By
Vanessa Francis
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Studentgossip.com an online community for Web-surfing
Amidst the hordes of student-centered Web pages on the Internet, one UA student has developed his own slice of cyberspace.
Aaron Vakneen, a University of Arizona management information systems junior, and friends Jeff Skobin and Dee Murthy - who attend the University of Southern California - have developed the teenager-geared Website www.studentgossip.com.
Currently, the site has between 17,000 and 18,000 members and receives about 36,000 hits per day.
"It's a one stop teen online community," Vakneen said.
The idea to create the site first came to Vakneen while living at Coronado Residence Hall during his freshman year.
"Originally, we (Skobin and Murthy) wanted to do a collegiate apparel Website, and we learned with the money we had, it wouldn't be possible," Vakneen said.
The group retooled the site to its current concept - along with homework advice, the site also has links to trivia, relationship advice, fashion and jokes.
The site also features horoscopes, written by UA management information systems junior Alejandro Bien-Willner.
"I like writing the monthly horoscopes because it's humorous and people can easily relate to the site," Bien-Willner said.
In addition, the idea to allow students to stay logged on while studying led to the development of the "expert" section, where students can look to experts for help in all areas of academia.
"We have a deal with Askme.com, and those experts and the link is accessible from our site," said Vakneen.
The site launched in 1998 for testing purposes, and was taken down the following summer. In January, the team received funding from an anonymous outside source.
Vakneen did not reveal how much money the group received, but said it was a generous sum.
"It was a six-figure amount," he said.
After revamping the site, it was re-launched this summer.
Business management junior Dan White works as the Website's editor-in-chief.
"I am in charge of all the written material on the site," he said. "It all comes through me."
White said he believes the site is as complete as it needs to be for the teen community, although the list of cities featured on the city link could be longer.
"On this link, there are numerous top 10 lists, by contacts we have in other cities," White said.
The lists include the top 10 places to get pizza, the top clubs and top bars in selected locales.
Vakneen said he and his partners are looking to sell the site in the near future, and are optimistic about the amount they could receive.
"We will be millionaires soon" said Vakneen. "The growth we've seen is incredible (with respect to number of members)."
The site represents a national trend of electronic commerce design, said Sherry Hoskinson, associate director for outreach and development for entrepreneurship at the UA Karl Eller Business College.
Although building online businesses has been popular in recent years, the amount of proposals by UA students for such ventures has dropped, she added.
"It was a really popular trend for about five years, but we've seen it slow down with the business plans our students have submitted," she said.
In the graduating class of 2000, 13 plans for Web sites were submitted, comprising 41 percent of the total plans. So far this year, seven plans have been turned in, making up 24 percent of the plans submitted.
However, Vakneen's site is still popular, he said, because of the fact that it is based on students writing for students.
"We are doing what we know best," he said.
