Alternative Uses for Facebook and Other Social Networking Sites

Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites have skyrocketed in the past couple years as an easy, popular way for college students and others to socialize via the Internet. With online profiles, photo albums and messaging, you can stay connected with old friends from high school and get to know new friends at your college or place of employment. While Facebook was originally intended exclusively for college students, now anyone with an e-mail address can join. There are many alternative uses for Facebook and other social networking sites on the Internet, from a political campaign tool to extra classroom interaction and publicity for a new musician. Here are the details for using popular social networking sites to your advantage, even if you're not a college student.

Alternative Use for Social Networking Sites #1: Appeal to the younger voter using Facebook. When November elections came and went with a Democratic takeover of Congress, a lot of that result came from an increase in voting among younger citizens. Consistently, the 18-24 age bracket is among the groups with the lowest voting records. However, in November several politicians used Facebook to their advantage and opened a profile to appeal to the younger demographic. Since students spend the majority of their time using the Internet and browsing Facebook and the other social networking sites they use, creating an online profile to inform potential supporters of your campaign platform and plans for office is a great way to get the word out to college students using a medium they understand and take interest in. It will also help you appear more down-to-earth and easily relatable to the average college student. If you're launching a political campaign, don't forget to utilize Facebook and other social networking sites as great publicity tools.