With the advent of new social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, it makes websites like waynealumni.org slightly less relevant. Though I have added some features to like photo uploads and contacting classmates without disclosing email addresses, with a part-time unpaid staff of one, and frankly, doesn’t know much about programming, has a hard time keeping up with the features that a site backed by venture capitalists, advertising revenue, and zillions of programmers. It is not a surprise that more recent graduates have a large presence on Facebook and MySpace, and less so here. Overall, they still have less Wayne Central users than we do, but the tide is turning. Hey, even I have a Facebook page.

So what does this mean for this site? Probably not much for now. I may be more inclined to concentrate on things that would be of interest to Wayne Alumni other than “social networking” features. That would be more alumni news, yearbook photos, etc.

I have however, included a place on the Registration form to allow users to indicate whether they have a Facebook or MySpace listing. There is a column in the Alumni Directory that will indicate a Facebook listing with this icon and a MySpace listing with . They are linked to those sites, but you will have to search for the user. It’s too complicated to create a link to individuals (at least for now).

Existing users can indicate their own Facebook or MySpace presence by Updating your listing.