Valley PR Blog

Give us the Juice (and Gonzo too)

By Len Gutman on February 19th, 2008 In Social Media

Two bits of news sparked my interest this morning and both were related to social networking on college campuses — the first involves gossip and the second involves former D-Backs outfielder Luis Gonzalez!

CNN ran a story this morning about JuicyCampus.com, which allows people to anonymously make comments about anyone, specifically comments related to sex. The article has sparked so much interest in JuicyCampus.com that the site is loading slowly from all the hits. The CNN article highlights a couple of the anonymous posts: “Top ten freshman sluts” reads one typical thread, and “The Jews ruin this school” says another.”

Not surprisingly, the site is controversial…but should we be surprised it’s popular in a  world of celebrity gossip and reality TV? You may think juicycampus is in bad taste, but it’s legal and growing in popularity. I suppose like any new technology, social networking is going to take off in many directions until it finally settles into a groove.

Meanwhile, former D-Backs all star and current Florida Marlin Luis Gonzalez has launched a new company with friend Anthony Condi called IsTalking.com. As reported by reporter Annalyn Censky in the Business Journal, IsTalking.com is a hyper-local social networking business that aims to bring a Facebook-like network to college campuses — the difference being each campus gets its own site that is open only to students at that particular college.

“We thought it would be good to have something very local,” Condi said. “One thing that’s part of the backlash with MySpace and Facebook is it’s no longer about what’s happening in your own backyard.”

One of IsTalking’s first sites is at ASU (www.asuistalking.com). Since I’m an associate professor at ASU and have an ASU email address, I thought I’d join to see what it’s all about. I’m not sure they had me in mind when they launched this site, but I can keep an eye on my students! The site is pretty slick, but it definitely doesn’t have anything on Facebook.

Seems like everyone is getting in the social networking biz. I’m already on Facebook, Linkedin, Myragan, Goodreads, Classmates, SJSU InCircle, LastFM, and a few others. I’ve tried — and killed — MySpace (too much porn spam), TeeBeeDee, Zaadz and others.

I’m guessing IsTalking will die a quick death (like Gonzo’s career with the Marlins)…but juicycampus will keep gossip whores coming back for more.

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