When College junior and Zeta Psi brother Anthony Diepenbrock watched an early interview with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, he thought something was amiss.
“Zuckerberg described Facebook as a directory for all Harvard students. I thought to myself, why isn’t there a directory for Greeks?” Diepenbrock said.
Diepenbrock decided to partner with his childhood friend, Cornell University senior and Delta Tau Delta brother Charles Moyes, to create Greekdex, which launched on Penn’s campus last weekend.
Greekdex, which is currently only available to Penn students, is a social networking website exclusively for Greeks. The website, which is connected to students’ Facebook accounts, uses an algorithm to link students to other members of their own fraternity or sorority, creating a sort of campus-wide directory of Greeks.
The website then allows students to post messages on an internal organization page — as well as on a community page where Greeks can write on behalf of their fraternity or sorority.
Diepenbrock said the website has seen success since its launch, with nearly 500 users registering, as well as 23,484 hits for the website as of Thursday evening.
Diepenbrock attributed this quick growth to the website’s “unique” algorithm and the need to bring the large community of Greek students closer together.
“This is one of the most interactive communities that exists — they have parties every weekend, and yet there’s no straightforward way of finding out the president of a fraternity or sorority,” he said.
Although Diepenbrock agreed that the website is primarily a social networking one, he has been trying to avoid “the Facebook for Greeks” references.
“It’s just because the website is still so skeletal,” he said. “We still haven’t defined what it is as yet. We’re still trying to figure out its direction.”
However, some are wary about the website’s creation.
College junior and Interfraternity Council President David Shapiro said he is concerned that Greekdex may be a successor to websites like College Anonymous Confession Board and JuicyCampus.
The two websites, which were shut down in 2011 and 2009, respectively, allowed users to post anonymous comments about their peers.
“I think it’s a well-known fact that CollegeACB and JuicyCampus were extremely damaging to Penn’s campus,” Shapiro said. “I sincerely hope that this website does not replicate that model.”
However, he added that Greekdex has the potential to be a “cool idea.”
Others feel that the CollegeACB and JuicyCampus connection is not a negative link for the new website to have.
College freshman Martina Merlo, a pledge at sorority Sigma Kappa, thinks it would be fine if Greekdex were to replicate these two websites.
Merlo, who used to visit CollegeACB, said she thinks the website “would be pretty interesting to have. It could bring the school and the Greek community closer.”
Diepenbrock emphasized that while he does want to “leverage some of that market,” he views the two websites and similar forums as “one of the worst examples of Greeks interacting ever.”
He added that Greekdex intends to avoid offensive content by not allowing anonymous posting.
“Members post on behalf of their house, so there will be some accountability,” he said. “We hope that will prevent nasty posts. Ultimately, our goal is to make Greeks look better.”
Some have expressed the sentiment that Greekdex is not relevant to their lives at Penn.
Engineering freshman Alexander Ventriglia, a pledge at fraternity Delta Kappa Epsilon, said that while he would be interested in joining the system if it expands, he does not see why the site should be exclusive to Greeks.
“I don’t think that fraternities are too concerned with communicating with fellow fraternities,” he said. “Maybe fraternity to sorority interaction could be useful.”
College senior Kevin Shapiro, a brother at Sigma Nu, said he is reluctant to make an account.
“I’ve heard of it, but I’m not too sure what it does, and I don’t really see the need for it,” he said.
Looking forward, Diepenbrock is encouraged about the website’s future based on user responses.
“The response has been mostly positive, [though] some people say they don’t get it,” he said. “There’s no downside of putting your house in the directory. I think it’s a great platform for houses to communicate.”
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