Students at more than 200 universities, including Central Michigan University, are discovering an interesting way of reaching out to missed connections.
LikeALittle.com calls itself "high-quality flirting." At just barely a month old, the site has thousands of anonymous users, according to site creator Evan Reas.
"Often, people are finding the site, they think it's really interesting, think it's fun, share it on Facebook with their friends. Then their friends see it, and come take a look at it, and either spread it to their campus, or start using it at their own."
Reas says the site lets people connect in a positive way. But others have called it a "stalker's wonderland."
LikeALittle.com is pretty popular already among CMU students, despite having been on campus for only a little more than two weeks. In fact, of the more than 200 campuses with pages, Central has the second-most traffic.
Site administrators jokingly call the service a "flirting-facilitation platform."
"You know, you're sitting in class, or you're sitting in the library, and you're like, 'This guy is looking really good today,' or 'This girl is beautiful.' Or maybe you just made a great comment, and I want to say this person is really smart."
Site CEO and co-founder Evan Reas says LikeALittle.com allows users to post anonymous comments about people they interact with - or even just see. The comments are supposed to be positive, and often hint at some attraction.
"So, it's anonymous, but people get descriptive, and people will specifically say, in a certain classroom, or in a certain location. You can kind of tell that, 'Oh, it's probably me, or it's kind of my friend,' or maybe they say, 'This guy has a mohawk,' so very descriptive characteristics."
Users generally browse the site for three reasons: to submit a post, to see if there are posts about them, and simply to watch.
"It was definitely flattering. I had a friend tell me about the site. So I was just kind of checking it out, I was going through the posts, and I found this one," says Sarah Kielinen, a CMU student.
She found a post that she says she knew was about her, because it accurately described her Halloween costume.
"And I was dressed up as Tiger Woods for Halloween. You know, I knew who was at the party, and I knew there were no other people dressed up -- especially females -- dressed up as Tiger Woods, so I kind of put two and two together with that one, and figured it was probably me."
Sarah says the site's premise is fun, and it's kind of flattering finding a post about yourself. She says she still doesn't know who wrote the one about her. And although it's fun, Sarah says it could get creepy.
With so much attention recently on online harassment and bullying, some people are concerned that LikeALittle.com could easily be used for malicious purposes.
"There's a significant percentage of us that are not such good people, that would use this to degrade, harm, bully other people, and that's what I fear," says Steve Thompson, Director of Sexual Aggression Services at CMU, and a nationally-known expert on sexual aggression. He says he's worried, too, that LikeALittle.com could be a tool for stalking.
"The ability to maintain anonymity is huge, and the consequence to that is zero. So I can go on that site, or any number of sites after you or I leave, and I can say anything I want about you. And what's the consequence to me?"
Thompson says LikeALittle.com reminds him of another site -- JuicyCampus.com -- where students gossip. He says Juicy Campus quickly became a place to harass and insult people, and he hopes Like A Little doesn't become the same.
Site creator Evan Reas says there are measures to prevent that.
"There's no full names allowed. We also don't let people do room numbers, or if they're on there, we delete those, so it doesn't get too specific. Every single school has at least five moderators, making sure to take down negative, or offensive, or creepy comments. The other thing that we do, is that anybody with a .edu email address from the school that you're looking at can delete any comment immediately."
Like A Little offers an obvious appeal to people who post.
"The idea of being anonymous and posting your opinions of other people in a way that can't come back necessarily to harm you is very attractive," according to Dr. Lesley Whithers. She's a Professor of Communication and Dramatic Arts at CMU. She says the site can make it easier for people to post something that's difficult to say in person.
"It's that idea of 'I'm self-disclosing, but I can also deny it,' so if you come up to me later and say, 'Hey, somebody posted on this website, saying that they liked me, and said we were talking about snowboarding -- we were talking about snowboarding!' They can always deny it, if it seems like it's not going well. But if it seems like it is going well, then they can say, 'Well yes, actually I did post that!'"
Some say, too, that the site challenges assumptions about who is posting.
"There are these assumptions that people make when they come into it that do tend to be heteronormative," says Dr. Patty Williamson, an Associate Professor of Broadcast and Cinematic Arts at CMU. She says people most likely assume that men are commenting about women, and vice-versa -- but that's not necessarily the case.
Dr. Williamson also says it's clear that some people on the site simply like to watch.
"There's inherent entertainment in sort of the voyeurism of being able to look into other people's private lives, assuming that some of the posts are real on the site. People who are just using it as a source of entertainment kind of look at it as a way to kind of snoop on other people's interpersonal relationships."
At this point, it's hard to tell whether LikeALittle.com will stick around, but it definitely draws attention to who may be paying attention to you.
LikeALittle.com calls itself "high-quality flirting." At just barely a month old, the site has thousands of anonymous users, according to site creator Evan Reas.
"Often, people are finding the site, they think it's really interesting, think it's fun, share it on Facebook with their friends. Then their friends see it, and come take a look at it, and either spread it to their campus, or start using it at their own."
Reas says the site lets people connect in a positive way. But others have called it a "stalker's wonderland."
LikeALittle.com is pretty popular already among CMU students, despite having been on campus for only a little more than two weeks. In fact, of the more than 200 campuses with pages, Central has the second-most traffic.
Site administrators jokingly call the service a "flirting-facilitation platform."
"You know, you're sitting in class, or you're sitting in the library, and you're like, 'This guy is looking really good today,' or 'This girl is beautiful.' Or maybe you just made a great comment, and I want to say this person is really smart."
Site CEO and co-founder Evan Reas says LikeALittle.com allows users to post anonymous comments about people they interact with - or even just see. The comments are supposed to be positive, and often hint at some attraction.
"So, it's anonymous, but people get descriptive, and people will specifically say, in a certain classroom, or in a certain location. You can kind of tell that, 'Oh, it's probably me, or it's kind of my friend,' or maybe they say, 'This guy has a mohawk,' so very descriptive characteristics."
Users generally browse the site for three reasons: to submit a post, to see if there are posts about them, and simply to watch.
"It was definitely flattering. I had a friend tell me about the site. So I was just kind of checking it out, I was going through the posts, and I found this one," says Sarah Kielinen, a CMU student.
She found a post that she says she knew was about her, because it accurately described her Halloween costume.
"And I was dressed up as Tiger Woods for Halloween. You know, I knew who was at the party, and I knew there were no other people dressed up -- especially females -- dressed up as Tiger Woods, so I kind of put two and two together with that one, and figured it was probably me."
Sarah says the site's premise is fun, and it's kind of flattering finding a post about yourself. She says she still doesn't know who wrote the one about her. And although it's fun, Sarah says it could get creepy.
With so much attention recently on online harassment and bullying, some people are concerned that LikeALittle.com could easily be used for malicious purposes.
"There's a significant percentage of us that are not such good people, that would use this to degrade, harm, bully other people, and that's what I fear," says Steve Thompson, Director of Sexual Aggression Services at CMU, and a nationally-known expert on sexual aggression. He says he's worried, too, that LikeALittle.com could be a tool for stalking.
"The ability to maintain anonymity is huge, and the consequence to that is zero. So I can go on that site, or any number of sites after you or I leave, and I can say anything I want about you. And what's the consequence to me?"
Thompson says LikeALittle.com reminds him of another site -- JuicyCampus.com -- where students gossip. He says Juicy Campus quickly became a place to harass and insult people, and he hopes Like A Little doesn't become the same.
Site creator Evan Reas says there are measures to prevent that.
"There's no full names allowed. We also don't let people do room numbers, or if they're on there, we delete those, so it doesn't get too specific. Every single school has at least five moderators, making sure to take down negative, or offensive, or creepy comments. The other thing that we do, is that anybody with a .edu email address from the school that you're looking at can delete any comment immediately."
Like A Little offers an obvious appeal to people who post.
"The idea of being anonymous and posting your opinions of other people in a way that can't come back necessarily to harm you is very attractive," according to Dr. Lesley Whithers. She's a Professor of Communication and Dramatic Arts at CMU. She says the site can make it easier for people to post something that's difficult to say in person.
"It's that idea of 'I'm self-disclosing, but I can also deny it,' so if you come up to me later and say, 'Hey, somebody posted on this website, saying that they liked me, and said we were talking about snowboarding -- we were talking about snowboarding!' They can always deny it, if it seems like it's not going well. But if it seems like it is going well, then they can say, 'Well yes, actually I did post that!'"
Some say, too, that the site challenges assumptions about who is posting.
"There are these assumptions that people make when they come into it that do tend to be heteronormative," says Dr. Patty Williamson, an Associate Professor of Broadcast and Cinematic Arts at CMU. She says people most likely assume that men are commenting about women, and vice-versa -- but that's not necessarily the case.
Dr. Williamson also says it's clear that some people on the site simply like to watch.
"There's inherent entertainment in sort of the voyeurism of being able to look into other people's private lives, assuming that some of the posts are real on the site. People who are just using it as a source of entertainment kind of look at it as a way to kind of snoop on other people's interpersonal relationships."
At this point, it's hard to tell whether LikeALittle.com will stick around, but it definitely draws attention to who may be paying attention to you.