As a part of this year’s National Hazing Prevention Week taking place on September 20-24, 2010, Sigma Nu, the Interfraternity Council Member Fraternity, is spearheading a social media campaign. Over the course of 40 days, Sigma Nu will release via their Twitter channel a comprehensive list of arguments against the 40 most common heard excuses for sorority and fraternity hazing.

The project began on August 11, 2010 and since then a team of contributors have blogged, tweeted and Facebook posted a different excuse daily using the Twitter official hash tag #40Answers.

This is the first social media campaign to combat hazing in Greek Life and is slated to become a popular resource for Greeks against hazing to ensure a quality fraternity and sorority experience for organization members

Numerous organizations within Panhellenic, National-Panhellenic, Interfraternity and Diversified Greek Councils have committed to endorsing and supporting the campaign.

Here is the list of scheduled tweets:

•    August 11, 2010 Pledges must pay their dues to become a member.
•    August 12, 2010 Hazing teaches pledges to respect their elders.
•    August 13, 2010 Pledges must learn to appreciate the fraternity.
•    August 14, 2010 I don’t think _________ is hazing. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s a new website that many college students visit to meet other people, procrastinate, and maybe have a little fun. Unfortunately for some, they got a lot more than they bargained for when they visited ChatRoulette.

ChatRoulette is a website that allows you to video chat with other users from around the world. Sometimes you meet very interesting people, and sometimes you just see a lot of… Well, if you have been to Chat Roulette, then you know what I am talking about.

But who would have thought you could use this website as a marketing ploy? Evidently the creators of “The Last Exorcism” did. I am terrified to see this movie; every time a commercial for it comes on the television, I change the channel. However, some ChatRoulette participants were not able to “change the channel” until it was too late and, I have to say, the reactions contained in this video are pretty hilarious.

VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED Read the rest of this entry »

Starting college is such an exciting time! Chances are, you are moving out of your parents’ house, and possibly even moving to a different city. This opens a world of new experiences and freedoms. Woot woot!

But what if you start to miss seeing your friends from back home, or even your parents? (Don’t scoff, it could happen.) You could jump in your car or book an airplane ticket back home for the weekend, but that could become quite expensive, especially if you catch the homesickness bug. So, how can you see your parents/friends/family pets without wracking up a huge credit card bill? One word: Skype. Read the rest of this entry »

I have always thought of the iPhone as being cooler, more advanced, and just a better phone than the brick my mom carries around and calls a cell phone. However, I did not have any idea that the iPhone was actually sexier…or at least its users are.

A new study by OkCupid revealed that iPhone users have more sexual partners than other smart phone users. Blackberry and Andriod users came in second and third, respectfully, in the study.

Okay, so how exactly did they determine these findings?

“We crossed all kinds of user behaviors with the camera models and found we had data on the number of sexual partners for 9,785 people with smart phones,” according to the OkCupid blog. “We dropped what we found into Excel, and voila.” Read the rest of this entry »

Some people say that earning an education is a student’s main job. I have always had a problem with this saying because of one simple fact: earning good grades does not pay your electric bill, put food on your table, or help offset your student loans…unless, of course, you have a GradeFund account.

GradeFund is a revolutionary new social media site that allows family, friends, corporations, philanthropists, or anyone else who wants to sponsor a student to reward hard-working students with financial contributions.

How does it work? Basically, you create an account and invite sponsors to support you. At the end of each semester, you send your transcript to GradeFund, and then if you meet the qualifications set by your sponsors, you receive either a check in the mail or a credit to your school towards your tuition. Sounds pretty easy, right? Read the rest of this entry »

When you are in college, there are so many things you have to do every day. It can be so easy to forget about something you have to do. I am a very forgetful person, so I constantly have to write myself sticky notes reminding me to turn in an assignment or to pick something up from the store. However, those small scraps of paper have a way of escaping me pretty often.

So what’s a girl to do? Well, if she’s up to date with the latest social media sites, she uses Remember the Milk.

Remember the Milk is a free website that allows users to manage their tasks from anywhere in the world. Remember the Milk can be used on a computer with Internet access. Or, if you have a pro account, you can sync Remember the Milk with your smart phone or iPod Touch, making it completely portable. Read the rest of this entry »

For me, one of the most stressful parts of working in a group is making sure everyone has their materials with them when you meet up. Sure, Suzy was in charge of bringing the graphs and Phil was in charge of bringing the research questions, but Suzy forgot her computer and Phil lost his flash drive. Boo Suzy and Phil! You both failed…unless you have saved your files to Box.net.

Box.net is a program that allows users to access their documents from any computer in the world.  Box.net was founded in 2005 and has allowed more than three million users access to share their content with others since then.

Box.net allows people to form groups, and then group members can view and edit the documents in the shared files, hold discussions about the documents, and send messages between themselves. Users can also use other social media sites, like Facebook and Picnik, to share their Box.net documents. Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes it is just impossible to learn a concept from a textbook. When this happens to me, I jump on my computer and try Googling the problem. Sometimes I find what I am looking for and the problem is solved. Other times though, I cannot find what I need to save my life, and then I am no better off than when I started.

Is there any way to guarantee online homework help?

Yes, and it is called Cramster.

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Internships are a critical part of the college experience for most students. You are supposed to learn what your “big kid job” will be like after college by interning at a company in your field and gaining invaluable first-hand experience.

Unfortunately, not all internships actually offer students this experience. When I interned at an advertising agency, I ended up mailing letters and buying coffee all day, every day. Not an ideal learning experience. I wish that I had known about IntershipRatings.com when I applied for my internship because then I might have found a better internship.

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Social media brands (via FrancisAnderson.Wordpress.com)

I absolutely hate it when I forget my phone at home. The thought of passing the day without text messages, access to the Internet, or calling my friends has made me late to class on several occasions because I had to go home and get my BlackBerry. My friends like to joke I’m addicted to my “CrackBerry” and other forms of social media, like Facebook and Twitter.

As it turns out, they might be correct.

A recent study conducted at the University of Maryland has concluded that “college students are ‘addicted’ to the instant connections and information afforded by social media.” 

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