OCALA - Central Florida Community College has joined the social network revolution.

"According to literature, traditional-age college students and adult learners have made social networks such as facebook, MySpace, twitter and YouTube their life platforms, forcing institutions to align their communication strategies accordingly," said Dr. Joe Wallace, CFCC director of Marketing and Communications.

"Our intent in the pairing of social networks and academic purpose is to strategically engage students in their preferred medium."

Recognizing that the shift is more than a fad, the college has included social networking as a 2009-2010 collegewide goal. The college is building a presence on the most popular network sites.

* Become a facebook friend of the college at www.facebook.com. Search for Central Florida Community College - Official Page.

* View videos at YouTube, www.youtube.com/CFCCofficial.

* Receive emergency alerts, such as college closings, at twitter. Go to www.twitter.com/CFCCalerts and select "follow" to receive alerts.

* News releases also available via RSS feed, Really Simple Syndication. On the CFCC Web site, www.CF.edu , click on "News," and then the red RSS icon on the task bar to receive news updates.

The CFCC Foundation and Alumni Association are using the platforms to engage their constituencies and build allegiance to the college. The Alumni Association marketed a summer benefit concert by pop group MOSAIC through the social networks. The association has grouped links to its networks at http://alumni.cf.edu/reconnect.htm.

Student groups such as the Student Activities Board and Patriot Press have established sites, and Patriot Dancers coach Janie Pope says that team members depend on the networks for their
communications.

"Our job as a college is to effectively harness the power of social networks to serve an academic purpose, and engage students to create a meaningful school-student connection," Walace said.