The University of Kentucky is putting its own spin on the Facebook craze in an effort to reach incoming students.
The school has developed a Facebook-like social networking site called the Big Blue Network. The site is available only to Kentucky students, faculty and staff and requires a university e-mail address to join.
The Lexington Herald-Leader reports the goal of the site is to help incoming freshmen make the transition to college. The network had already attracted about half of the incoming class of roughly 4,500 students in early August. The school hopes to have 75 percent participation rate.
The network is designed to increase student retention rates. About 80 percent of freshmen returned to school for their sophomore years in 2008, an all-time high.
