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“People are tired of Facebook and Myspace and want something more to do with social networking.”

This proclamation stands as the basis for the creation of newly launched social networking site, Lymabean.com. The Web site has many qualities of the networking giants MySpace.com and Facebook.com but aims to offer students something to do with this network.

“Other social networking sites don’t have that utility functionality, they have the ability to connect - but there’s nothing to do with that connection,” said Lymabean founder, Jeff Wurtz. “We want to introduce usefulness into social networking by blending utility functionality with social functionality.”

Lymabean, which is exclusively available for college students, works with local business to connect them with students. This includes marketing the businesses, promoting events and advertising job openings.

“There will also be a ‘Craigslist’ element to the site where students can buy and sell things, and find places to live,” Wurtz said.

Also in development is a “Campus Section,” which will have information on student groups, Greek life, professor ratings and class schedules.

Though the site is designed for students, some still remain skeptical. “The idea is pretty good, but I’m not sure how many people would choose this over Myspace or Facebook,” said Mike Pinkney, a junior geography major. Another CU student, junior Katie Lau, said Lymabean would be a great tool for students, but only if a lot of students and businesses participated.

Lymabean offers many helpful features for college students, but these may not enough to break the stranglehold other networking sites already have on this demographic.

However, one advantage is that it is restricted to college students and thus every aspect of the site is created with them in mind.

“We’ll never open the site to everybody, if you stay to one group, you can have a very deep feature set and be very relevant,” Wertz said. “We’re 100 percent committed to the idea that the future of social networking is designed around broad niches.”
Contact CU Independent Freelance Writer Devon Taylor at devon.taylor@colorado.edu.