ALL ABOUT FACEBOOK.COM

What is it?

Facebook is a social networking site designed to connect users.
Sites such as MySpace,Twitter and Friendster are similar, but Facebook
is generally considered the leading social networking site among
college students. Facebook allows individuals to create profiles
that include personal interests, affiliations, pictures, and—with
some limitations—virtually anything else a user wants to post.
Information entered in a profile links that user to others who have
posted similar information. For example, all users who list a particular
band or movie as a favorite or who share the same hometown
constitute a group. In user profiles, each of these pieces of
data is a link; clicking on it displays everyone else in the network
who included that element in their profiles. Other connections
are more structured, based on user-created groups that typically
have descriptive titles, such as “Feminists are fun!” or the name
of a fraternity.

Who’s doing it?

Although some faculty and staff have profiles, most Facebook
users are students and workers. Because social networking sites constantly
create connections among users at participating institutions, the
appeal is broad. Jazz aficionados, women in science,job seekers,entertainers,aspiring
veterinarians,and scammers winks!—all of these and others have built groups of friends
on Facebook. Others are starting to use Facebook also. At some
institutions, following an incident such as a party that got out of
hand, campus police have found information or photos on Facebook
that incriminate the students responsible. Some employers
look up students on Facebook to get a fuller picture of applicants.
Not all Facebook profiles result in positive outcomes for
the students.

How does it work?

To create a profile, users—current students, alumni, faculty, or
staff—must have an e-mail address in the domain of an institution
that is affiliated with Facebook. Once you establish an account,
you can update it as often as you like, adding or changing information
including pictures, favorites, and blog-type entries. Users
build networks of “friends,” people who have agreed to be added
as friends to users’ profiles. You can browse profiles based on
criteria such as age, relationship status, or major or search the
database for people you already know and contact them through