Quiver & Quill

The Facebook is an online community with 6 million members at 3,000 colleges and universities. Access is restricted to users with an .edu address. Ask any current college student or recent grad about it, and they’ll share how the Facebook is integrated into their online life. As an example of its campus persuasiveness, when college couples break up, they each rush to be the first to change their Facebook profile status from “In a relationship,” to “single.”

Facebook is more integrating into a real community than Myspace; primary because members are sorted on basis of their school; students and campus clubs use it as their primary communication channel. In fact, some colleges are even advertising on the Facebook to reach their own students.

It’s an ideal situation for advertisers, who have behavioral and contextual options. Deliver ads to individual profiles who have demonstrated an interest in the subject matter. Sponsor a room of enthusiast for your product. They just released a new feature worth discussion: campus pulse. This feature is ideal for advertisers and members alike. It aggregates data on each school and reports breaking trends. Want to find out the most popular band at your school? Interested in comparing the music at your school with that of your rival school? Now you can. This is a media buyers dream because it reveals the interests of student bodies of campuses. Here’s a look at Tufts University, my alma mater:

30% more Tufts students listed The OC than Sex and the City.

27% of male students are looking for friendship.

6% of male students are married.

1896 photos have been uploaded at Tufts today.

305 students poked each other today.

1.1% of Tufts reads Catcher in the Rye.

The persuasiveness of the web site in college communities, its integration into the online and offline lives of its members and the way it provides advertisers with a channel to deliver relevant messages makes the Facebook the epitome of how we will live our lives online.

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