In the past five years, social networking has rocketed from a leisure activity to a "phenomenon that engages tens of millions of internet users," according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, a nonprofit that follows the impact of the internet in differing social environments. In a recent national survey on teenagers and social networking conducted by Pew, more than half of all online American youth ages 12 to 17--55 percent to be precise--are heading to online social networking sites. What does this mean for higher ed? Simply this: Incoming students are now "expecting" a presence of college or university on social networking sites. This article reports that resourceful college administrators, marketers, and technologists are discovering that the best way to reach their students--and prospective students--is to speak to them in their own social networking space. They're using social networking to recruit the new generation of students, and they're using it in all sorts of new ways to keep students connected and collaborating--in and out of the classroom.