Eagle News

Issue date: 2/3/10 Section: News

Media Credit: Caitlin O'Connell

The social networking site Facebook has become a way of life among college students, and with it, membership to certain Facebook groups has become an increasingly popular trend.

One relatively new Facebook group, FGCU Texts from Last Night, has been getting more and more attention as this semester has progressed.

FGCU Texts from Last Night was created in January and is modeled after the hugely popular textsfromlastnight.com. The original Texts from Last Night is a blog that regularly updates postings of short text messages submitted by its users that often are scandalous or shocking in nature.

The texts are seen to be similar to late-night drunk dials, and due to their embarrassing nature are posted with area codes and not phone numbers. The relative anonymity provided by the area code-only practice is largely due to the increasing popularity of the site, which receives about 4 million hits per day. Users of the site are able to reply to text-message postings and rate whether or not the text message indicated a "good night" or a "bad night."

There is some controversy over whether the original Web site glorifies blackout drinking and promiscuity. Alison Tishman and Helene Scott, who created the FGCU facebook group, claim that their site is meant as a distraction and was formed in the spirit of inter-school competition.

"Helene and I both have very close friends that go to UCF. We were all on Skype one night and having a friendly debate on whose school was better. Helene's friend from UCF said, 'Well, my school has its own Texts from Last Night group,' and Helene goes, 'Well, ours will too!'

"Looking through Facebook, it wasn't just UCF that had one; several other schools did also, including FAU and UF. We thought that FGCU should be a part of that," said Tishman, a freshman majoring in English.

Scott, a freshman majoring in communication, agrees that the group was formed in good spirit, not as a way to glorify underage drinking. "I thought the page would basically be a place for students to get their mind off school work. It's a place to take five minutes from hard work and laugh, and a chance for a fun break from stressful life."

In the short time since the creation of the group, its popularity has spread rampantly and membership is now at almost 1,500 members. Tishman was particularly surprised by the group's enormous reception by FGCU students.

Continued...

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