Web-based marketing organization Entermedia launched the newest competitor in social… Web-based marketing organization Entermedia launched the newest competitor in social networks, Qlique, at select national college campuses, including Pitt, this fall.

“Qlique is a social network that can operate in both actual time as well as typical web time through messaging each other,” Pitt senior and Qlique intern Alexis Fisher said.

Qlique’s goal is to create an experience that is more advanced and more entertaining than other online social networks.”My vision is to provide more social opportunities and have the ability to find out what you have in common with people by having a chance to interact with others,” CEO Andy Field said.

Much like Facebook and MySpace, Qlique provides users with opportunities to write messages, post pictures and join groups referred to as “cliques.”

Unlike other social networks, though, users can interact with others online through a live connection that allows for instant messaging.

“The main difference is the ability to interact in real time,” Fisher said. “The gaming and chatting options give you a chance to directly connect to others online.”

With a background in filmmaking, Field is trying to promote audience participation using technology.

“We are offering something better than looking at pictures and sending messages,” he said. “Socializing online is going interactive. It’s about doing things live.”

One special feature the network provides is the opportunity for users to disclose the location where they are logging on.

“We want people to be location aware,” Field said. “Facebook or MySpace limits sending a message that has nothing to do with where they are. Proximity allows them to be involved with other people around them.”

Qlique has heightened security, limiting its accessibility exclusively to college students, similar to Facebook’s initial phase. It also provides users with a way to set up “Q-factors,” quizzes given to those who wish to contact another user.

Entermedia was formed to create new collaborative ways to entertain and connect people through an online social network.

Entermedia concentrated on a few colleges, such as Pitt and the University of North Carolina, to promote its first technology release in August, according to Field. “We were looking for a place with good people and great students who are involved as well as a large student population,” he said. Because of the local release, the corporation has relied on its interns as well as word of mouth to advertise Qlique.

“We passed out fliers, hung posters and wore T-shirts,” Fisher said. “We actually entered most of the dorms just to tell people about the launch.”

Over the next couple of months the company will be releasing the next critical phase involving more activities within the network and a national promotion. Currently, the social network has approximately 4,900 students from more than 1,400 colleges.

“We are constantly evolving and adding new features and activities based around college students,” Campus Development Manager Brenda Miller said. “We want to give them something to have fun with and run with.”

Although its name seems to imply separate and distinct social groups, Qlique does quite the opposite.

“The name came about in creating entertainment that involves people coming together and having a good time,” Field said.