Sarah Campbell sits in front of her computer in her dorm room.

The first thing she does is open her Web browser and navigates to www.thefacebook.com. Like many others on Eastern’s campus, Campbell, a freshman chemistry major, is a Facebook addict.

“Every time I’m on my computer, it’s basically what I do: check my e-mail, go to Facebook,” Campbell said.

From the time she joined the site, Campbell began to check her Facebook at least 10 times a day, she said. She logs on and checks her messages, then views her profile to see if anyone has added things to her “wall,” a message board that can be added to or edited by Campbell and her verified friends.

“The girls on my floor were talking about it; that Eastern was added,” said Jessica Strohl, a freshman biology major, so she decided to check it out.

Now, Strohl checks the site at least once a day, as well.

Facebook allows members to network with others from their college, their high school and friends they have at other colleges and universities. Any Eastern student can search Eastern’s Facebook site, view other students’ profiles and request to be friends.

The next time requested friends log on to Facebook, they will receive notification that someone wants to add them and they can choose to either accept or decline that person’s request.

Members who just want to let someone know they’re thinking of them can send a virtual “poke” over Facebook.

Some of the main reasons Strohl said she logs on to the site as often as she does is to see if anybody has added her as a friend, if anyone she knows has recently joined the site and to see who has joined the groups she is in.

“It’s pretty easy to search for people,” Campbell said.

Members who register for Facebook can include or exclude whatever information they choose on their profile, which includes basic information such as contact numbers and e-mail, birthday, sex and high school.

An extended information section allows students to list their interests, their AOL Instant Messenger screen name, their favorites and clubs they are active in.

A small “about me” section, where members can include a small description of themselves, is also included.

Members can list their courses, which turn into links to enable them to find every Eastern student who has also listed that course.

Not all students are obsessed with the site though.

Lauren Carmichael, a senior elementary education major, said its too much work and annoyance to create her own profile.

“I don’t have an account but I secretly go onto my roommate’s to see what’s going on,” Carmichael said. “Really it’s just another form of AIM (AOL Instant Messenger), another way to waste my time at school.”

Some members say their favorite part of Facebook is the groups. Students and faculty alike can join interest groups on the site, ranging anywhere from recognized student organization groups to interest groups like “Beer Pong Lovers,” “The Derek Zoolander Center for Kids Who Can’t Read Good and Want to Learn to Do Other Stuff Good Too,” “Conezone” (a Conan O’Brien fan group), “I Own My Own Liger” (a Napoleon Dynamite Fan group) and “People Who Love Peanut Butter.”

When she’s done checking her profile, reading her messages, searching for friends, changing her away message and leaving comments on friends’ walls, Campbell logs off of Facebook, until the next time she decides to get online.