The university community just got a whole lot smaller thanks to the arrival of Facebook, the online social network that’s connecting students to students in fun, and sometimes unusual, ways.
“It’s a great way to meet people, especially for incoming freshman,” said ETSU student Justin Adams, who joined the web site a few months ago after hearing about it from a friend at the University of South Carolina.
Adams is one of 2,745 ETSU students who have joined the site since it was opened to the school in April 2005.
Launched to the public in early 2004, the “just for fun” site now boasts more than 4.1 million members worldwide and continues to grow, said the site’s co-creator, Chris Hughes of Palo Alto, Calif. Though Hughes wasn’t sure who asked for the network at ETSU, several requests reached his computer.
By submitting their e-mail addresses, pictures and personal profiles to the site, students can connect with other students at ETSU and beyond by “poking” – sending a message – and joining virtual “clubs” full of people with similar interests.
While a few of the clubs are political and serious in nature, most are just for laughs. One popular ETSU club is called “The Sophisticated Otter is My Weekend Home.” Another club, featuring 319 members from the university community, is exclusively for fans of the long-gone 1990’s TV series, Saved By the Bell.
But Facebook isn’t just about online activity. Members can also list upcoming events and parties by buying announcements – an aspect of the site that is rumored to have gotten on-campus partiers in trouble.
One recent ETSU party announcement in particular was thought to have caused a stir in the administration when it advertised a keg party in an ETSU dormitory – an environment where life is, according to rules, alcohol-free.
For the most part, however, students are joining the site to meet, greet, keep in touch and have a little online fun.
Adams said he joined the site to keep track of old friends and maybe make a few new ones. Since then, he’s been making the virtual rounds – being listed as “friend” to 27 other ETSU students and joining a few clubs. Because of it, he said, he’s met more people through the connection than he would have without it.
“I’ve met people who saw (where I worked) and came in,” Adams said. “You can also put in your classes and meet people that way.”
Others, like ETSU freshman Ben Adrien think it’s the perfect way to cement new friendships with students from other universities.
“I went on a Campus Crusade for Christ mission in Daytona and met 77 new people,” Adrien said. “Half of them are on Facebook, and we all keep in touch that way.”
Though he hasn’t met any new people through the site, Adrien was pleased to say he’d been able to renew contacts with old friends from Macon, Ga., where he grew up.
Even the downsides to the online society are few, said the handful of students who were interviewed. While some worry that stalking or harassment could be an issue in the future, none of them had experienced it or knew anybody who had.
“Random people are obviously going to talk to you since you’ve got your picture up there,” Adams said.
Even so, he isn’t too worried about the semi-public nature of Facebook, yet.
“Making new friends is always good,” he said.

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