Just two decades ago, staying connected after graduation meant swapping home phone numbers and addresses—maybe even your parents’ addresses—and sharing your postcollege progress in handwritten letters. It took dedication to stay in touch year after year.

Today, of course, social media has trumped all other forms of alumni communication—and inflated our address books and inboxes exponentially. Without trying, you can find out about friends you haven’t seen or written to in years.

This culture shift, and the ensuing ease of nurturing and harnessing a widespread personal network, has made your BU Alumni Association more valuable than ever. It has never been so simple for alumni to stay connected with one another, and with BU, to access a robust online support system, to connect socially, and to network professionally.

Your Alumni Association’s social networks offer an opportunity to share information, creativity, wisdom, and more. The BU alumni community brings together almost 300,000 smart, sophisticated people with a vast range of experiences and a lot to say. Join the conversation.

Here are just a few ways to take advantage of social media through your Alumni Association:

• Career Networking

  The BU Alumni Association’s LinkedIn group includes thousands of BU alum professionals making introductions, sharing ideas, and seeking advice. Not sure where to begin your job search? Uncertain whether to invest in a specific software for your company? Stuck in a managerial dilemma? Ask your alumni network. Begin a discussion, and you’ll find many professionals willing to share their experiences and advice to help point you in the right direction.

• Info Sharing

  Facebook is not just a forum for sharing what you’ve had for lunch or complaining about the weather. The Boston University Alumni Association Facebook page is your strongest link to more than 55,000 fellow alumni and your University. With a constantly updated feed of campus memories, upcoming alumni events across the globe, and breaking news, the Boston University Alumni Association on Facebook is the place for alumni to share what’s important to them in real time (and we don’t mean your bologna sandwich).

• Breaking News

  Twitter users are the people who know what’s going on, when, and where, kept up-to-date by the minute. If you are a news follower or newsmaker, Twitter can help ensure that nothing gets past you. Twitter effectively filters your preselected interests into one continuously flowing stream.

  Stay on top of Boston University’s latest alumni news by following @bualumni.

• Promote Your Brand

  All alumni are welcome, and encouraged, to share relevant content on the BU Alumni Association Facebook timeline. Many young alumni reach out to the BUAA via Facebook and Twitter to promote their brands and initiatives. In an effort to support these alumni in an age where start-ups are mainstream, the BUAA has launched #FreshOffCampus, a Twitter interview series that is live-tweeted and shared with 10,000-plus Twitter followers and 55,000-plus Facebook followers. Each interview focuses on sharing struggles and successes as these alumni climb closer to their personal or professional dreams.

  If you use Google+ to promote your business, consider sharing with the BUAA’s Google+ communities. Google+ is not only another effective social platform; it can also help you measure your marketing success and see where improvements are needed, setting you up to better steer your business strategies.

• Where to Start

  Not connected? Try it out. Join one network and see how it goes. Choose a social network based on your objectives. If you want to improve your career, create a LinkedIn profile and join the BU Alumni Association group. If you want to reconnect with friends, start a Facebook account and “like” the Boston University Alumni Association page. No matter which path you choose, always remember that you can share as much or as little as you like. Set your privacy settings appropriately and most important, give it a chance. It just might open up a world of opportunity.

We count on your input, so please keep it coming! Email alumni@bu.edu, 1-800-800-3466.