On May 5 the latest fad to engulf college campuses across the nation finally hit Nicholls. It does not involve stuffing a large number of co-eds in a small space and has nothing to do with parading around in your birthday suit. It is called Facebook, and if you are not already a part of it, you are soon to be left out in the cold.Facebook is an online directory that connects people through social networks at colleges and universities. It was launched Feb. 4, 2004, by then-sophomore and computer major at Harvard, Mark Zuckerberg, to establish an online directory for his resident school.

Over the past year and a half, it has grown to include more than 800 schools with a total of 2.8 million users.

Facebook is similar to other online directories such as friendster and myspace, but it differs in the fact that it is one of the first social networking sites to base its cyber community on a physical one.

Students can use Facebook’s directories to browse through pictures of fellow students or get information on upcoming class projects. It is also a means of learning the interests of that cute redhead that sits next to you in calculus so you can finally spark up that crucial first conversation.

“It looked like a cool way to meet and interact with people who have similar interests,” Gareth Henry, freshman from Houma, said. “Facebook has been very helpful to me in keeping contact with high school friends that moved to other schools.”

Interested students only need a valid school E-mail address and visit http://www.facebook.com to join. This is so Facebook can authenticate an applicant’s affiliation with the school.

Schools do not provide any information to Facebook. All information is provided by users on a voluntary basis. Users can adjust privacy settings to only allow people within certain divisions of certain schools to see. Users can also allow only people with similar interests to see their information.

“From what I am hearing from the students, it is a great way to connect with people you would not meet normally,” Judy Daniels, dean of student life, said. “I would encourage students to use it but to be cautious. Some other universities have had situations with threats and stalking, especially women.”

Members can create a profile on their own homepage and view the homepages of other members. They can send messages directly to friends or write on what is called their wall. Users each have their own walls, which are open forums that can be edited by anyone.

“I like using it because I get to keep in touch with my friends and find new friends with similar interests,” Emily Lindberg, nursing junior from Metairie, said. “It is also interesting to see who is in the different groups.”

Users can create and join groups on Facebook to meet other members with similar interests. Groups at Nicholls range from 0h Yes, I Own a Pair of New Balance’s Profile to Beer…. Mmmmmm. Groups can also have groupies. A groupie is not a member of the group but someone who is friends with many of the members. Nicholls has about 550 groups, and new ones are added nearly everyday.

Another feature that is unique to Facebook is poking. Users can choose to poke a friend. The poke will appear as a message on the pokee’s homepage. Facebook creators say they had no idea what it would be used for, but they thought it would be fun to make a feature that has no specific purpose. They urge users to “mess around with it.”

New schools are added to Facebook based on the number of requests received from students. Operators need to build custom sites for individual schools before allowing students to register. Students interested in getting their respective school added to Facebook network can fill out a request form on the Web site. Facebook received about 200 requests from Nicholls students in the months prior to adding it.

“Students at Nicholls and other schools suggested Nicholls to become a Facebook member,” Chancy Jackson, history senior from Houma and one of the first members of Facebook, said. “To be added quicker students at Nicholls and other schools sent information regarding the school to be added such as residences, departments, majors etc.