Question: Is there a social network site for graduate students? I've found plenty of blogs, and am starting to see that blogs are a better place than regular 'ol homepages for sharing ideas/materials, but I haven't seen any social networks specifically for graduate students.

I have a secret Loathing for MySpace...and it's Flashing moving web-java-applet crap. It's manipulatability has made it a miserable combination of lowest common denomiator navigability, and aesthetic.

But then I became a LJ junkie...
:-)

To quote an 18 year old online acquaintance of mine from her email to me a couple of days ago: everyone has myspace right? Or at least it seems so among the younger demographics... I agree with the perception that MySpace grew organically 'below the radar' while Friendster was so hyped it created a backlash of sorts. But what really killed Friendster was how stagnated and sterile it was for so long, without improvements or extensions. If they had upgraded the service with additional fuctionality and features at regular intervals, it might have retained its popularity. (As for me personally, I've found myself checking on my growing MySpace almost daily but have all but abandoned my anemic Friendster account.)

In addition, a MySpace is a good 'online presence' substitute for those who don't have the inclination to create or maintain personal domains and/or weblogs, in a way that Friendster or the usual free homepage services never have been able to be. My friend quoted above used to have her own subdomain with a weblog, but she no longer has the time (with all she has happening offline) and is basically moving to a MySpace just to stay 'connected' to people or post occasional updates about her life without the responsibility & work of a weblog.

testing comments....

Joley--
Academics_anon, applyingtograd, and a few other communities on livejournal are good places for grad student networking, especially if you already have an active LJ. However, I agree that we should have something with features specifically designed to drive academic networking.

maybe its the names. i mean, friendster sounds kind of needy doesn't it. something for people that don't have friends. myspace on the other hand, is a club of one, and you're in control of who comes in.

I prefer Friendster mostly because I've found about 10 times as many of my friends on it as I have on MySpace.

And yet MySpace seems so promiscuous to me. All of my Friendsters are people I met in the real world before making them my Friendsters. Although if I met someone on Friendster and made friends online I would then add this person to my Friendster list.

It seems most "friends" on MySpace are people who have never met in the real world (that's fine) and actually never even met online (wtf?) Just read the comment galleries on the pages of really "popular" people. They have hundreds of comments saying nothing more than "Thanks for the add" and sometimes brief personal introductions. MySpace connections often seem so loose to me as to be meaningless.

(The second part of the "Thanks for the add" routine that irks me is that that's basically a personal message from one person to another. Why is it posted in the comment gallery?)

MySpace is its own world and I'm not going to try to impose how I think it should be used on all the people who use it, but it sure gives me a headache sometimes.

The best part of Myspace is the music services -- I can listen to what all my friends are making. (And quite possibly it's the music service that's made Myspace look cool.)

I looked over your blog and didnt hear a mention of this networking site, which is my personal favorite:

http://www.multiply.com

http://pyvozaichuk.multiply.com

the second link is a link to my personal page. i don't update all that often, but i do have a variety of the different available ways to post on my page, so you can check those out.

Anyone know a site that goes by the acronym RL?

Yeah, I always thought myspace was cool, but never really knew the history of Friendster. Glad to know the background now :)

how to make your own background???

how do you log on myspace at school

Now that myspace is here friendster is not mentioned much i wonder who will be next.

hi im issabel i know how you to make your backgrounds beutiful just visit the site of "tweakyourpage.com"then what you wanted are here backgrounds,layouts,pictures and any you want so try it now!