Last year, when Facebook opened its cyber doors to the general public, many of its collegiate members became anxious that their profiles would be seen by parents or even future employers. But two people decided to do something about it.
In October 2006, just weeks after Facebook changed its membership policy, Jon Davidman and Jason Levine began developing a competing social networking site, exclusively open to college students. An early version of the site was launched in September and a customized site for Brown is expected to launch by the end of the month.
Though Levine and Davidman face a difficult uphill battle against the better-known and better-financed Facebook, they start with one major asset: their catchy domain name. College.com, which Levine obtained in 2004, emphasizes the site's identity. Members must hold a ".edu" e-mail address to join.
Sam Marks, one of College.com's first employees, said he sees an opening in the market for a site open only to college students. Facebook is "trying to be everything to everyone," Marks said. "As (Facebook) gets bigger, they're getting farther away from their core users, which used to be college students."
Marks said College.com is "doing things completely differently" from Facebook. Each school's site will be customized with school colors - brown and red for Brown's site - and include local weather and event calendars. A full listing of courses and professors will be uploaded to the site, making student reviews and show members' course choices available.
College.com's academic component will be another deviation from Facebook's traditional interface. Students will be able to create flashcards and upload notes to share with classmates. Professors will be able to post announcements and notes to their students, though they will not have access to profiles, Marks said.
Students can also use College.com to share photos, write messages and make announcements.
Many students said they felt more comfortable when Facebook was limited to the collegiate community, but they don't think that it will be replaced as the social networking site of choice any time soon.
"Facebook was part of the college bubble where there was a lack of consequences," said Dan Rabb '08, but with the public having access to the site, "that sense of security is lost." Still, Rabb said he thinks that"in the immediate future, Facebook is pretty much locked in."
Emme LeBlanc '10 agreed. "I think that people are so invested in Facebook at this point that they won't switch over," she said.
Mariah Erlick '11 said she originally joined Facebook because "it was closed and it felt more secure than MySpace." Now that it has opened to the public, "it's become a little bit sketchier," she said.
But that alone isn't enough to lure her to College.com, she said - the "general determinant" isn't "what's better, it's where your friends are," she said.
As of Tuesday, 33 Brown students have joined College.com, but many of them say they have never used it.
Marks said the staff of College.com is young and energetic. "We have people that are used to the college lifestyle and still have college in their minds," he said.
College.com has been most successful so far at Florida State University, where over 3,000 students have joined the site, Marks said. College.com threw a party for its members at FSU once its membership exceeded 1,000.
Marks said if Brown's membership exceeds 1,000, College.com will throw students a party like the one at FSU - which, Marks noted, was the best party he's ever been to.
Representatives from Facebook declined to comment for this
article.
