,”Move over Facebook, College.com is a new social networking Web site that hopes to join the phenomenon among college students.

The site launched nationally Sept. 25 and already boasts 15,000 users. College.com expects to officially launch in Wisconsin Nov. 15, said Whittney Laws, public relations manager for College.com.

"Since Facebook opened up its network to everyone and alienated its core user (college students), we decided to build a social network specifically for the college student with tools and applications that will help them in day-to-day activities surrounding campus life," Laws said.

In order to log into the site, a student must provide a valid e-mail address ending in ".edu." College.com verifies the address and domain name before the student is allowed to log in.

The academic elements incorporated into the site also make College.com distinct from Facebook.

"College.com offers a variety of academic aspects to make the college student's life easier," Laws said. "Students can create flashcards, rate professors, even see course information and which teachers are teaching certain courses. Teachers can also upload their class notes to the site."

Even though teachers will have access to the pages for their own courses, they will not be able to see the student profiles.

College.com provides a calendar, connection to Greek organizations and links to sports schedules. There is also an alarm function which students can ask College.com to call their phone at a certain time and play a message.

In many ways, College.com is similar to what students are used to and love about Facebook. The student has a profile page, which can only be viewed by people the student approves. Users can display a status, see their friends' recent activity, leave messages to each other on the 'Whiteboard,' upload pictures and videos and create events and groups.

"This site is designed to be everything to college students," said Laws. "We just want to focus on making the college experience more enjoyable by simplifying the college students' lives and connecting them with each other in the ways they need and want to be connected."

Marquette students have mixed opinions about this new site.

"It seems like a cool idea," said Jessica Beauchamp, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences. "I like the concept of a 'one stop shop' because I'm always on Facebook and if there were academic elements right there it would make things easier. Facebook is nice because you can network with people outside of college-age, but for the intended audience, College.com sounds like it will be very effective."

Tim Ozimek, a sophomore in the College of Engineering, takes a different stance.

"Social life and academic life should not be the same," Ozimek said. "Facebook is a retreat from school and homework and by combining them, you lose on both sides. It's too easy to be distracted."

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