Andrew LaVallee

As recent graduates, several of Hung Truong’s classmates will be headed for typical next steps in their technology careers: working as programmers or pursuing master’s degrees in computer science.

But the 23-year-old, who received his undergraduate degree from the University of New Mexico, instead plans to study the growth of social-networking sites like Facebook and why unpaid volunteers spend time fixing incorrect Wikipedia entries. He enrolls this fall in a new graduate program in social computing at the University of Michigan.

Michigan’s program clinched his decision to attend that school. Social computing “has more of a focus on real-life applications, whereas [computer science] is very broad and more ambiguous,” he said. “I do think there’s a growing interest from students, myself included, and the universities seem to be responding to that.”

After years of worrying about how much time freshmen spend on Facebook, schools are incorporating the study of social networking, online communities and user-contributed content into new curricula on social computing. The moves, like other academic expansions into fields like videogame design, are part of an effort to keep technology studies relevant to students’ lives - and to tap subjects with entrepreneurial momentum. Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. are among the tech companies that have invested in schools’ social computing programs.

The programs tend to draw as much from the sociology, psychology and communications departments as they do from more traditional computer science classes.

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Looking to attract more young people to his church, the Rev. Patrick Gray turned to an unlikely marketing tool: MySpace, a social-networking Web site that draws millions of teens and young adults every day.

Father Gray, a 35-year-old Episcopal priest at Boston’s Church of the Advent, was sold on MySpace by a congregant whose rock band had used the site to attract listeners. While most MySpace users create pages to promote themselves or a band, he posted a profile for his parish. It includes reminders for Sunday services, audio files of its choir and announcements for “Theology on Tap” gatherings at a local bar.

“It’s a way for us to say, ‘Hey, come and see,’” said Father Gray, who created the MySpace profile in January. “It gets our name out there. It puts us on the mental map, the emotional map.” (The church also has a more traditional Web site.)

In a bid to attract new members and shed their persistently Luddite image, churches across the country are embracing technology and Web sites like MySpace. Blogs and podcasts have become part of religious leaders’ communications with congregants, and photo-sharing sites like Flickr are increasingly used to depict a fun-loving, casually-dressed community of churchgoers.

Churches with an evangelical bent often lead the way when it comes to harnessing technology, though some traditional congregations are also experimenting — even the Vatican has podcasts. Still, some Christians are concerned about using unmoderated social-networking sites that may contain adult language and racy photos.

“There’s always going to be some dangers,” Father Gray said of sites like MySpace and Flickr. But that doesn’t mean churches should avoid them, he said. His church is considering establishing a presence on another social-networking site, Facebook, that is limited largely to college students.

Attracting young people, as well as staying relevant, are two of the most common reasons churches are trying these sites, said Brad Abare, who posts tips and interviews on the blog Church Marketing Sucks. The tough-love name reflects the blunt discussion he thinks many religious organizations need to have, he said. “We have the greatest story ever told, and nobody’s listening,” he said.

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