NEWS The Michigan Daily - Monday, June 7, 2004 - 3 Green Machine Website offers forum for inter-college friendships By Anal Sankarwergmann For the Daily From their first days in college, freshman search to meet the people with whom they can create substantial friendships and bonds. Theface- book.com - a new site aimed at students, alumni and faculty - seeks to be a catalyst in creating friendships among the college crowd. The website contains a database of profiles, including a personal profile, pictures, classes and interests. Created in February by Har- vard sophomore Mark Zucker- berg, Thefacebook.com already "(The web has 34 participating colleges and bringMid over 100,000 members. Spokesman Chris Hughs said the the nation website plans on adding 100 more colleges in the next year. scene. TJh( "We did not know if people can make would join. We just wanted to build a website that had social like a smal networking. We did not know COmmuni to what extent they would; we just took a shot in the dark about what the website would look like, and we were close to right," Hughs said about initial concerns. Over 2,000 University affiliates are mem- hers of the wehsite. "(Thefacehook.com) helps bring Michigan into the rest of the national college scene, and the more you can make a large college like Michigan feel like a smaller, closer community, h e the better," said Pauline Lewis, a recent gradu- ate and member of Thefacebook.com. Despite positive reviews and a large user data- base, some students such as LSA sophomore Lisa Luthaner criticized the site. Luthaner said she feels people seem to spend too much time "adver- tising themselves for people," and added that she thinks people can take this type of online commu- nity "too seriously." The idea of a community is something that Hughs said he has thought about often. Although he acknowledges that communicating through the website "challenges face-to- face communication," he site) helps said it does not destroy it. Istead, Hughs argues that Uigf into" it helps to "foster inter- al college personal relations." He added that a program like more you Thefacebook.com helps to Michigan feel eliminate that uncomfort- able feeling of striking up ler, closer the first conversation with the better" " "someone. y, Although students are the primary users of the - Pauline Lewis site, some faculty and Alum alumni take part in it. Hughs said this is likely to change because many of the site's users are graduating seniors. Therefore, he said he expects alumni to become a significant presence on the site. He added that this factor could be beneficial to students looking to network with alumni from dif- ferent colleges in the country. Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje takes a look at a new Ford Escape Hybrid SUV on display at Arbor Green Fair on June 4. Ford calls the car the "world's cleanest, most fuel-efficient SI MADSTONE Continued from Page 1 SHOVINE Toursd < SPECIAL ENGAGEMENT DJSTIN DIAI4OND from SAWED BY THE BELL $10 at the door $9 in advance Friday.. & Saturday: $13 general admission $11 in advance Dustin keeps busy making T appearances and traveling, doing what he loves to do, stand-up comedy. His act is different from his "Screech" character on N. On stage his act is edgy, current, and hilarious. He's not the squeaky clean nerd from TV's "Saved By The Bell." He's Dustin Diamond, stand-up comedian. BUY YOUR TICKETS EARLY!