the Sam Jackson College Experience

all the exciting parts, none of the heavy debt burden

Sep 9, 2006 1

Facebook “features” modified; problems remain

I am back at school now, and will try to be writing as much as I can without unduly jeopardizing my college process for lack of studying. Thanks for your continued readership. (At this rate, my Google Ads will buy me half a textbook by the time I’m a sophomore in college, which is better than nothing!)

I have never been particularly fond of Mark Zuckerberg’s online stalking machine, nor has his creation made me particularly proud to call him a fellow Exonian. At the same time I knew that those among us who are apt to be “Facebook creeping” had to invest some serious effort into their unhealthy tracking of their peers. It was comforting to know that in addition to future restraining orders, these creeps would have carpal tunnel to enjoy in the future.

Then Zuckerberg went along and, without any community input or consultation, implemented a feature which made large amounts of information disturbingly available in one convenient fashion. It is true that this does not represent a loss of privacy because no new information is being pushed to other Facebook users, but it deviated from the past in that Facebook was brazenly enabling this sort of activity.

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Who is Sam Jackson?

photo headshot sam jacksonI'm currently a junior at Yale University and I've been blogging about college admissions and higher education marketing trends since I began my college application process in 2005. I now also write about my experience here at Yale. I just got back from studying abroad at Peking University this past Fall 2009 in Beijing, China! Click here to read my 'about' page.

Kind words about my blog:

Andrew Careaga calls it “a service to all of us in the higher ed marketing business.”

Christian Long says it has “dramatically inspired college admissions folks to take notice”

Bob Johnson says “I like [it] because I agree with so much of what he says.” and that “Paying attention what Sam writes will let you focus more closely on students who will actually attend your school.”

Karine Joly says my witty and fresh style “offers a rare glimpse at the mind of our elusive prospective students”

and TargetX calls my blog “good reading” and me “wise-beyond-my-years.”