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Media Credit: DeAndre Elion

College students could have another social network that will help fill time between classes and homework.

The recent application of the new social network, Qlique entered the SIUC campus Sept. 10, claiming to be the next generation of social networks similar to Facebook and MySpace. But the new network's popularity among SIUC students remains in question.

Jordan Hansen, campus president of Qlique, said the network is similar to Facebook or MySpace but uses "live real time action" where students can interact with other students that are online at the same time. He said they could participate in online games like poker or trivia.

Another trait of Qlique is that it has strong privacy settings, meaning it is not available on search engines and is only for college students. Hansen said this could help alleviate the large amount of junk mail and spam that clutter other social networks.

"Their expectations are that it is going to go even more and more into the live- interaction stage, which is why they developed the site around that," Hansen said.

Some students on SIUC campus say this may not be such a big deal after all.

Crystal Fuehne, a sophomore from Breeze studying athletic training, said with her Facebook page, she already doesn't have to worry about getting junk mail and a lot of the other features on Qlique seem like just a combination of things already on the Internet such as Yahoo! Games and instant messengers.

"Probably one of those things they invent and then fails just because everything is out there that they are trying to do," Fuehne said. "They are just trying to put it all on one."

Ryan Shriber, on the other hand, sees the ability to play your friends live on the Internet is an advantage.

Shriber, a junior from Aurora studying architecture, said playing one's friends live on the Internet can help all participants improve their gaming abilities.

"If you were to play a computer eventually you are going to figure out the computer," Shriber said. "Human minds can think and adapt to different situations, as the computer's is calculated to make the same moves over and over."

Professors at SIUC see other issues of concern with the new network.

Kenny Fong, a lecturer in computer science, said one more service would not make a difference in the level of distraction by students in computer labs.

"If they are already distracted by Facebook or MySpace, they will not pay attention in class," Fong said. "But if they are good students they will wait until they get home to play on MySpace or Facebook or Qlique."

Eugene Clark can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 275 or at eclark@siude.com

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