Helicopter Parents and Online Social Networks

Millenial students, more so than any previous cohort of students in our universities, experience a larger role played by their parents in their education (and perhaps lives as a whole). Parents register their students for college orientation, monitor their tuition bills, sign them up for classes, and call university staff with every question their student may not feel comfortable asking.

With the increasing prevalence of online social networks in college students' experiences, we can reasonably assume that parents may already (or will) have influence in that area as well.

Does this mean that we should encourage parents to log on and review all of the content their students post? Or perhaps that parents should create Facebook pages and connect to all of their student's friends, classmates and instructors?
---Probably not.

But should we encourage parents to talk to their students about the wise usage of online social networks? Should we therefore also help parents to understand the pros and cons, as well as
---Absolutely.

Also, it may indeed be worthwhile to help parents get accustomed to online social networking themselves. For instance, many of them may already be connecting to others online about health issues, post-partem depression, people taking care of sick parents discussion groups, or a host of other issues. Imagine the benefits to student success if we can get parents of our students connecting via online social networks to help each other overcome the challenges faced by parents of college students, as well as help each other assist their students with the challenges of college life.

Some universities are already enhancing their services to parents with online communities for their Parents' Association, support groups, etc. What is your University doing? or What ideas would you like to see universities try to incorporate parents into online social networking as a support tool for our students?