Click Clique: Facebook's Online College Community

The Facebook (thefacebook.com) [1] has expanded from it's inital base at Harvard and a few colleges to a network of more than 300 colleges and universities. Libby Copeland, from the Washington Post, visited George Washington University to check out the scene. [2] From the initial urge to know the name of that person two rows in front of me in chemistry 1, theFacebook has developed into a broader networking tool. Students still meet people, but sometimes just "check them out," sometimes to just collect "friends" (the increasing number of which serves as a measure of one's growing popularity), and even to use the network to build political power (a la student government). The main difference between theFacebook and other networks like friendster or fotolog is that the communities are (currently, at least) limited to the local campus network. One cannot join groups at one's alma mater, etc. [1] http://www.thefacebook.com/ [2] Libby Copeland, Click Clique: Facebook's Online College Community, Washington Post, Tuesday, December 28, 2004; http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A30002-2004Dec27