“Serious Social Media: On Using Social Media to Improve Students' Adjustment to College,” an article published in June 2011, describes findings from a social media intervention developed with the goal of “increasing students’ perceptions of social support prior to their arrival on campus” (DeAndrea, Ellison, Larose, Steinfield, & Fiore, 2012). This experience involved the design and implementation of an institution-specific social networking website called “Spartan Connect” that was intended to “facilitate connections for incoming students – allowing them to ask questions of each other and to their residency mentors” (DeAndrea, Ellison, Larose, Steinfield, & Fiore, 2012). The site also allowed students to create personal profiles in which they could include information such as their program of study, hometown, and their assigned residence hall. Designated site administrators had the ability to create groups for each residence hall so that students could connect with other students in their residence hall via “Spartan Connect.” Administrators have posted information relevant to each group, including resources and information about planned events and activities. The primary objective of this study was to determine whether the connections facilitated among new students before their arrival on campus changed or influenced their perceptions of their ability to succeed and or influenced their overall expectations of the institution once that they physically arrived on campus. The study results suggest that although there was not a “direct relationship between website use and academic self-efficacy” (DeAndrea, Ellison, Larose, Steinfield, & Fiore, 2012), however, one's perception of one's ability to succeed appears to be an influence...... middle of paper......for them. As educators, we must continue to look for ways to close the social, geographic, cultural, and learning gaps that exist so that all students have a better chance of success. Works CitedDeAndrea, DC, Ellison, NB, Larose, R., Steinfield, c., and Fiore, A. (2012). Serious social media: On using social media to improve students' adjustment to college. Internet and higher education, 15-23.Hung, H.-T. and Yuen, SC-Y. (2010). Educational use of social media technology in higher education. Teaching in Higher Education, 703-714. Jin, L., Wen, Z. and Gough, N. (2010). Social virtual worlds for technology-enhanced learning on an augmented learning platform. Learning Media and Technologies, 139-153. Tinto, V. (2000). Taking academic perseverance seriously: rethinking the first year of university. NACADA Journal , 19(2), 5-10.