In honor of the social networks 10th birthday, I wanted to share this gem from the November 2005 issue of The Prowl Newspaper – Oakville’s finest – which gave the first point-of-view on the network. Please ignore my junior in high school writing ability, and enjoy.
Face-to-Face: Staying in touch with friends has gotten easier.
From colleges to high schools, Facebook.com is the newest trend that is taking over the World Wide Web.
“No one really knows why it’s so addicting. We’ve tried to figure it out; we can’t,” Jenna Morrison, a junior at Nerinx Hall, said.
The addiction known as Facebook was launched in 2004. It has now progressed into over 1,500 universities, and more recently into high schools.
“The Facebook makes it really easy to meet a lot of people and get to know them a little before you go to parties or hang out with them,” Tim Lartonoix, 2005 OHS graduate and freshman at MU, said.
Many former students enjoy using Facebook; 192 OHS graduates are connected through the site.
“It’s nice because after high school you get split up, and you can talk to the people you don’t see every day,” Brian Manning, a 2005 OHS graduate and freshman at TSU, said.
Many students throughout St. Louis call Facebook home.
“It is huge at private schools, and when I say huge, I’m not kidding. Girls at my school do not do homework because they are Facebooking. During free period at school there [are] at least seven people Facebooking, if not more. I’ve heard [of] people who don’t shower that night because they are Facebooking,” Morrison said.
Forty-two local high schools are connected through Facebook.
“My favorite part is talking to people that I havent seen for awhile because all the Catholic schools have known about this longer [than OHS has], so all of them [are] already on it,” Dan Rohlfing (11) said.
To sign up, students must first be invited by a friend already logged onto the site.
After clicking the link and signing up, students can upload pictures, fill out their information, add friends and join groups at Oakville with people of similar interests.
“It’s a way [to communicate] that’s [more fun] than e-mail because it’s like a profile. Unlike AOL Instant Messenger, you can message them, and they don’t have to respond back immediately. You can search for people that you haven’t seen in a long time and be friends with them,” Morrison said.
The excitement of having new friends, even in an online sense, is enough to set Facebook over the top.
“I guess it’s so addicting because almost every time you get on there is [someone who has] asked to be your friend, so that’s my favorite part about signing on,” Rolfing said.
The Parks Department 