The Facebook and MySpace bug has bitten thousands of people everywhere, including several University of Memphis students. The two Internet Web sites, which connect people with universities and friends, are quickly turning into an epidemic.
The Facebook, an online network that connects students to different colleges, was launched Feb. 4, 2004.
By joining the Facebook, a person affiliates himself with a specific branch of the site, which consists of other people who attend their same university, according to the Facebook Web site.
To register for an account, students must provide a valid college e-mail address, proving they are enrolled in school. However, students are not limited to communicating with people from their university. Members can browse student profiles from each Facebook school.
MySpace, another popular Internet Web site, enables people to meet friends of their friends. By signing up and creating a profile, members can invite people to join their network and view other people's profiles.
Once someone joins, they can upload pictures, send and receive mail and instant messages, and write blogs other people can see.
Junior business major Christy Arnold said she likes MySpace because she can interact with people of different ages and ethnic backgrounds.
Her friend, sophomore pre-nursing major Sarah Terry, uses the Facebook. Terry said she can find out where people she went to high school with are attending college.
"You can also become better friends with people you didn't know in high school," she said.
Antonio de Velasco, assistant professor of rhetoric, said the two Web sites are facilitating new types of communication and relationships people can have.
There are certain disadvantages and advantages to using these sites. Members of the sites can join groups and participate in conversations that cater to their interests.
Despite the great numbers of people who use the Facebook and MySpace, many people don't have the means to.
De Velasco said some of the disadvantages of the site are not everyone has Internet access and people lose a certain dimension of communication.
"It's not very democratic."
Nevertheless, one advantage is that people are able to explore themselves and their way of thinking that might otherwise be prohibited, he said.
On the Facebook, people can even post their phone numbers.
"I think it's [the Facebook] useful when you want to get homework. You can call people and ask them what's up," said Mohsin Siddiqui, a junior electrical engineering major.
Tenisha Walker, a sophomore management and information systems major, said she got addicted to the Facebook after a friend invited her to join.
"I have to check it [the Facebook] everyday, sometimes three or four times a day, morning, lunch and dinner," she said.
