Stop by the online hangout

By Jane Muhlstein

How many friends do you have? It sounds like an odd, personal question, but I know for a fact that a good number of you know exactly what I am talking about.

For those of you who have never experienced the elation of opening your e-mail to find friend requests or found yourself gazing with satisfaction at your list of friends as it grows ever-longer, consider this an introduction to the online social scene.

The rapid proliferation of The Facebook.com across campus since Santa Clara joined last year has stolen many an hour from time that would obviously have been otherwise dedicated to our tireless pursuit of academic mastery. As of this week, approximately 2,179 undergraduate students had become slaves to The Facebook.

The Web site, which was started about a year ago by a group of undergrads at Harvard, allows students to post profiles with pictures, connecting with others at their school and, on a more limited basis, students at other schools. It is similar to sites like Friendster and Myspace, but oh so much better. Of course, at least half of you already know that.

I was drawn in by a friend from high school who goes to Boston College. They got The Facebook last year, and she immediately began forcing me to sign on under her screen name to check out pictures of guys for my opinion.

Whether it's adding your lab partner from your bio class or finding a guy you had a crush on in high school, building up a large database of friends has become quite the obsession on campus. Several people I spoke to about The Facebook agreed that the infatuation definitely has phases.

First comes the honeymoon period. You join to figure out what all the fuss is about. You look around and add a few people you know. They confirm your friendship. Then you get the e-mails that actually request your friendship. You begin to crave the validation and log on at least once a day.

The euphoria fades (except, I suspect, for the devotees who boast over 300 friends) and you begin to neglect your online friends altogether. But as soon as you get another e-mail asking you to be someone's friend, you get sucked back in. From here on out, you experience ebbs and flows in two-week intervals.

Just don't neglect real relationships for the virtual campus of The Facebook. But while you are on, remember to look me up.

* Contact Jane Muhlstein at (408) 554-4546 or jmuhlstein@scu.edu.