Facebook Launches Universities Page For Back to School

With the current “back to school” advertising blitz, it’s hard to forget that American schools, universities and colleges are resuming classes for the new academic year right about now - even if you are not a student or a parent of one.

It certainly hasn’t escaped the attention of the fine folk at Facebook - perhaps not surprising given the site’s college genesis.

The social networking site has launched a new page for universities. The page describes itself as: “A Facebook Page dedicated to helping university students establish an interactive presence on Facebook by engaging with their campus community.”

The welcome post was written by a summer intern Arielle Aryah, who will be return to university in the fall herself. She wrote that many university administrators were already using Facebook but the site wanted to make sure students had the tools as well.

“After having used the site for the past 5 years, I know that it is already a place where students connect with each other and their campus community. This Page will take it one step further to help students and campus organizations such as school newspapers, sports teams, student governments, dorms, clubs and classes learn how to take full advantage of all the site has to offer to publicize events, distribute content, foster community and encourage school spirit.”

The plan is for the page to offer best practices for students wanting to use Facebook to organize events and other activities on campus. There is a “Press” tab for college newspapers, a “Community” tab for clubs, groups and dorms, a “Sports” tabs with stores, ticket sales, and comments from fans, and a “Student Government” tab to let student representatives connect with the people they serve, keep people updated and create events.

The page also offers a range of deals from third-party marketers under the “Deals” tab, created by a company called Context Optional. Current deals include 25% off online purchases of clothing, backpacks and outdoor gear at Eddie Bauer, 15% off essentials such as toothpaste and laundry detergent at Alice.com and a free printer or $25 gift card on select laptop purchases at Newegg.com.