Fort Wayne Community Schools is exploring a new strategy this year to gain interest in its School Choice Fair: Facebook.
Last week, the district set up a page on the popular social networking site, which users can click on and tell whether they are attending, not attending or still considering the option.
“If it works, it may be a new way we communicate with people,” said spokeswoman Krista Stockman.
The annual School Choice Fair on Jan. 31 is a free event that highlights the district’s magnet schools and special programs offered at various schools throughout Fort Wayne to provide more opportunities to students, according to a release. The fair is 1-4 p.m. at Northrop High School, 7001 Coldwater Road.
This is the first time the district has used this type of strategy for any type of promotion, and in just a couple of days, more than 50 people had logged on to the site – even though many so far are FWCS employees.
The idea stemmed from a marketing class at Anthis Career Center where students were asked to think of new ways to promote the fair. Their idea was to set up a group (What’s Your Game Plan?) and an event (FWCS School Choice Fair) on the Facebook network.
Even though the site is blocked on any FWCS computers because it is a social networking site, Stockman said people have been sending friend requests from home, which is quickly spreading the word.
“It’s just one of the new and exciting ways to try and get the word out,” she said.
A username and password are needed to access Facebook sites, but are available for free on the Web site,
Source: www.news-sentinel.com