KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23, 2010 / NEWS / 17
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Summer fun in Lawrence, Kan.
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Just for Fun — Totally Random
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I was wondering who of you will be in Lawrence this summer.
This group serves the purpose to inform everyone who is still here of concerts, events, parties,...
If you know other people that are staying here this summer, just invite them. The more people, the more events we know of:)
Let's make it a great summer!
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Lawrence Summer 2010
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Students connect to stay entertained
BY ALISON CUMBOW alisonc@kansan.com
Samantha Reinblatt joined a Facebook group so she could keep herself busy this summer, when fewer of her friends and other students are in town.
The group, called Lawrence Summer 2010, was created to keep students who are staying in Lawrence in the loop about fun events. Members of the Lawrence Summer 2010 group can invite the other 200 members, who they might not have previously
who would be in Lawrence this summer.
"This group serves the purpose to inform everyone who is still here of concerts, events, parties..."
"This group serves the purpose to inform everyone who is still here of concerts, events, parties," he wrote. "If you know other people that staying here this summer, just invite them —
known, to parties and events around town.
THOMAS SINN
Lawrence Summer 2010 creator
"I'm surprised to find out how many fun activities go on during the summer in this college town," Reinblatt, a graduate secretary for the mathematics department and a 2006 graduate from Montreal, said. "I'm involved in tango, belly dancing, piano, summer barbecues and potluck dinners, camping and concerts."
The group's creator, Thomas Sinn, a senior from Stuttgart, Germany, wrote on the information page that he made the group to find out
the more people, the more events we know of"
Research findings from a 2009 study by Sam Gosling, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, suggest that social networking sites such as Facebook are just the
newest medium for social interaction.
Reinblatt said the reason there are fun activities around town is because the University caters to so many people from different cultural backgrounds and that going to the events is a great way to meet new people.
Sinn wrote that he wanted to make this summer a great one.
BUSINESS OF FACEBOOK
Local businesses are also employing the same idea when it comes to social media this summer.
"We have a Facebook page, which is pretty much the quintessential," Rob Schulte, marketing manager at The Granada, said. "Last week, I put an announcement up on our Facebook page, and within minutes, 25 people had commented back."
Schulte said a lot of The Granada's business came from handbills, but social media helped people to come in, also — its Facebook page has 2,734 followers.
"I would say slowly over the past year, that social media has really been helping our business," he said.
Schulte said Facebook began helping business the most when it made changes to its news feed and he could gear events toward specific interests.
Brady Lewis, a bartender at Dempsey's, said Facebook had allowed the bar to let people know about its new chef coming in July.
Dempsey's also uses Twitter to let people know about its beer specials. On Friday, June 18, the bar opened at 9 a.m. and tweeted that it would be selling Budweiser bottles for $1.
"We had 25 people drinking, and I don't know if they would have been in otherwise," Lewis said.
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