The recent release of the new website Juicycampus.com has created much controversy on college campuses across the country. It is a public blog that allows students on college campuses to make anonymous posts regarding current gossip that’s going around. Students are able to search the sight by simply typing in one’s name to see what turns up. Most of the blogs deal with drugs, sex, drinking, and rumors floating around. Very personal and private information has been posted on these blogs for everyone to see, ruining people’s reputations and feelings. People are worried that their name may turn up on a Google search, linking them to this information. Juicycampus has pledged that it blocks its discussion boards from being indexed by search engines. However, debates have arisen as a result as to whether or not this sight is appropriate. Colleges are attempting to band it access on their wireless networks on campus, as there’s little they can do otherwise. The recent release of an article by CNN, “College Website Posts Sex, Gossip, Hate, Rumor” looks into the current controversy spreading across college campuses. The first portion of the article expresses the reaction of a student from Cornell University, after witnessing posts about him.

Clearly this sight is a social network that connects people, very similar to other online networks such as Facebook. It closely relates to some of the material we have covered in class. An issue of game theory definitely exists, as people have options of whether or not to make posts in retaliation to comments made. There’s always the option of being the bigger man and not post or attempts could be made to improve the situation by posting the correct information. Choices will have to be made by individuals, but an individual acting in their own best interests could mean anything. The internet serves as a means for people to connect to one source, providing this somewhat controversial information. Through a network of friends, information is passed through a series of edges. The edges connect to nodes, which represent people. As long as the edges between nodes are positive then a friendship exists. These individuals serve as local gatekeepers in this network, as they monitor information passed within the group of friends. They exists only as local gatekeepers as the information can be attained through another path. They serve the purpose of providing a path between two neighboring nodes or friends for the information to pass through. Nodes can also represent a group a friends, and the means of which information travels between them may be between a certain node. This could be represented through gatekeepers, as the information has to pass through him or her to get to another group. This person may exist as a gatekeeper, as the information would have to pass through this node in order to get to the other group of friends. The decision to post or not to post, as well as the transfer of information within groups of friends and between the groups of friends exists on the Juicycampus network.

College Website Posts Sex, Gossip, Hate, Rumor. February 18, 2008.