By KAYLEY FRANK

PENDLETON — For former Pendleton resident Ryan Hupfer, getting into the business of computers wasn’t a complicated process.

“In college, I got into Web programming,” he said, laughing. “I was a pretty social guy, but I grew a computer geek side, too.”

So when Hupfer discovered the world of social-networking sites, it seemed that his two worlds — hanging out with his friends and computer programming — had successfully collided.

“I enjoyed being social online during college,” he said. “I liked the forums where everyone could comment on issues and ideas. It was fun.”

When Hupfer graduated from college, he kept in touch with friends by social networking. Hupfer created his own site when he was 22 that centered around his road-tripping travels in a huge ancient van — a self-described “hooptie.”

“The site was a great place to record my experiences in the van and stay connected with my friends,” he said. “And when I saw how much the site was growing and how much my friends liked it, I knew that it was here to stay.”

But Hupfer’s social-networking site wasn’t the only one that users were latching onto.

According to Lynn Hobbs, library director of the Pendleton Community Library, social-networking giants such as Myspace.com and Facebook.com consistently grow in popularity.

“They’re very popular, especially among students,” she said. “It’s a fun way to share what’s going on in your life with your friends. But it’s also a very powerful communication and promotional tool.”

The growth of Hupfer’s own Web site prompted him to do some investigating of social-networking sites in other cities, and the results of his searching led him to MetroMojo, a Web site that was dedicated to providing users in a specific metropolitan area with hyper-local content and applications that would connect them to other people in their area.

Hupfer said that he liked the idea so much and saw how much success MetroMojo had in cities like Louisville that he began a branch of the Web site in Indianapolis: a Web site called indymojo.com.

According to Hupfer, indymojo.com offers users more than other popular social-networking sites like Myspace and Facebook.

“Myspace and Facebook are almost too overwhelming for the average user. They’re impersonal and they have an ‘all-about-me’ feel,” he said. “Indymojo.com offers a social community where people can connect outside of the online world. When users join indymojo.com, they’re plugged in.”