Challenges and opportunities in using Facebook to build a community for students at a UK university

Facebook offers a low cost scalable platform for interacting with a huge audience. For universities this audience can encompass potential, current and past students, Facebook has emerged as a key space for informal and formal communication amongst students and between students and universities. This chapter will provide a case study of a formal presence for Durham University Foundation Centre which was launched three years ago. This page has grown in this time to just under 400 fans and it has been possible to establish which of these fans are current, past or prospective students, and how the fan profile has changed as different cohorts have passed through the centre. This experience will form the basis of a more general discussion of the challenges and opportunities which Facebook presents.