When you think of who can be an author, University students are probably not the first people that come to mind. However, last semester, a group of first-year students created a textbook titled “The TXT Book; Your Guide to Social Networking” in their freshman seminar class.
Under the guidance of Dr. Kelly Ward, the students of MU Socially Connected created an easy-to-read guide on the issues associated with social technology.
The 70page textbook is a culmination of a semester long course called Social Connectedness in the Age of Technology. The students worked together to create a book that would provide tips and advice on situations we encounter everyday with cell phones and social networks.
Alyssa Stevenson, who was one of the 25 first-year students that contributed to the book, claimed she enjoyed the process.
“We all picked which section of social technology interested us the most, and then split up topics to write about,” she said. “It was really easy to write about because most of these aspects of technology are involved in our everyday lives. It was interesting because I felt so much more knowledgeable about things that are still confusing to older generations.”
The book is divided into three chapters: “The Use of Cell Phones,” “The Convenience of Texting” and “Facebook Etiquette.” Each chapter addresses different issues, like using a cell phone while driving, conveying emotions through texts and Facebook privacy issues.
The textbook provides a lot of information that older generations may find helpful in understanding new social norms. To our generation, it provides information that we are very familiar with and can easily relate to. The book discusses what the appropriate response times with text messages should be and the different rules and behaviors of texting for guys and girls. They discuss topics that are spoken about frequently, but a set of rules and expectations regarding these areas did not seem to exist until now.
Using Facebook appropriately is an issue that will always be present. This book discusses the “do’s and don’ts” of what should be shared on your Facebook. Status updates and relationship statuses on Facebook are two main things viewed on a Facebook page. The book discusses the issues these things may cause and the importance of them to Facebook users.
The helpful tips and pointers in this book were created solely by the students. They compared their own experiences among themselves to create a text that can help students in the future better understand the world of social networking.
The textbook can be purchased online at http://bookstore.authorhouse.com/Products/SKU000453101/TheTXTBook.aspx.
