The Old College Try: Who Will Give Students Their Facebook Back?
Mark Hendrickson
62 comments »
While Alice Mathias may have overplayed the frivolous uses of Facebook for college students in her article called The Fakebook Generation published in the Grey Lady a few weeks ago, she was certainly correct in saying that Facebook lost a certain je ne sais quoi for students when it opened up to the real world last fall.
So instead of trying to take this $15 billion animal head on, as one $222 billion beast is attempting to do, startups might be wise to try capturing the niche that Facebook has intentionally left behind. Of course, there are a handful of reasons to think there will never be another social network that catches on so quickly and so thoroughly with college students. Namely, Facebook itself, which still holds the attention of the vast majority of college students. Personally, I think any company that tries to create a social network for college students faces a very steep uphill battle. But you can’t blame them for trying.
Let’s say you did want to capitalize on students’ (growing?) discontent with the “mature” Facebook; what strategy would you follow? You’d probably want to take a few pages out of Facebook’s own, er, book by restricting membership to users with .edu email addresses, gradually opening up to elite schools, and keeping things stupidly simple. But you’d also have to provide something particularly unique, useful, or entertaining that tempts mainstream Facebook users to jump ship.
We’ve taken a look at the websites out there claiming that they are the next “it” social network for college students. And we’ve got to say: overall, we’re not terribly impressed. Only one stands out - a website called College Tonight - and this because of its novel attempt to bring social networking back into the real world. College Tonight is well-designed and has some features you won’t find in other social networks, such as an area for lost and found items at your school and a place to “drunk dial” with messages you can take back in the morning (if you’re up and out of bed in time). The company behind this site, which launches Monday, also has a set of undisclosed features in the works that tempt us into believing that they might actually appeal enough to college students to survive. We’ll have to write more about them later once we’re more informed.
The other decent site among the bunch is Carmun, a site that encourages students to help each other study. Students post questions they have about essays and tests the are studying for, and others hypothetically help them find the answers and information they need. While the site is attractive enough, I don’t see many students helping other students with the homework no one wants to do.
The rest of them are either really badly designed, ghost towns, gimmicks, or abandoned by their owners (plus, most don’t require .edu addresses to register so what’s the point?). Let’s take a look:
ConnectU - This site was created by the very same Harvard students currently in court with Facebook over whether or not Mark Zuckerberg stole their code. It’s poorly designed, not very functional, and doesn’t look like it’s been updated significantly for a long time.
CollegeHotList - An NYU project that has not yet launched…and probably will never launch (I’ve seen talk on the internet about it that dates back to early 2006).
PlayboyU - A social network built on Ning but branded by Playboy that has only 5,000-some members after launching on August 22. The whole thing feels like a gimmick, and many of the profiles appear to be fake (there’s no way that many attractive people signed up on their own). There’s very little value added by its association with Playboy.
CampusMatch - A romantically-themed college social network that dates back quite a few years and is almost certainly abandoned. It’s too bad too, because a college network with a focus on love/hooking up has a lot of potential.
CampusGrind - This one has a cluttered design and serves more as an information center for teens, with its advice columns, than a true social network.
CampusBug - A site overwhelmed by its sponsorships and overloaded with educational tools like a bibliography creator and flashcards.
CampusCentral - It’s not a good sign when the copyright at the bottom of your pages says 2005. This one’s a ghost town, and tailored to Canadian students, too.
CrushTV - This one’s filled mostly with video and photographic content provided by the site itself. While having videos of babes in bikinis will draw some eyeballs, don’t expect many college students to stay too long.
LifeAtCollege - Awful, awful design.
College.com - Packed with too many extraneous features like sections for news, academics, and greek life. Plus, who wants to rate their professors in their social network?
Uspot - Launched in early 2006…now says “We’ll be back shortly…” on homepage. Not good.
So there you have it. Now who’s going to step up to the plate and give college students an attractive alternative to Facebook? As you can see, you won’t have much competition aside from maybe College Tonight. So get on it, my collegiate friends.
facebook search is down!
I think as facebook becomes more and more annoying for all the college users there actually will be a very slim hope for a new startup.
Especially as news leaks that facebooks wants to store all our information and sell it out to other sites we visit to ‘target’ advertising.
Whoever does it will need to figure out a way to allow us to take our facebook profile with us, to essentially copy and paste so we don’t have to set everything up again.
If someone can figure it out, facebook better go ipo before they do, because I still think college usage drives their page views and drives advertisers to being interested, there are plenty of wise to reach 30 something tech guys (does techcrunch show ads now?) but not a lot of ways to directly target college kids online.
“It’s too bad too, because a college network with a focus on love/hooking up has a lot of potential…”
–> there’s a site called JackSawJane.com that does exactly that. I think they launched it directly on campuses (I saw them at my school). I think it’s picking up steam because its based on a “real world” hook, PLUS its private.
“overwhelmed by its sponsorships”
“This one has a cluttered design”
“Awful, awful design.”
I dont think TC is in a position to rip on a site’s design.
4 - faceloop: Fair enough, but we’re working on it and I assume no responsibility for the current design =)
I was just poking fun -=)
CampusCentral looks like a decent competitor if brought to today’s standards.
Let’s not forget about collegedrinker.com
I doubt if there is anymore room for a facebook heir , because the more the merrier . What is the disadvantage of being in an open network like facebook . Even if students were to join another college network they wont leave all there friends in Facebook behind just because they are not students . Whats the point of being in multiple networks if you can just be in one .
Little plug for CafeScribe.com… we too are taking a run for the university market, but seem to have been overlooked. Perhaps it is because we sell e-Textbooks (for 1/2 off) and have a different business model than everyone else.
I don’t get it. Don’t these colleges have computer science departments?
Why don’t the nerds there just use some open source software such as mugshot and create their own network for the school like Zuckerberg did, except make it opt in, and not hack the house manifest?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Zuckerberg
Is Mark unique in that he’s the only person at any given American U that can actually implement existing social networking software?
Did college kids get exponentially dumber since he left?
I am still a CS student myself trying to get my Bachelor’s at my age, and I can’t imagine the lazyness of some of these kids? If I was at their CS department, I would literally just set up some FOSS software for the school and make it opt in.
Rate your professors is such a great tool. I used it on NDToday.com every time I chose my classes.
It’s an interesting thought. It’s also a little strange that nobody has tried to do this already.
It might be an interesting opportunity for a brand that already has trust among college kids, such as Digg.
College kids still like Facebook.
It says a lot that the owners of a “poorly designed, not very functional site” are in court over a well designed and popular site!
In Britain everyone uses Bebo.com at school and they don’t grow out of it at college.
FaceBook is going to get even more “features” in the next few months as is becomes part of the cloud!
http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
“part of the cloud!”
The cloud is the internet, not live. Even the real Steve Ballmer knows that and he has the IQ of a grapefruit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing
The more you know * * *
I’m not a college student, been out for a few years, but the entire idea seems somewhat lame now. I think Facebook was a once and done deal. It needs to build better walls that allow you to define more relationships and circles of friends/acquaintances, but once it does so it will be able to offer services to different sectors (e.g., college vs. parents) without a separate network.
The number one reason anyone attempting to create a facebook replacement for college student may not succeed is that facebook’s privacy settings has never allowed students to be affected by it going mainstream. Most students still maintain the same circle of friends, usually at schools. Facebook isn’t myspace people, the only thing I’ve heard student’s complain lately about facebook is that the applications slows down their page. That I know they’ll eventually get used to with time.
From a business standpoint, what’s the point? An “.edu only” network means every user is leaving in 4-6 years. Why would anyone invest money in a startup whose users are guaranteed to leave?
If they were smart, a company like LinkedIn would create a separate/walled .edu network with a college feel … then provide a migration path into the regular network after graduation.
I think Open Social and all this crap is super interesting. Remember when people were doing addons and stuff for MS-PCDOS back in the late 80s and early 90s?
Then windows came out and demolished everything.
I don’t think Social networking is the windows of the cloud. It’s far too lame and programmatically sucky(messageboard + memberlist + event calendar + groups). I am not working on the windows/mac of the cloud, but I bet somebody is, and it’s not a sh*tty javascript windowing system or flash based.
Social networking is not that far off from what we saw with UBB and EZBoard back in the mid 90s. It’s just remarketed with some flash media server and SMS salted in. There is no quantum leap there. It’s lame, and people are going to realize it one fine day. I can’t say I’m doing something much better though with our project.
facebook will still roll people…what 50 million people think cant be compared to what a few hundred people are saying on TC here! As i am seeing them they are going to be rolling out with cool new features in the future that will still keep them rolling in the game!
I don’t think anyone will really bother signing up for a new social network, even if this social network will focus exclusively on colleges.
I doubt students will “drop” their facebook account and their friends to join a college network with less users.
The value in facebook is the network effect of the millions users.
http://www.octabox.com
@23 Adam, I agree with you 100% no one will leave their account for another college network rather they can just keep the two accounts or something. Facebook is really kicking some ass but most people dont realise it yet!
The only one of these that is legit is College.com. I think the rate professors feature is great for college students, its not like the professors have access to the site or anything. You can also share notes, flashcards, and schedule wake up calls. Not to mention they are armed with a 7 figure domain… there are obviously some big name determined people behind it.
Anyone competing in the Social Site realm will have an up hill challenge. I agree that Facebook lost it’s college attractiveness when they became open. And why did they remove the default “Courses” app from our profiles. It was so easy to find people in my classes and now I can’t because nobody uses it anymore.
http://www.blakebrannon.com/20.....ts-glamor/
Time for you folks at TechCrunch to just start a blog dedicated to Facebook already, or perhaps to “purely” social networking-related themes such as Facebook vs. OpenSocial . This is gettin’ kinda excessive…Congrats on good coverage though.
Facebook will give facebook back to the college students. Once they allow grouping… (essentially setting who can see what) the ruffled feathers of the facebook college set will be be smoothed…
Let the kegger and beer bong pictures fly.
Rodney Rumford
Ya I checked out College Tonight and College.com… Pretty similar. College sees to have an emphasis on academic features like course groups. I don’t know if any of these sites will ever be a substitute for facebook. One would hope at best to make their platform a necessity for college students. I think focusing on academics is the way to go…
CollegeWikis has double the traffic of many of the sites on this list, and is still in beta. (We launched in April, and have kept the launch only to a small set of schools).
You can visit the site at: http://www.collegewikis.com .
We’ve combined the wiki format + “answers” + e-mail groups + students’ affinity for their schools. We have thousands of topics on any and every subject and, in manys chools, >10% penetration of students and doubling unique visitors every 6 weeks.
The guys over at http://www.prepny.com have been building private socnets for prep schools recently. These nets would never be opened to the public. I think you’re right that facebook lost a little something when it opened up, but it may have gained a whole lot more…who knows?
I designed college tonight.. check out my other work if you have a second http://www.jess3.com
Ya forgot the new one…BuddyUniversity.com.
Check it out.
The value proposition of social networks for college students outside of Facebook is null. However, once a student becomes an alumnus, the necessity of online networking, but in a more professional context becomes appealing.
In particular, schools that can offer exclusive social social networks as a post-graduation value add can build significant repositories of knowledge and connections. Think aSmallWorld, but for your school. The more exclusive the school, the more valuable the network. Alumni are an asset; currently an underappreciated one at that.
http://www.leveragingideas.com
Can I just say I made it over 3 1/2 years without joining facebook? That’s right, Hendrickson. 3 and one half years.
FB used College segment as a niche..when technology was limited to a extent to more of a college crowd…today the internet has opened up a lot and even the grannies have their own social network…
facebook created the market….the market has expanded…. and now there is place for even small niche players.
http://www.meetingflex.com
Social Networking + Video
Perhaps, as I realized recently, a service like Lyyra might have growing interest for students - whereas Facebook is, probably, merely a way of having fun on the Internet, Lyyra will have a positive impact on students.
http://digg.com/tech_news/Face.....every_hour
competition - ain’t it a bitch
Wow … I did not realized that it was such a crowded space. But … what is the value proposition? what’s so intrinsically different from one to the other?
FreezeCrowd.com is coming soon!
@34 - Agree with your comments. Have you heard of Affinity Circles, which offers a white label platform for college alumni to connect in an environment sanctioned by the university? Verified membership credentials create a trusted environment well suited for professional networking. The company currently serves over 125 academic and professional associations.
What made FB take off was that it was something new that came at the right time. It didn’t spread through traditional advertising, but word of mouth, which is in fact the most powerful way to advertise. Its silly for a new company to try and mimic what someone has done in the past. Most students won’t make the switch to a new site unless it offers something new. When facebook first came out the concept of social networking was new, and partially what made facebook so great. Instead of these startups just copying what someone else has done, they should begin looking to the future, and what new trends may develop.
Great article, and well thought out. I completely agree. My business partner and I had the same idea about two years ago, regarding the direction and utility of Facebook. We liked it, it just didn’t meet our needs as a management tool or app for the stuff that really goes on in college. Great for social stuff, not for growing a college club, frat, or organization.
So we came up with:
http://www.jumpswap.com
Hopefully one day we too will be mentioned up there with Facebook and the other platforms mentioned.
nah, plz stop with more social site now. We had enough with facebook. Social sites are getting reall nasty now.
Angelina Mina
http://www.happy-funtime.blogspot.com
There will be another “it” social network for college kids. You can take that to the bank. How do we know? Because once any trend goes mainstream the trendsetters will leave, launching a new trend. Same as always. See Malcomb Gladwell’s books for a more complete explanation. Cheers, chrisco
College.com’s domain is probably worth 3 mill and it surely receives a ton of natural traffic everyday. They also own the typo Faceboook.com (how I found them) which probably brings them tens of thousands of fat fingered facebookers everyday. Hudddge advantage…lets see what they can do.
@ #46: Isn’t there some precedent that Facebook could get the typo domain name awarded to them in a dispute? Seems like it to me (and I do follow trademark and domain name subjects).
Totally agree with the assessment of ConnectU–apparently they also have basic security vulnerabilities that made me decide never to even try them: http://socialscienceplusplus.b.....ility.html.
@Chrisco: Doubtful. My favorite typo is http://www.goog.com
You’d think if anyone was going to get a misspelled domain, google’d be able to do it.
I was in College when Facebook started and became popular. No one cares about joining anything new. The reason Facebook is succesful is because 99% of the original people on facebook are people who wouldn’t normally be part of another social network. This demographic that i’m talking about were on Facebok before they created an account on Myspace (if they even did). No one cares about being part of an exclusive College social network, especially when you alreadyhave all of your friends established, profile finshed, etc. I am one of those nontypical social networkers and I don’t plan on leaving. Im succesful in the space and I’m not even on stupid LinkdIn or however you spell that lame site.
What ever happened to Google making the Social Network that mashed your profiles together from the ones you were a member at? If I had a place where I could have all my friends from Facebook, Myspace, LinkdIn(if i was a member), and I could sign itno all of them via one username/password to see all my activity and leave comments wherever?
Playboy U does not have fake profiles, the “attractive” members mentioned really did join on their own. I work on the site and we verify each edu email. Also the comment about not getting value from the Playboy brand probably refers to us not having nudity. That’s right. We don’t want an adult friend finder or coeds gone wild site, this is about the lifestyle of Playboy and how it intersects with college social scenes.
Interesting post here on the history of facebook from a students perspective including the ultimate betrayal.
http://senithomas.wordpress.co.....eal-world/
Does anyone realize that this is the first social networking company with a public stock (Ticker: SMXT). Once this website tour gets big, look for the stock price to follow. Web 2.0, I might not have come up with the ideas but I can still reep the monetary benefits that come with it.
collegetonight looks cool… interested to see where it goes. i wonder when they are launching everywhere???
You’re missing http://www.digication.com. It’s more substantial as it’s based on student work using e-Portfolios. From their website, over 1000 schools are already using it!
Facebook is a specialized site. They used to target only college students by requiring an edu email address… 18 to 24 year olds (this crowd may be very valuable to some advertisers out there willing to pay the big bucks to advertise on the platform.) Facebook chose to merely expand into seemingly unchartered territory. The assumption being they will attract users who have a social appetite in the least. Nevertheless, their early ad products targeted users who were only in college. Now, their ad products can do the same, and also target users who aren’t necessarily in college. So, it seems to me, their decision to open the site to non-college students may not negatively affect their current ad products, but can perhaps enhance them by provided their ad clients with the ability to advertise to a larger number of users.
As for the competitors, good for them. Healthy competition is good competition. Though, the more specialized your product is, the better. Today, we have so many social networks that target college students.
Build a product that you can convince is better than what people already have. If they don’t already have it, you’re in luck.
http://www.jumpswap.com
(not a social network)
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