The American Chemistry Council (ACC) has launched Mylecule, a new application on the social networking Web site Facebook.com. Similar to other Facebook applications, such as “friend wheel” or “friend sets,” the Mylecule allows users to create “molecular bonds” with select friends or groups of friends to establish the “common bonds” users share with their friends. The virtual three-dimensional molecular bonds allow each user the ability to interact with their Mylecule, and to connect directly to the profiles of their friends.

“ACC developed the Mylecule application so Facebook users can stay connected with their friends while learning about the basics and benefits of American chemistry,” said Lisa Harrison, vice president of communications at ACC. “With a membership of over 200 million people, Facebook offers ACC endless opportunities to engage and interact with people while learning what’s on their minds and what’s important to them when it comes to our industry, issues, and products. We encourage users of Mylecule to become fans of the application and interact with ACC’s online community.”      

The user or creator of Mylecule is the nucleus (otherwise known as the center) and each friend is represented by an “element” with their initials. The elements are joined together with bonds that show how many friends you have in common or how many common bonds you have. The complete Mylecule gets a unique formula and shape based on the first letter of each friend's name and the number of shared or mutual friends, so if you have four friends (Sarah, John, Paul and Tony) in your Mylecule, your formula could be S2J5P10T20.

The creation of Mylecule is ACC’s most recent social media initiative. ACC also has a Facebook fan page, YouTube channel, Twitter handle (@essential2), and hosts its own blogs. The Mylecule application can be accessed at: http://apps.facebook.com/mylecule.