Amanda Rhodes has added a new step to her laptop routine. The sophomore in finance checks her e-mail and instant messages, but those tasks are no longer her top priority. Now she checks TheFacebook.com to see if classmates she found online accepted her friend invitations.

Since the college social-networking site opened itself up to Ohio State on Oct. 10, its popularity has steadily increased.

On Nov. 6, there were 5,261 registered users at OSU, and that number is climbing daily.

TheFacebook.com is a Web site where people find each other based on similar interests and mutual friends. Registered users post such personal information about themselves in their profiles as high school, major, interests and political affiliation. Users can message each other, known on the Web site as a “poke,” and add each other to friend lists.

“It’s cute and it’s a good ice breaker,” Rhodes said.

What makes The Facebook different than predecessors like Friendster.com is that it is exclusively for college students, alumni and staff. Users must have a valid college e-mail account to register. Only fellow Buckeyes and members of other schools designated by the user as a “friend” can search and view full profiles.

The site has nearly 700,000 registered users nationwide.

“It’s a good way to keep in touch with people you don’t see all the time,” said Anthony Contini, a sophomore in political science.

Brandon Gedrich, a sophomore in early childhood development, said he’s found a lot of old friends that he had lost touch with at other universities.

The site was created last winter by a group of five students at Harvard University and headed by junior Mark Zuckerberg.

“After so many people signed up, we realized pretty fast that students at other schools might enjoy using the site,” said Chris Hughes, one of the founding members and spokesperson for the site.

Hughes said their expansion strategy was to find colleges where the student bodies already had friends on the network. Columbia, Yale, and Stanford were the first to be added. Today there are over 200 schools on the network and more are continually added by request.

Gedrich said he often will be walking around campus and recognize people.

“I’ll see someone who looks familiar and I can go back to my dorm, get on Facebook and see ‘Oh, my friend hangs out with them,'” Gedrich said. “I think it’s a good idea and it connects people.”

Facebook has features that set it apart from similar sites. Users can virtually “poke” each other with a message that reads, “You have been poked by (John Doe).”

A feature that lets users join groups based on similar interests and student organizations was added in early September.

In one month, 721 groups have been created on OSU’s page. Group members can post on a message board on their group’s page. They are also added to a list where they can send and receive messages through the site as part of the group.

Cell phone text messaging was also added in September. Hughes said there are more added features to come, but the unmasked features will remain under wraps.

Some members are competitive about the number of friends on their list, consciously or unconsciously.

“Adding people to your friends list is addictive,” Rhodes said.

One girl chalked the sidewalk outside of McPherson Laboratory, writing “Facebook Me!” She wrote her name and requested that passers-by add her to their friends list.

Most people tend to stick to only adding people they know or have a lot in common with.

Despite its widespread popularity, Facebook still has its skeptics.

“I don’t really understand the interest in Facebook,” said Andrew Perry, a sophomore in international business.

He said a lot of his friends used it but he has never been interested in things like Web logs or other Internet material outside of e-mail and music.

Kevin Bliss, a junior in accounting, registered on The Facebook to see what it was about and was unimpressed.

“Facebook is annoying,” Bliss said. “It’s a waste of time.”