Can Classmates.com go back in time to the point where it's relevant again?

That, in a way, is what the Seattle-based social network is attempting to do with its latest revamp -- seeking to position itself as more of an online destination for nostalgic content. The overhaul, announced earlier this month, is now being rolled in preview form via (what else?) email invitations to existing Classmates Gold members.

New features include photos of personalities who were popular during the user's graduation year or decade, and an initial repository of scanned yearbooks, which is an initiative that Classmates originally announced earlier this year.

After getting one of the invitations, I've spent some time acquainting myself with the new site this morning. In my view, it is more appealing than the old Classmates.com, which had the feel of a ghost town, particularly as more and more people started to use Facebook to connect with old high-school friends. The new content and design make the site feel more lively and current (paradoxically), and I could see it getting some people to become active users again.

However, the site still has a ways to go if it's truly going to satisfy that yearning to reminisce about days gone by. Yearbooks haven't been scanned for my high school yet, although the site helpfully highlighted one for a school about an hour north of mine, just in case I was interested in reflecting fondly upon people I never knew.

Classmates parent United Online has said it will add steadily to the digital yearbook collection. But even if my yearbooks were online, I've got the real ones on a shelf within arm's reach of my desk at home. And the truth of the matter is that I don't feel like doing that more than once a year. Which illustrates a challenge for Classmates, even in this new incarnation: Just how much of a market is there for reminiscing?

At any rate, it's at least good to see the site putting up a fight.