Monday, March 8, 2010

Roommate Search on Facebook

I can personally relate to Levinson’s section on “Meeting Online Friends in the Real World” (Levinson, 128). Coming into my freshman year, I was very nervous about the housing situation and who my roommate would be. When I received my housing form in the summer, I saw that there was a roommate request section. Once I joined the Fordham network on Facebook, I was invited to join the Fordham Class of 2012 group. In the group, there were multiple discussions including surveys for prospective roommates. I was one of the many to fill out the survey and post it in hopes to find someone compatible. Just a few days later, a girl from the group requested me and we started messaging back and forth. A few weeks later, we decided to become roommates and requested one another on the housing form. I was still nervous to meet her face to face for the first time. But we talked a lot via Facebook about our interests and it was easier to start and maintain conversations. We instantly clicked. Unfortunately, she transferred but we are still the best of friends and visit each other often. Facebook helps with this too because it is our main source for keeping in touch.

Although I’d like to think of my roommate situation as a success story, others weren’t so lucky. ABC News posted an article on “Weeding Out Roommates on Facebook.” The article explains how parents, along with students, use the media site to review the pages of already assigned roommates. An increasing number of parents have filed petitions to reassign their children to other roommates. The parents are displeased with the prospective roommate’s Facebook page and the pictures posted of them drinking, smoking, and doing other illegal activity. Many schools are actually advising students to refrain from judging other students by their social networking images. It is understandable that parents be concerned for their children. However, I feel that parents need to let their children deal with it themselves. Housing is just a part of the college experience. It tests compatibility, respect, and tolerance. It is hard for me to really argue this because I have been fortunate enough to receive two great roommates and have never had a serious issue with them. But I do believe that people should not be judged by their Facebook image. There is a lot more to a person than just their Facebook page.

6 comments:

  1. Although I have never dormed, I have heard plenty stories from friends who used Facebook to get to know their new roommates. This process can be very efficient as the roommates are able to communictae about what they are bringing to the dorm, so that both roommates don't bring the same things such as a television, a video game, or certain DVDs.

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  2. I agree that Facebook can be a good tool to help judge roommate compatibility, but also think it needs to be used with caution. My roommate was randomly assigned to me freshman year and we ended up being a great match. From looking at each other's Facebook profiles we knew even before we met each other that we were similar because we had the same movies, books and activities in our Facebook interests section.

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  3. Like you said, I think your situation was a rare success. If not everyone can find their own roomate before coming to Fordham, however, at least we can see what our assigned roomate will look like and get a very small sense about their character before we actually meet them in person. It's definitely a nice ice breaker. I remember when my older sister first went to college in 1999, way before social networking caught on. I was there when she and her roomate met for the first time- it was a lot different, since they had only been communicating through letters and phone calls. But they became great friends and lived together for all four years.

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  4. Whether a success or not, the amazing thing is that you can get this information in the first place, whereas that was never possible before. And of course, Facebook profiles are also reviewed by college admissions staff, and prospective employers.

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  5. Nice post. It certainly makes sense to have Facebook as a resource in searching for a roommate. I actually used it when I was a student as well and then co-founded a software company where we created a Facebook application for roommate matching. Basically makes the group process into something more formal and integrated with the housing office. Still get the benefit of Facebook profiles then can also match with roommates right on Facebook. Its called RoomBug if you'd like to take a look, www.roombug.net, www.facebook.com/roombug

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  6. Another great resource is http://www.uroomsurf.com/ it has become very popular... nearly 30,000 college students are using it. Chances are there are several hundred potential roommates at your school on our site.

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