The phenomenal growth of social- networking site Facebook is most dramatic on college campuses, where students are 'graduating' from Bebo in droves, writes Louise Holden
Social networking websites have revolutionised friendship and schoolgoers the country over use Bebo to gossip, let off steam and avoid study. When Irish students graduate from school to university, they graduate from Bebo to Facebook. They slough off the gaudy skins and teenage gimmickry of Bebo in favour of Facebook's political allegiances and book reviews.
Irish university students love Facebook. Since they went back to college in October, the numbers accessing the international social networking site from Ireland have erupted. Over the course of researching this article, the number of members on the UCD network alone jumped from 4,996 to 5,085 - that's nearly 100 new members in three days. In the Trinity College network, there were 7,979 members at last count. That's more than half the entire student population - although alumni probably account for a significant number of members. Right throughout the university sector, Facebook is thriving.
Figures released by Facebook in October put Irish membership of the website at 130,000. More than 117,000 of those are aged between 18 and 35. There are nearly 50 million Facebook users worldwide.
The website was established by Harvard university student Mark Zuckerberg for US college students, before expanding membership to non-students around the world. It is still behind Bebo and MySpace in Ireland but it's growing breathtakingly fast, mostly in the universities.
At the beginning of 2007, the site had only 7,000 users in Ireland. In the institutes of technology, however, Facebook has, thus far, failed to take off.
"Facebook was introduced to the Irish university sector by overseas students, especially from the US," says auditor of the UCC internet society Keith O'Brien. "I presume that the reason the IoTs haven't started to use it is because they have lower numbers of overseas students."
O'Brien uses both Bebo and Facebook and he says that the latter attracts a more mature social networker. "Bebo is still very popular - it still puts a great drain on computer resources at UCC at peak times - but it appeals to a different kind of user. It's flashy and offers you the chance to express yourself through visuals. It's teen-centred. You don't find under-18s on Facebook."
Facebook's registration process highlights the difference in tone - for instance, you are quickly prompted to declare your position on religion, should you choose. Once done, you can reserve access to your page for other atheists or Jedis or Scientologists, if you're that way inclined.
Likewise, if you only want to consort with libertarians, you can block conservatives from enjoying your film reviews and writing slogans on your "wall". Where Bebo allows people in school uniforms to express themselves with animated backgrounds, Facebook's approach is functional, austere and all about the content.
One of the most attractive aspects of Facebook is its relative exclusivity. Members join networks, and only those in their networks are allowed to visit their page. A network can be anything from the whole world to the university to a particular class or circle of friends. You can even tailor your network to reflect your proclivities - only politically moderate Roman Catholics looking for a girlfriend need apply, for instance. You can also block certain types of user from accessing your page - university staff for example.
So what's it for? It's not an overstatement to say that websites such as Facebook have completely changed the way people relate to each other. A bit of news on a Facebook page travels the length of the grapevine instantaneously. You can split up from your boyfriend at lunchtime and before you've finished your latte other interested males will know and start poking.
"Poking" is the Facebook version of waving at you across the lecture theatre - it lets you know that someone has been to your site and is thinking about you. They may even choose to put a bit of graffiti on your "wall" to let you know they're circling; a quick visit to their page will give you a photo, a relationship update, a potted history and a chance for a totally one-sided desktop date.
Shopping for relationships has never been easier. The drawback, according to Bethany Adams of UCD, who uses the site every day, is "randoms hitting on you". Between friends, Facebook is a quick way to keep everyone in the loop, and it can enrich friendships and spark real-time conversations.
In the old days, students would carry something by Dostoevsky, Scott Fitzgerald or Lessing under their arm to let other students know how fiercely intelligent, brooding, romantic or militant they were. Now thanks to Facebook, you can wear all of your favourite books on your sleeve, as well as your top movies, musicians, quotations or whatever else it takes to get your point across.
Gathering friends is easy, as user Derek Doyle has discovered. "I have about 250 friends within the university and across the world," says Doyle, who is a keen debater and uses the site to communicate with debating societies and individuals in international universities.
"Before Facebook I would only meet other debaters at events, and if I wanted to organise something I would have to get a message through to the relevant society and hope that they passed it on. Now I can stay in touch with every debater I've ever met."
Doyle says that Facebook and other social networking sites "make time and space irrelevant". "Now friendships are based on interest rather than geography. I can play Scrabble on Facebook with a friend in Helsinki who has the same interests as I have."
