ironic aspect of the great social media blockade of 2010 is that four social media sessions are scheduled to take place at Harrisburg next week. That's right, two of the most oft-used social media sites will be inaccessible during the week when Harrisburg is host to a cavalcade of social media conversations.

    It should be noted that it seems that someone forgot to tell the social media connectors at Harrisburg that a shut off was imminent. The last tweet on the Harrisburg Twitter account ironically confirm my suspicions... "HU has a whale of a tale to tell you. A whale of a tale or two. It will be about HU, a fossil skull & weekend digs! Updates next week!" Sadly, I don't think that updates are going to happen next week.

    The initial IHE article has a lot of comments that are very insightful. What do you think? Should social media be turned off for a week as an experiment?

    Do you tweet? Follow me on Twitter.

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Comments on Shutting down social media access: I take umbrage

  • But why?
  • Posted by Concerned SA professional on September 10, 2010 at 7:30am EDT

  • According to your post, you take umbrage, but why? You don't really explain why this is "ludicrous." I personally have mixed feelings about it; while I agree that this removes a form of communication, it isn't all social media sites, and on the flip side, many comment jokingly about how Facebook in particular a huge time waster. I don't think seeing how this goes is bad.

    As a social media advocate, you also have to consider the fact that perhaps this experiment will help get reticent faculty and staff on board with using social media and technology on their campuses. Perhaps one of the goals is to demonstrate how deeply embedded the use of Facebook and other social media sites are in our daily lives and to actually encourage their use. It seems the issue is hotly debated without perhaps considering the possibilities.

  • Posted by JL on September 10, 2010 at 10:30am EDT

  • Multiple commenters nailed this one to the wall on the original post. Did this experiment really get IRB approval? I hardly think this is an academic study. It reads like this was a whim of a provost that everyone thought was "cute." Whether the social media blockade was "ludicrous" or not is irrelevant, it's ludicrous to block use of basketballs, serving of cheesesteaks or using of forks to an entire campus. The principle of doing a study on an entire campus for little or no reason is the problem.

  • Out Comes?
  • Posted by Chelsea Whitlow , Days of Service Coordinator on September 10, 2010 at 1:15pm EDT

  • What exactly is Harrisburg University expecting to find from their one week ban? It doesn't seem like much of an experiment to me especially when the university didn't consider blocking all of the social networking sites out there or the over abundance of smart phones. There "experiment" seems rather pointless and a waist of time.

  • Poor planning
  • Posted by MD on September 10, 2010 at 2:00pm EDT

  • All of this assumes that Social Media use is frivolous. Here we use it to inform students about campus closures, parking, scholarships, study skills, and to promote classes and student activities. Individual classes have sites and tweets that give tips about homework, readings, etc. We have workshops for faculty on how to use it effectively and a person for whom 50% of their time is spent answering the hundreds of questions that come to us via Facebook. Even if this isn't enough, it doesn't make any sense to ban an outlet for student expression and speech just because you think said speech is silly or pointless. You certainly wouldn't ban access to a blogger or other interactive sites without getting reams of complaints about censorship. If you want it to be like the turn off the TV week, then encourage faculty, staff and students to live without it for a week and report back. An outright blockage is just poorly thought through, indeed and sends the wrong message to students.

  • Social Media Blackout
  • Posted by Jessica Caris , Marketing at GearyPMG on September 22, 2010 at 5:30pm EDT

  • What we found so surprising about this decision, is that many of the schools we work with integrate social media platforms as part of their crisis management plan, an integral part of protecting a school's student body and faculty. That's just one of many reasons why this seems so laughable. That's not to say an academic institution doesn't have the right to monitor social media usage when students are in class; it certainly presents a temptation for twenty-somethings in a boring lecture who can subversively swap facebook photos or tweet about a love interest on their iPhones and DROIDS. Not to mention, a school has the right to protect its own brand and reputation, and have a social media agreement, to avoid pictures of the school's logo being associated with a YouTube video of a kegstand competition. An outright ban though, makes about as much sense as duct-taping students' mouths shut. What is the point? To realize life exists without social media? If that is the case, have an elective social media black out day where students can OPT to participate in unplugging, instead of having it forced upon them!

  • Think about it
  • Posted by Dee , Central Michigan University at Central Michigan University on December 16, 2010 at 5:30pm EST
  • The social media blackout was scheduled to precede and complement the social media summits on campus. The purpose was to get students, faculty, and staff thinking about how they use social media and how pervasive (and important) it really is on campuses. The purpose was not to senselessly prohibit social media usage, and it was voluntary, so many students did not participate. But it still got them thinking. It also was not intended as an insult to social media. The administration knew exactly what they were doing when they planned this event. And I think it worked beautifully.

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