Dr. Tracy Alloway of Scotland’s University of Stirling, says her study shows using Facebook stretches our “working memory” (our short-term or recent memory), while Twitter, YouTube and text messages tend to weaken it.

The article goes on to say that students are more frequently “friending” University admissions officers when considering schools, but it is unclear if this gives them a competitive advantage.

I would interested in seeing the instrument used to collect the data. Without more details, I’m hesitant to believe that there is validity concerning the manner in which the various social networks are used by students.

For instance, using Twitter with course and topic hashtags, combining student perspectives, opinions experiences and links to relevant materials might provide more directed attention than sifting through mafia Wars and Farmville updates to find relevant course information, even if collected on a course Facebook page.

My point is that there are way too many variables to be able to make such broad generalizations without providing information on the methodology and instrument used, and steps to ensure validity to the study.