I found out today from the Hampden-Sydney group on LinkedIn about a new social networking site for alumni: The Network of Hampden-Sydney College. I applied for an account. I’m already a member at the alumni site for St. John’s College. It’s not very active. Both sites are built with tools from YourMembership.com.
The thing about network effects is that the first mover has an advantage, because the best network is generally the one with the most nodes, er, people. I wonder if perhaps the schools’ efforts might better be spent in building a community of interest on Facebook.