EXCLUSIVES

SOCIAL NETWORK

Words by Dan Pourhadi

A networking site with a big difference, bookcrossing.com’s purpose is to keep track of books that have been “released into the wild”. Here’s the idea: You have a book that you want to get rid of. Rather than sell it, you register it with BookCrossing. You’re given a unique identifying number, which you then write into the book’s inner cover. Then you leave the book somewhere you know it’ll be found. The finder, if she is a bookcrossing member, then creates a journal entry in the website, explaining where they found the book, and possibly a review of it. One she’s done with it, she releases it, and the cycle continues.

Facebook.com’s main raison d’etre is to supplement college life by providing a way for students to connect with each other both intramurally and extramurally. Originally a collection of headshots of incoming freshmen, it’s grown to include everyone you’d like to get to know better, including that dreamy quarterback who helped trounce your college’s team last month.

As its name implies, friendster.com excels at helping people find friends. One of the first and best-known social networking sites, Friendster is committed to providing easy ways for people to get to know each other; one of its most compelling features is its take on the “six degrees of separation” meme. By adding friends to your circle, you can see who their friends are, and the connections continue. Relationships are Friendster’s bread and butter. There are many ways to keep track of new friends and potential paramours, including links to dating sites and advice columns.

Jambo.net has the power of Wi-Fi behind it. Its particular strength lies in its promise to use wireless hotspots to alert the user that someone with similar interests is nearby, within hotspot range. For instance: a user belonging to the University of California, San Francisco alumni group might be having a latte at a Starbuck’s (which offers wireless internet). Jambo will tell the user that another UCSF alumnus is nearby. A quick instant message, and the two can start happily chatting face-to-face without all that tedious getting to know each other.

In the realm of social networking sites, myspace.com appears to be the hands-down most popular, with a user base of some 64 million people. Surely, one of the draws for users must be the customizability of the user’s home page. There are many websites whose only function is to provide html layouts, graphics, and assorted features for use in myspace pages. A user may also choose to show photos, stream music, and even display video. MySpace has become the indie rocker’s choice for developing their growing fanbase. It’s easy to post your new single and tour dates right there on your page. All this usability aside, why is it the winner? Even people who don’t have an account there know what it is – now that’s networking.