Procrastinators take note: Wesleyan has joined yet another online community.
Students have flocked quickly to www.thefacebook.com, a website with many similarities to other favorites, Friendster and WesMatch.
Thefacebook is a visual directory and community site that allows students to post pictures and profiles with contact and biographical information. Like Friendster, it also allows users to list their friends at their school, as well as other member colleges.
According to Chris Hughes, a spokesperson for Thefacebook, the site has a different purpose than Friendster.
“Thefacebook is grounded in specific, real college communities,” he said. “Thefacebook is not a place where a user meets a random person, but instead where individuals foster friendships that already exist.”
Since Wesleyan was added to the site in August, 1,502 Wesleyan students have joined the community. Across all the schools on thefacebook, there are 257,721 users.
Its popularity at Wesleyan was virtually instant.
“The day Wesleyan was added to thefacebook, a friend of mine called me to let me know,” said Margaret Gullick ’07. “I joined when I got back home to a computer that night. Apparently everyone was also online the night I joined, since I was getting friend requests almost immediately after signing up—some literally within a half-hour of starting an account.”
Thefacebook has provided a way to keep track of old friends, and one-time acquaintances.
“It’s handy to track down people who vanished after freshman year,” said Sam Duncan ’05.
The site also has a feature that allows a user to search for people who attended a specific high school. Many report getting friend requests from people they haven’t spoken to in years.
“I’ve found that old high school acquaintances resurface themselves through thefacebook,” said Sarah Elgart ’07. “I might develop friendships when I go back home that I wasn’t anticipating.”
With students posting so much information about themselves on the site, it’s now possible to learn much about one’s peers without having to talk to them. Most users post their relationship status (some even list who they’re in a relationship with), sexual orientation, cell phone number, and other information such as one’s favorite books.
“It’s better to find out the guy you like is gay from the start, instead of after you’ve had a crush on him for a year,” said Becky Goldstein ’05.
At least one former Wesleyan student is not impressed by thefacebook, however. Wesmatch co-founder Dan Stillman ’04 says thefacebook is uncreative.
“They seem to be basically another Friendster clone, trying to grow as fast as possible without any real appreciation for what makes a place like Wesleyan unique,” Stillman said. “We don’t see them as offering the same thing [as WesMatch does] at all.”
WesMatch plans to re-launch the service to include current freshmen in the near future.
Hughes says thefacebook is a corporation, but is not currently profitable. They plan to expand to more schools.
It remains to be seen whether these sites will become a fact of life or a fad, but, in the meantime, they do provide interesting revelations for its users.
“One thing I’ve learned from thefacebook is that I’m not the only one on campus who’s into the Olsen Twins,” Goldstein said.