"Do you want my cellphone number?"

"No, that's OK. I'll just Facebook you."

If you don't understand the second part of that conversation, you're probably not a college student.

Gene Dalton | The Roanoke Times

Chinwe Etoh

"Facebook has pretty much revolutionized college life," said Radford University senior Chinwe Etoh. "Everyone's business is pretty much on there."

Facebook.com, created by Harvard University student Mark Zuckerberg in February 2004, allows college students to set up personal profiles and search through a seemingly endless network of other profiles connecting friends and strangers through various degrees of separation.

Simple numbers reveal the widespread popularity of Facebook: What started as a network of 6,000 students at Harvard has grown to 4.2 million users at 2,027 colleges and universities.

More than 60 percent of users visit the site daily. The site also expanded last month to include high school students.

But Facebook's established place as a verb in the college lexicon is what truly signaled its arrival.

"You hear people all the time say things like, 'I Facebooked you last night,' " said Virginia Tech sophomore Susan Mulla.

Gene Dalton | The Roanoke Times

Nikki Lovelace

Radford University student Nikki Lovelace said students just assume that everyone has an account.

A graduate student who was a senior when Facebook was introduced at Radford last year, Lovelace said the site can be used to network for jobs, catch up with old friends or find new ones.

The profile can include a photo of the student, hometown, contact information, college major, birthday, relationship status and lists of friends, favorite books, movies, quotes, hobbies, clubs and several other personal preferences.

Visitors can then use all of those lists as entry points to other profiles, searching for people with the same tastes, classes, hometowns or birthdays.

Different levels of access are given to students depending on whether they are listed as friends and whether they attend the same school.

Students can post messages to friends, ask for friendships and send information for parties out to groups. They can also organize clubs that group people by their thoughts on topics ranging from President Bush and popped collars to how attractive they are.

There's even a "Beautiful Truck" that can be passed between Facebook users like a type of narcissistic chain letter.

This web of connections has landed Facebook alongside Instant Messenger and e-mail as procrastination devices for students.

The emphasis some students put on their photos and lists of "friends" -- many list over 200 Facebook-using friends on their profile -- has led to a minibacklash against the popular site.

Virginia Tech junior Steve Krieger is at the forefront of that movement.

Of course, he uses the site to get his anti-Facebook message out to students. Instead of his photo, his profile has a circle and slash crossing out the word "Facebook."

His favorite quote is listed as, "Don't waste your life." His list of interests consists of "not this," and under clubs and jobs he lists organizations designed to help prevent starvation and disease around the world.

"I know that by doing this I am a hypocrite," his "about me" information says. "This account was setup [sic] so that you would go do something with your life and not sit around accepting friends that you don't really know. Go to any of the Web sites listed above, help out the world."

Krieger said the profile was somewhat tongue-in-cheek. He doesn't have any grand aspirations to stop Facebook.

But he does believe the site promotes "narcissistic voyeurism" and is nothing more than a time drain.

Facebook has served as an effective medium for groups trying to get their message to a young audience. Virginia 21, an organization that advocates for young voters, used Facebook to notify people about this year's elections.

But serious problems have arisen recently as adults have learned of the site. All that is needed to set up a profile and look around the site is a college e-mail address.

Reports have circulated nationwide of professors, parents, potential future employers and even police using the site to gather information on students.

In September a Virginia Western student notified officials of security breaches in the Virginia Community College online access system because of information available about individuals on Facebook.

Radford students belonging to a Facebook club that was formed to criticize new university president Penny Kyle used the site to organize a protest when the administration closed the library for an October fundraiser.

The student newspaper at Hollins University published an editorial after its editor found her way to a Facebook group dedicated to "uniting haters" against a particular student.

What started as a joke club asking for money to free the student's roommate from living with her escalated to threats of violence.

Facebook spokesman Chris Hughes said anyone found to be using the site inappropriately is kicked off the network.

"The way we see it is basically a mirror of your personal life," he said. "When you're logging on to Facebook, it's not like you're logging on some huge anonymous site."

Students interested in people they don't know can use the Web site's "poke" function.

Meant to serve as something akin to a tap on the shoulder, pokes can be ignored by the recipient or they can choose to poke back and initiate a conversation.

Radford senior Anthony Spencer said he enjoys using the "poke" function if he thinks a woman on the site is attractive.

Do they respond?

"Never," he said laughing. "Never. They probably think you're just a freak. It's a good time."

Relationship status is another feature students can put on their profile.

Options range from "in a committed relationship" to looking for "random play."

Hughes said one phenomenon of the site is that it indicates how serious a relationship is. In some students' minds, a relationship is not truly validated until it's listed on your profile.

"If you break up with someone, people are gonna know," Etoh said. "If you get with someone, people are gonna know."

That goes for friendships, too.

"Are you not my friend on Facebook?" Lovelace said to Radford sophomore Pamela Cregger as the two stood in the Radford bookstore. "You need to be my friend, girl."

"I'll add you," replied her newly official friend.