What is it? – A six degrees of separation-style network of friends of friends, and it can be addictive.
Who uses it? – People who want to network through their own friends to find peers, usually for friendship or business.
Why is it cool? – You can build a nearly endless ring of online friends who have all come recommended to you by someone you’re already friends with.
What’s the catch? – You must already know someone on the
network and invite others to join, too, since you can only become friends with the friends of people you already know – no random searches allowed.
What is it? – A meet-and-greet site solely for college students
created by the people at collegehumor.com.
Who uses it? – It boasts users from well over a hundred schools, but the number of users per school varies. It’s most popular at smaller, rural schools.
Why is it cool? – It’s free and lets you search for a specific college.
What’s the catch? – It isn’t very popular with GW students yet.
What is it? – A singles network aimed specifically at Jewish people.
Who uses it? – Jewish people of all ages.
Why is it cool? – Not only can you find Jewish singles in your area, but also others who share your views when it comes to their sect, going to temple, keeping kosher, etc.
What’s the catch? – You have to pay to e-mail other members, and if you’re not Jewish, it probably won’t help you much.
What is it? – A more laid-back site, BlackPlanet strives to build a sense of community among black singles, with romance just being a part of that.
Who uses it? – Blacks from a range of age groups and those
interested in meeting and talking
to them.
Why is it cool? – It has a lot of features not found on many other sites, such as polls, message boards, job searches and free e-mail.
What’s the catch? – Unlike most of these sites, BlackPlanet allows minors, down to the age of 13, to have profiles on the site, and has a healthy high school population, so make sure someone isn’t lying about his or her age before you agree to meet him or her for coffee.
–Jesse Stanchak
