May 31, 2006
New Kid on the Block
Sure, Facebook may seem to have the college social-networking market all but cornered. And MySpace gets its hooks in students before they’ve even left high school. But online entrepreneurs still think there’s plenty more money to be made at the nexus of the Web and college life.
One of the latest entries in the college-networking sweepstakes comes from Affinity Engines, a company that promises to “help individuals build and maintain personal and professional connections in a trusted and secure online community.” In other words, the company is providing social networking for college alumni groups.
Almost 50 institutions—including Northwestern and Stanford Universities and the University of Florida—have already signed up for Affinity’s service, which comes at an annual fee of between $10,000 and $25,000, according to the company. Affinity is hoping to distinguish its service from Facebook—which also lets alums sign up—by offering instant messaging and blogging tools to users.
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