Fans join tramp website

The fan club for Wolverhampton's renowned ring road tramp is attracting a new member every 10 minutes.

Almost 500 new members have signed up to a website tribute page in honour of Josef Stawinoga since its existence was reported in the Express & Star on Monday.

Mr Stawinoga, who has lived on Ring Road St John's for more than 30 years, has become a phenomenon on social networking site Facebook.

On Monday the group, entitled We Love U the Wolverhampton Ring Road Tramp, had just over 4,000 members. This morning it had 4,504.

View the group here.The website allows users to keep in touch and meet new people but it also allows members to create groups in honour of anything they wish.

Mr Stawinoga, who is thought to be 87, recently became the latest star of the website after Aston University student Laura Croxford decided to set it up. She described the tramp as a "legend" and told how at first she did not believe he existed until a friend pointed him out as they were driving past his tent.

Research out today suggests Britain is becoming a friendlier society thanks to online networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo, with half of all internet users signed up to these sites.

Almost a billion minutes a month are spent on Facebook alone, which has grown sixfold this year.

Facebook, which was originally set up for students but was opened up to everyone last year, saw its audience grow 541 per cent from last December to this August, market analyst Neilsen/NetRatings found. It now has 6.5 million users and has overtaken MySpace, with 6.4 million, as the leading network.

Other top sites include Bebo, with 4.4 million users, Windows Live with 2.3 million and Friends Reunited with 2.1 million.

Mr Stawinoga is just one of the the millions of stars of Facebook..

Mr Stawinoga, who is known locally as Fred, can often be seen by passing motorists sweeping up around his tent, which was given to him by Wolverhampton City Council who have allowed him to stay on the central reservation.

The attention given to Mr Stawinoga has also prompted people to speculate on the whereabouts of other Wolverhampton celebrities. One poster on the site wonders what has happened to "the cowboy with the transistor radio who says 'Howdy'", while another asks after the "guy who looks like Santa with a mug around his neck".