Facebook Frenzy

Where College Students Find Old Friends, Make New Ones

(AP) 
Besides corporate advertisers, Facebook users purchase "announcements" - ads that can be seen only by students from the same school. They range from campaign posters for student government positions to fliers about upcoming parties. They cost $9 to $15 apiece; the smaller the school, the cheaper the announcement.

Investments have boosted Facebook, too. Silicon Valley venture capital firm Accel Partners put in $13 million; PayPal founder Peter Thiel recently invested $500,000.

Users can register on the site only with a college e-mail address, which serves as verification that users are students. Once registered, the .edu address becomes a user ID.

More than 60 percent of the site's users log in daily during the school year, and about half log in daily over the summer, Hughes said.

Marketers who target students love the site, said Robin Raskin, a technology consultant whose three college-age children are all Facebook users.

"You've got this great, great group. You know their demographic, you know how much disposable income they have, you know what they spend it on, and now you've got them in one place," Raskin said. "It's great for anybody who wants to talk to the youth audience, and that is why investors have run to give Facebook some money."

Another result, however, is that students should be cautious about putting personal information on the site, said Raskin, a former editor of PC Magazine.

"You think you're safe because of this .edu address, but anybody can get in there who wants to," said Raskin, adding she knows corporate marketers who have "infiltrated" the site. Many alumni get .edu e-mail addresses from their alma maters, allowing them to get on Facebook.

Marcia Ammons, a Georgia State senior from Carrollton, Ga., swears by Facebook. She has two close friends on campus she first met on the Web site.

"It's hard to find people with similar interests on a big campus," Ammons said. "We're so spread out ... you can put up party fliers in the Rec Center but half the people won't know about it because they won't see them."

Garza uses Facebook to find people in his classes to compare notes and homework, since a single class at Georgia Tech can have up to 500 students. During last year's presidential campaign, he used the site to find students with similar views. His profile included quotes from George Orwell and links to his personal Web site.

Students also meet on the site through groups, virtual clusters of users at the same school with a common interest. Ammons is a member of the "Wal-Mart Lovers" and "Rec Center Junkies" groups. Garza is in the "Anti-Leaf Blower Society" and "Ipodilicious," a collection of Ipod fans.

Entirely new social protocols have formed around Facebook. One surrounds confirming friend requests. For some, a person's friend count is a social barometer.

Says Hilton Gray, a 2003 graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and avid facebooker:

"I know a few people who like the attention of it all, so they try to rack up as many friends as possible."