Many students greeted the College's entrance into the realm of thefacebook.com with glee in early August. For first-years it was their first public venue to "come out" as newly-anointed Amherst students while it gave upperclassmen a new way to communicate with friends over the summer. Four months later, thefacebook is thriving at the College and at schools all over the nation, mainly as tools for one thing alone: procrastination.

Thefacebook.com does have ostensible purposes, however. It is a social networking site that allows students from colleges and universities to post their pictures, share political views, announce their relationship status and list favorite movies, books and quotes. Thefacebook is like an online yearbook with not only pictures of classmates at your own school but access to students from schools all over the country. It allows students to meet and reconnect with people who are also members of the thefacebook at other schools.

The Web site also allows students to find others with similar tastes in movies and books. A student hoping to find someone with the a similar interest, for example Harry Potter, can click a Harry Potter link that will direct him to a list of other students from all over the nation who also say that the book is their favorite. Currently 1,000 college students say that Harry Potter is their favorite book.

Students can often be found checking thefacebook.com to see if they made any new friends, if there are new messages, or if they have been 'poked' by someone. For many students, thefacebook.com is a haven for procrastination, allowing students to spend minutes reading other students' profiles or updating their own. Sarah Craver '08 said that thefacebook is addicting in that it causes students to check the Web site many times throughout the day.

"I go at least once [a day]," said Craver. "Usually twice or more."

Margaret Davis '06 remains loyal to the site, averaging about an hour per week perusing her friends list. "It keeps me connected with a lot of my high school friends," she said. "It's fun to check my friends' profiles. It's also a good procrastination tool."

Mark Zuckerberg, currently on leave from Harvard University, is the creator of thefacebook, which is now a network of 298 colleges that connects over one million students.

Zuckerberg's Web site initially faced concern about potential safety issues. The major concern was that people could use thefacebook to obtain the contact information found on profiles, including a student's dorm room, mailbox number, phone number and e-mail address, which could threaten the security of students. "It's surprising, but we have actually received far less complaints about stalking than we otherwise would have expected," he said in Current Magazine.

However, in addition to all the fun components of the Web site, there is a confusing side to thefacebook according to Zuckerberg. Thefacebook fails to clearly define "friend" since some students befriend more than 200 people. "To a certain extent, the Web site is unfortunate because it oversimplifies things," Zuckerberg said in Current. "It can definitely blur the relationships that exist between people."

Amherst student Xiaole Chen '08 echoed Zuckerberg's comments. "Thefacebook doesn't differentiate between real friends and people who are just on thefacebook," he said.

President Anthony Marx agreed with the community-building aspect of thefacebook, but was wary of the potential division it could create at the College. "The Web is a very powerful tool for building community ... that can be a very positive thing," he said. "But, if instead, the power of this sorting machine ... allows us to indulge further in reflecting on a narrow basis who we want to join in community, then it will ... [run] counter to one of the basic principles and investments of this College, which is to create a diversity of all sorts here so that the students will meet and interact with each other and learn from each other."

However, Zuckerberg added that thefacebook also strengthens the connection between those who are acquaintances. "We think we have been particularly successful in strengthening those relationships that exist between people who are only 'fringe friends,'" he said in Current.

Craver shared the belief that although thefacebook does not strengthen friendships, it allows students to become friends with others they would like to know.

"I don't necessarily think that it strengthens relationships between friends, but I think thefacebook allows people to make friends with less pressure," she said. Craver added that after becoming friends through thefacebook, students could later talk in person and get to know one another.

Currently, 662 female and 669 male students at the College are members of thefacebook. There are 323 groups to which students belong, ranging from longtime on-campus organizations like the Bluestockings to groups that exist solely in cyberspace such as the Amherst Superheros.

Rachel Holt '05, a member of the tennis group, said that thefacebook group is just for fun. "There's really very little point to the group," she said. "It's just our team members. We have little messages sometimes, and we give each other nicknames."

John Timothy '07 joined a group after seeing that a friend at another school belonged to a similar group. "I was looking at my friend's profile who goes to Tulane and noticed their anti-popped collar chapter, and I thought Amherst deserved some good anti-popped collar representation," he said. "There really isn't very much practical use for the group. There's a message board for people to rant."

Connor Clancy '08, a member of the Derek Zoolander Center for Kids Who Can't Read Good group, said he thinks that there might be social events revolving around the group. "I haven't used the club yet, but I plan to, if we want to get together and watch the movie Zoolander or just talk about it," he said.

Timnet Geder '08 and Ashley Finigan '08 founded the I Went to Public School ... beyatch! group, which currently has 230 members. "Ashley and I kept meeting people from boarding school or private school, and we were proud for coming to Amherst from public school," said Gedar. "I'm also finding people that I knew already and finding out that they also went to public school."

By contrast, some Amherst upperclassmen reported having lost interest in thefacebook. "I don't really use it that much anymore, to be honest," said Janicelynn Asamoto '06. "I was a lot more into it in the beginning, but now it just doesn't really matter so much."

Kirsten Carleton '06 echoed Asamoto's statement. "I'm not that into it," she said. "I just respond to the people who send me friend invitations, but I'm not as into it as a lot of people."