For years Athabasca University students have been gathering on Facebook to chat about their AU experiences. With more than 400 million active users, half of whom log in every day, Facebook is the most popular online social networking site. Currently a Facebook search for "Athabasca University" delivers over 67 group pages. Most of these groups are run by individuals and are meant to foster group discussion around a common area of interest. In the past, AU as an organization had no way to control or direct the discussions.

But that all changed when Facebook created fan pages. Now known simply as pages, they allow organizations to broadcast information to their fans. Only authorized representatives of an organization can run a page, which means that AU now has a vehicle to reach current and prospective students on Facebook in an official capacity. Students can still participate in any of the AU group pages, but the advantage of the AU page is the access to official and reliable AU information.

The AU page lets the university communicate with both current and prospective students by sharing news and upcoming events and facilitating discussions. Students can chat with each other and AU representatives on the wall and in discussion posts. They are also able to access Ask AU to receive answers to many of their AU questions.

AU's fan base, which totals over 700 people, continues to grow steadily. Experts in social media say that a fan base needs to reach 1,000 to really start adding value to the community. In order to get there, AU will continue delivering meaningful updates.

If you're on Facebook, visit AU's page and click "like" to join.