The first rule of LateNightShots is you do not talk about LateNightShots.
The exclusive social networking Web site that targets recent graduates and young professionals who want to drink, be merry and “brush up” against each other, seems like it’s taking a line from the 1999 movie “Fight Club,” in organizing an online underground network of city socialites.
The networking site can only be joined through invitation from someone who is already a user. It is flirty and meant to be lighthearted and has features such as “Brush ups,” similar to “poking” on Facebook, where if someone saw you at a bar or club they can brush up on you online. “Brush ups” often come with comments that would be too embarrassing to say in real life, like “You give me Pac man fever.”
Another feature, “The Hunting Range,” allows anyone to be the hunter or the prey for hooking up. If someone views a user’s profile and adds him or her to their range, he or she can also add that person to their range. Once a mutual attraction is established then a new match will be posted on your profile. They even allow users to illustrate themselves as a tiger, hyena, panther and even an elephant.
“LNS fills the space between Match.com, AmIHot.com, and Facebook,” said Jennie Kim, 24, a graduate student in the School of Media and Public Affairs who is a part of the social networking site. “(It) is kind of like an intermediary between being a grown-up and playing dress-up.”
Instead of going to the local soda fountain and necking at Inspiration Point like the baby boomer generation, young adults on LNS are first mingling online then making their way to a watering hole conveniently filled with alcohol.
LNS launched in February 2006, under the care of three friends, Reed Landry, 26, Neel Patel, 26, and Ryan Walfer, 24. The site targets the 20 to 30 crowd, with the average age being 26 years old. It began in Washington, D.C., but has so far spread to 10 other cities, including Nashville, Atlanta, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
In a land of Facebook and MySpace, LNS hopes to attract a demographic that has yet to join a social network, Landry said. The goal is not to become the next Facebook or to ever be as big as the undergrad-focused social networking site; rather, LNS wants to have a smaller, more local appeal. It provides a place for people to interact on a night-life level and join a network based on their closest city.
LNS allows users to build a profile, make friends, post photos and videos, and make groups. It focuses more on blogging than Facebook, with message boards and forums like “Best Movie Sex Scenes” with 984 views, “Is anyone up for some day drinking … like right now” with 1706 views, and “Highest Paying Entry Level Job” with 3574 views. There are even undercover forums like “Favorite Computer Games” where users post links to profiles of women whom they think have the best chest.
“The forum features used to be funny,” said Kate Malone, 22, a GW senior who uses the site. “But it’s gone downhill. It used to be all rhetorical hyperbole, but now it’s just become stupid and another reason for people to bash the site.”
LNS is not trying to be like other going-out websites, like heyletsgo.com or minglenow.com, which feel too corporate and do not have the appeal of exclusivity, Landry, a cofounder, said. It is so exclusive that even when you have been invited to join, the groups within the site are restricted to invited members only.
“People on the site aren’t basing their social life around it. We understand the social scene in D.C., and we don’t have any delusions of running anyone’s social life,” Landry said.
Some critics of the site include Wonkette, the D.C. gossip blog, which has an undercover intern and a weekly post about her experience with LNS. According to Wonkette, the D.C. gossip blog, which has an undercover intern and a weekly post about her experience with LNS. According to Wonkette, LNS “is America’s Fastest-Growing … Invite-Only Web Community for D.C.’s best and whitest.” The weekly posts are often sexual in nature or expose the WASPy side of LNS.
Some complain the diversity is lacking on the site, and find some features of the profile entry form, which, for instance, asks for country club membership information, obnoxious. Also, some complain the site is too focused on the Georgetown scene.
“It may be Georgetown centered, but it’s not another elitist Washington network,” Malone said. “That is just a caricature being promoted. Not everyone on it is a complete asshole.”
LNS is like a guilty pleasure. It seems that many do not want to admit to being affiliated or that they like the site, but many end up using it to find out what nightlife Washington has to offer.
Beneath all the criticism, though, the site does have perks. There is a weekly list of happy hour specials, chats, restaurant reviews and information on bars around Washington. In the entry form all members have to list their favorite bars and restaurants and the site has a convenient list of the favorites. LNS also hosts parties at bars around town, and last October Mark Cuban from the Dallas Mavericks helped with the drawing at an LNS-hosted date raffle at Smith Point. The next party being hosted by LNS is “The Insignificant Others Slow Jams Party” at Smith Point on Valentine’s Day.
“It’s a product of its environment. It reflects the nature of young professionals working or studying in D.C. and is appealing to that audience,” said Ellen Wexler, a GW graduate. “It’s all about having a good time and meeting people. You go to bars to meet people. It’s (different from Facebook because it’s) based around socializing, not by computer.”
LNS parties often have a guest list, but many members say that the list is rarely enforced. The list is e-mailed to everyone invited, and many are over 50 pages long, because above everyone’s name is their default profile picture.
“It’s the mid 20s mindset. You can list your relationship status or use the hunting range, but it’s not really for dating,” Malone said. “No one goes on dates anymore; I haven’t been on a real date in like eight years. It’s just very casual and fun.”
