Southeastern Bible College alumni have a new way to reconnect to old friends.

The college has launched a new alumni networking Web site that gives users the capability to post videos and photos, join groups and post comments in different discussions. Users can also post information about events for others to attend.

Director of Alumni Relations Jenny Ellison said the site was intended to be a simpler alternative to popular networking sites such as Facebook or MySpace.

“We wanted a way to keep the alumni connected to one another that wasn’t quite as crazy as Facebook or MySpace,” Ellison said. “This is just for information, videos and allowing people to talk to one another.”

The site was launched a month ago and is intended to serve Southeastern Bible alumni and friends of the college.

Ellison said her main goal is to keep alumni connected to each other and to the college. She hopes the site will continue to expand and add new members, even though it will cost the alumni relations department.

The site is currently free but as more members are added, the department will have to pay for more Web space.

Ellison, who started the site, said she came up with the idea after joining an alumni networking site for Jones Valley High School, where she graduated.

Jones Valley, which used to be in Birmingham, doesn’t exist anymore, so the alumni site is one of the only ways for Ellison to reconnect with her high school friends. The same is true for some Southeastern Bible alums. The college originally was on the south side of Birmingham and then moved to Highway 280 before settling in its current location on Valleydale Road.

Neither of the first two campuses survived, but alums who went there have found each other again on the new Web site, Ellison said.

“I get a lot of notes saying, ‘Thank you for putting this up. We needed this,’” she said. “Some people on there have not seen each other since they graduated 40 years ago.”

The Southeastern Bible alumni site has gotten 172 members and over 40,000 hits in the month it’s been available, Ellison said.

For more information, visit the site at sebcalums.ning.com.