MySpace and Facebook just found a new rival. Another beloved social networking site has popped up, but this time, it’s local.

SyracuseFriends.com is made for people in the Syracuse area. Launched about a month ago, the site already has about 400 users.

Christine Briel and her husband Cary Briel created the site to combat the widespread range of users in other networking sites with a more small-town attitude.

‘It’s a community,’ Briel said. ‘The point was to have a local feel, a community feel to the site, and I think we’ve done that.’

Briel said that so far, the site is the only one of its kind in New York. Although it is available to those outside the Syracuse region, its marketing is aimed at this area. Local military members can keep in contact with loved ones in Upstate New York, whether they are originally from the area or are stationed at places like Fort Drum, where they would have local connections.

‘We have soldiers that are over in the Middle East that were stationed or grew up in New York that still have a lot of ties here,’ Briel said.

Briel says her favorite part of the site is that it is open to the community.

‘I don’t go on MySpace or Xanga unless there is someone I know on there,’ she said.

Unlike Facebook, SyracuseFriends is not locked to unregistered users. Set up much like MySpace, anyone can go to the site and look at member profiles. Members can upload pictures, write Web logs or post on walls. However, if people wish to view another member’s pictures and blog or interact with them through wall posts or messaging, they must sign up for a free account. As long as a person is over the age of 13, there are no restrictions for signing up, Briel said.

While the site is still new and growing, it has yet to explode onto campus, even though there are a few members from the Syracuse University community. Sophomore history major Madeleine Lux feels the excess of sites similar to this has become too much.

‘I didn’t even know it existed,’ Lux said. ‘But I think there are enough social sites out there. It’s pretty pointless to have another one.’

Published on October 16, 2006 at 12:00 pm