Created as a medium to share information and dialogue for students by students, USFSP’s Know It All’s Guide To Knowing It All is the best resource for the 650 incoming freshman joining The Bulls this semester.
When freshman Brooke Nolan wanted to start a theater club on campus, she knew exactly where to go. Instead of pinning flyers to bullet boards, she went to Know It All’s Guide to Knowing It All, the University’s number one Facebook source for information.
Within hours, students, staff and faculty were commenting, signing up and tagging friends that might be interested in joining; commenters even told her about past theater groups. By the end of the day, Nolan knew she needed to contact Academic Program Specialist, Veronica Matthews, and that at least three students were interested in joining the club.
Before the Know It All’s Guide to Knowing It All was created, students had to wait hours, or even days, to receive an answer for campus or city of St. Petersburg inquiries, now they receive a reply within minutes of posting.
Entrepreneur graduate, Mark Lombardi-Nelson, and Courtney Parish created the guide in December 2010 as a means for sharing information and to encourage dialogue — for students by students.
“We recognized there was a void in student communication and we created the guide with the intent to fill that gap,” Lombardi-Nelson told The Crow’s Nest.
“(Before the guide) almost all information, events, dialogue and opportunities meant for students were distributed across individual organizations and departments,” he said. “The most common complaint back then was, ‘I wish I would have known that ‘X’ was happening or possible’.”
Since its inception, the Facebook discussion board has racked up almost 4,000 members and logs hundreds of posts and comments every month.
The page is especially helpful for students taking online classes who still want to get the latest on upcoming events and chat with fellow classmates.
The “Know It All’s” page is a public group and everyone is welcome, including graduates and professors.
Members compose posts of all flavors, including direct questions about upcoming events or courses; updates on campus or local policies; requests for roommates, volunteers and nannies; advertisements for items for purchase; and towards the end of the year, questions filtered in during the rush and confusion of graduation.
Sometimes posts are immediately answered and members can move on. However, because of Facebook’s algorithms, there is a limited amount of time remaining at the top of the timeline. As more and more posts accrue, older posts can become less prominent.
Although Lombardi-Nelson feels Know It All has lost its direction over the years, he thinks it may still play an important role in student communication.
“It’s still a powerful communication medium if moderated properly. As an alum, it’s one of the first places I go to share workplace/professional opportunities that would be high value for students.”
To find the group, search USFSP The Know It All’s Guide To Knowing It All. To join, send a request. Once the request is accepted, you can freely post, browse and sign up for notifications.
Header photo courtesy of University of South Florida St. Petersburg
