Each alumni site has a widening array of social networking tools. These include

• personal profile pages (compare to Facebook)
• personal blogs (compare to Blogspot)
• updates (compare to Twitter)
• media links (embed content from Flickr, Picasa, YouTube or other media sites)
• member to member messaging (compare to email)
• groups (subdivide and present special content by and for members)
• friends (create links among ad hoc groups of members)
• favorites (tell the world what the member likes on the Web)

Why not just use those comparable sites? Because they're in business primarily to own your mailing list, and they charge substantially extra to customize your site's look and feel.

In contrast, Alumni Management lets you define your site's purpose and appearance, refine it over time, and control the message you wish to send and the list(s) to which you want to send it.