Fereshteh, who administers the university’s Facebook fan page and Duke News Twitter account with colleagues in Duke’s Office of News and Communications, sends status updates and 140-character “tweets” about the university’s latest news. When she covered Duke’s 2009 commencement, one follower tweeted from China to thank her.

“There’s someone on the other side of the world, and she felt like she was part of Duke,” Fereshteh said. “That’s the whole point of why we’re doing this.”

Dozens of departments have joined online conversations on Facebook and Twitter, and activity is on the rise, said Michael J. Schoenfeld, the university’s vice president for public affairs and government relations.

“There is a huge value to being an active participant in social media: to connect with professional networks, to find out quickly what’s happening at other places, to put together ad-hoc groups or meetings,” Schoenfeld said. “The more we exchange and share information, the better off we’ll be, as an institution and as individuals. At the same time, we have to remember that all of this is taking place in the open. A little bit of caution goes a long way.”

Users 35 and older now comprise more than half the user population for both Facebook and Twitter, leading to an explosion of social networking in the workplace. Usage is especially prevalent among higher-ed employees, as universities scramble to keep up with tech-savvy prospective recruits and young alumni.

Once seen as an idle pastime, social networks can also enhance productivity and teambuilding in the workplace, experts say. Still, there’s a learning curve to managing the intermeshing of personal and professional lives online.       

“Communicating and sharing personal information online has gone mainstream,” said Fred Stutzman, a researcher who studies social media in the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “Social networks are opening up a whole new world of information that wasn’t available before because people weren’t participating. That may lead to information overload, but it also may lead to smart connections.”

Duke employees are making those connections.

Library and IT staff began using Twitter about two years ago as a virtual “in/out” board to cut down on e-mail but still keep colleagues posted. With shrinking travel budgets in tough economic times, those employees find Twitter increasingly useful to keep up with conferences and network with colleagues at other universities.

Shawn Miller, a consultant in Duke’s Center for Instructional Technology, uses Twitter to follow and chat with leading researchers who study Web 2.0 technologies.

“There’s a lot of information out there,” Miller said, “but with Twitter, because the posts are so short, you don’t have to invest as much time keeping up with the latest academic research.”

Stephen Toback, a senior IT manager in Duke’s Office of Information Technology, has found that casual, personal interaction on social networks help deepen workplace relationships and improve teamwork.

He bonded with one colleague over Facebook comments about “American Idol” and enjoys co-workers’ online responses when he posts photos he’s taken of Duke Chapel and other scenic campus spots.

“Facebook allows you to see other facets of people’s lives, and that level of understanding adds an extra dimension and strengthens relationships,” Toback said. “We build professional walls around us, but we’re all just people.”

Social networks also are changing the way we work.

Thanks to Facebook, Duke professor Cathy Davidson relies less on e-mail and rarely uses the phone. Davidson is co-founder of the virtual humanities consortium known as HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Science, Technology Advanced Collaboratory). She converses with colleagues around the country on Facebook. An author and blogger who taught a course last spring, “Your Brain on the Internet,” Davidson said many of her best ideas come from social networks.

“When I’m blocked, I’ll turn to Facebook,” Davidson, said. “It’s a friendly and productive space.”

At the Nasher Museum of Art, marketing and communications manager Wendy Livingston uses Twitter and Facebook to promote events like the Picasso exhibit opening Aug. 20.

“My activity on social networks is increasing as local arts coverage is decreasing,” Livingston said. “Twitter is a quick, succinct way to direct traffic to my YouTube videos and blog.”

While some may dispute the value of Facebook and Twitter, social networks are here to stay. Users are learning to adapt in a new context of sharing that blurs traditional boundaries between personal and professional.

“We all draw the boundaries of privacy in different ways,” said Davidson, the HASTAC co-founder. “Social media forces you to examine what those boundaries are and implement them in an overt way.”

Just as college students learned to use Facebook privacy settings and set “friends-only” profiles, older users will teach each other the intricacies of social media etiquette, said Stutzman, the UNC researcher. Some employees won’t “friend” supervisors on Facebook. Others may experiment with multiple online identities. And everyone will likely learn to be more careful, he said.

 “If you have 300 friends, including bosses and co-workers, you’ll think twice about what you put out there because it will be interpreted in so many ways,” Stutzman said.

The stakes are even higher since anything posted online is searchable on the Web, said Cynthia Varkey, a Web designer for the Digital Projects Department in Perkins Library.

“If you don’t want everyone in the world to know it, don’t put it out there.” Varkey said.

It’s an ongoing learning process for individuals, businesses and institutions like Duke. Duke officials remind employees to protect employee and patient privacy by abiding by Duke's Confidentiality Agreement and by not posting or discussing sensitive or protected health information on Duke-sponsored or personal social networking sites.

 “As an academic institution, we want to promote dialogue and foster the exchange of ideas,” said Kyle Cavanaugh, vice president for Duke Human Resources. “Tools like Facebook and Twitter certainly help facilitate that. But as with any technology, we want to be sure that its use in the workplace is consistent with the goals of the institution.” 

Fereshteh, whose following grows daily on the university’s Facebook fan page and Duke News Twitter account, has seen how a strong Duke-oriented social network builds community.

When her office organized a memorial celebration to honor the late John Hope Franklin, she first promoted the event on Facebook with an invitation to 3,000 members of a separate Facebook group. Within a few hours, she received more than 50 RSVPs.

“We’re still figuring out the best way to use this technology,” Fereshteh said. “But I feel like I’m doing my job better by utilizing these new technologies and keeping up with new ways of communicating.”