Facebook Users Get Lower Grades

Those 'friends' you don't know may serve a purpose

(NEWSER) - Facebook "friendships" may seem superficial—but they actually strengthen social ties, a study suggests. “Facebook is not supplanting face-to-face interactions between friends, family, and colleagues,” a professor behind the study tells Reuters . After surveying 900 college students and recent grads about their Facebook activities, researchers found “evidence that social media afford opportunities for new expressions of friendship, intimacy, and community.” More»

And yes, they can bet they will flunk—with 'grade insurance'

(AP) - A new website is taking wagers from American college students who want to bet on their own grades. Just as Las Vegas sports books set odds on sporting events, Ultrinsic will pay top dollar for A's, a little less for the more likely outcome of a B average or better, and so on. Students can also wager they will fail a class by buying what Ultrinsic calls "grade insurance." The site is taking wagers from students at 36 colleges nationwide starting this month. More»

You replace half of old friends with new ones every 7 years: study

(NEWSER) - It might not be so on Facebook, but the size of people’s actual social networks stays about the same throughout life, LiveScience reports. Most people replace half their friends every 7 years, a survey of 1,000 people finds. The study—which also notes that people often make new friends through familiar means—contradicts previous research that said social networks are shrinking. More»

New generations of grads find keeping in touch easier over web

(NEWSER) - Once upon a time, the college alumni magazine was an invaluable resource. Keeping up on old friends and enemies was as easy as flipping to the “class notes” section. But that once-mighty column now looks antiquated next to the constant updates offered on Facebook or MySpace, and it’s forcing colleges to rethink their business model, the New York Times reports. More»

A minority makes the experience more rewarding for the majority: Study

(NEWSER) - This might help explain why Facebook is closing in on 900 million users: Most people "receive more from their Facebook friends than they give," concludes a new Pew study . Among the findings from the one-month analysis:

• 40% of users made a friend request in the one-month period, but 63% received a request themselves
• Users hit the like button 14 times on friends' content, but received 20 likes on their own content in the same span
• 12% tagged a pal in a photo, but 35% were tagged by others