MSU networking site to connect communities

---

Tweet

Incoming freshmen living in MSU’s east neighborhood of Akers, Hubbard and Holmes Halls will have expanded means of communication with each other and their mentors with a new, online network provided by the university.

The service, called SpartanConnect, is an online social network space that officials hope complements face-to-face conversation while in a living, learning environment, said Jacob McCarthy, a spokesman for MSU Residential and Hospitality Services.

“One of things we found was that there is a perceived need for an online presence that doesn’t have the noise that Facebook or MySpace would have,” McCarthy said. “The types of information sharing that you see on social networks (like those) are brief. SpartanConnect will try to bring about a look at deeper topics that people are talking about.”

SpartanConnect first was introduced to incoming freshmen in the form of a letter, welcoming them to MSU, weeks ago, McCarthy said. Considering the number of students who might use the site, the service had to be built with its users in mind in collaboration with the MSU College of Communication Arts and Sciences, he said.

“With any social network or website, (it’s) tricky to figure out how people want to use it,” McCarthy said. “We try to build the technology to fit the widest possible number of users.”

Incoming students can test the service using their standard issue MSU NetID. Upon login, they are greeted with a home page that displays numerous links to connect with other members, students’ blogs, a personal calendar, videos and discussion forums.

Nicole Ellison, an assistant professor in the MSU Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media, said the service can reduce the uncertainty about MSU life incoming students might be feeling if they use it before the start of the fall semester.

“We did a series of focus groups with students in east neighborhood and one of the key themes that emerged was around resources,” Ellison said. “The fact that while students felt like there were many resources at the university, they did not always know about them or how to access them.”

Michael Meeth, an incoming MSU freshman who intends to study accounting, said he will try the service considering the features available.

“I think it can be really beneficial for people who take advantage of it,” he said.

Besides the service’s main feature of a social atmosphere, student mentors will also be a driving force for the online network, McCarthy said. History junior Kamilah Stinnett said she plans to use it to schedule hall meetings and post other announcements when necessary in Hubbard Hall.

“It’ll be easier than sending out a mass e-mail. Something like this (might be popular) since it’s similar with something that people use on a day to day basis,” Stinnett said.

With positive user feedback, the service might be expanded to the entire university for the 2011-12 school year, McCarthy said.

Although Stinnett said SpartanConnect is extremely basic and bland in appearance, user testing and enhancements in the future should improve the user experience.

---