For the past six years, Facebook has provided a way for young people to stay in touch with old friends and connect with new ones. Most users are members of networks based on where they live, but an increasing number are joining networks that show where they stand on the political spectrum, as well.

Senior government and politics and Spanish major Sterling Grimes belongs to the Students for Obama network, and senior criminology and criminal justice major Clyde Thompson is a member of the Republican National Committee network. Thompson said affiliating with these organizations via Facebook allows them to reap broader benefits from the predominantly social site.

For Grimes, Thompson and many others, Facebook has transcended its status as a social outlet for college kids to post weekend pictures, and expanded into a political vehicle for mobilizing people through groups, events, fan pages and networks.

“Social media definitely helps us as a coordinating tool, communication device, and mini polling station,” Grimes said in an e-mail. “We can also reach hundreds of students instantly with messages, status updates and other mass communications in order to build support and educate students about the issues.”

Both students said having millions of Facebook users’ inboxes at your fingertips has revolutionized event planning. Activists can spread information at the click of a button — much more efficient than posting flyers.

“The craziest thing,” Thompson said, was the last-minute organization of an anti-health care rally on Capitol Hill on Saturday. He said he heard nothing of the protest until Friday, when he opened his Facebook account to several event invitations.

“All of this happened in a 24-hour period basically, over Facebook,” he said. “It was like, this is what’s going on. … If you think about this, before Facebook or Twitter this would be impossible for it to be so widespread within a day’s time.”

Grimes, who worked on President Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008, attributed much of his success reaching people to social networking websites.

“Students are extremely busy and taking the time to go door to door or stand outside Stamp everyday passing out flyers and trying to talk individually to every student is unrealistic at our University and not a smart use of our time,” Grimes said. “Social media and networking have allowed us to reach a huge number of students and spread our message quickly. I would say their services are invaluable to us.”

Thompson, the spokesman for the university’s chapter of College Republicans, said using Facebook to keep up with members has made his responsibilities much easier.

“I’m able to get in contact with [members] online,” he said. “All I have to do is update a status and they let me know how they feel about something. I pretty much have a good idea how our group as a whole feels through using these sites.”

And Facebook has helped Thompson to stay involved with the national conservative movement. Last summer, Thompson interned in the Republican National Committee’s strategy division, tracking voting patterns to anticipate voters’ behavior in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial elections. When he left, he kept his membership in the RNC’s network.

Even politicians are using Facebook to drum up support. President Barack Obama has more than 7 million fans on the site, and a single status update about health care reform has more than 110,000 replies. On the State Department’s Facebook site, officials including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appear in more than 70 videos on a variety of topics, and an interactive map traces Clinton’s trips around the world.

The line between social networking and political activism is blurring, and college students are holding the eraser.

“I post a lot of articles that I read from different news sites … and being that most of my friends are overwhelmingly Democrats, a lot of them actually get to see where I’m coming from,” Thompson said. “And as much as I’m a political junkie, I can’t keep up with every single story. When I go on Facebook and see what my friends post, it gives me better insight about what’s going on.”

gulin@umdbk.com