The Facebook Phenomenon
When you went to college, you may or may not have been part of a semi-humiliating little school publication known as The Facebook. An alphabetized list of freshman, with photo, hometown, High School and nominal major was presented in a saddle-stitched booklet, and typically delivered to all students via campus mail.
The (ostensible) idea behind it was to introduce the incoming freshman class to the upperclassmen. The more common uses were to pick out likely looking freshman women to meet, and for fraternity rushing purposes. They also made for some amusing evenings in the dorm.
Facebook the web application, as Wikipedia explains, "was founded by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004. Initially the membership was restricted to students of Harvard College. It was subsequently expanded to other Boston area schools (Boston College, Boston University, MIT, Tufts), Rochester, Stanford, NYU, Northwestern, and all Ivy League schools within two months. Many individual universities were added in rapid succession over the next year. Eventually, people with a university (e.g .edu, .ac.uk, etc.) email address from institutions across the globe were eligible to join. Networks were then initiated for high schools and some large companies. Since September 11, 2006, it has been made available to any email address user who inputs a certain age range. Users can select to join one or more participating networks, such as a high school, place of employment, or geographic region.
"As of July 2007, the website had the largest number of registered users among college-focused sites with over 34 million active members worldwide (also from non-collegiate network). From September 2006 to September 2007 it increased its ranking from 60 to 7th most visited web site, and was the number one site for photos in the United States, ahead of public sites such as Flickr, with over 8.5 million photos uploaded daily."
Why the astounding popularity? Probably because it's not MySpace. There is quite a discussion going on in the blogosphere (gee, I hate that word... somebody invent something new, quick!) over which site is better. Though MySpace still has significantly more users (MySpace has about 100 million users to Facebook's 20 million), Facebook has only recently opened its doors to include just about anyone who can find a way to fit into one of its many and growing network structure.
But one blogger put it best when he gave "Five reasons I like MySpace:
While most social networking sites will include some trolling (as in, looking for "hookups"), my first view of MySpace was a totally naked teenage girl in what she perceived to be a provocative pose (we can only hope it doesn't linger somewhere out there in the ethernet for her kids to see one day). Not so Facebook.
Right now, it's truly a social networking tool which helps users, quite literally, manage contacts - and explore new territory. Silly as it may seem, it's fun and even somewhat instructive to rate movies along with your contacts, eventually getting an assessment of your "movie compatibility" score. Create a photo-essay of your trip to South America and post it on your Facebook page. Invite people to events or organization meetings.
And people use it. Again from Wikipedia: "According to TechCrunch, "about 85% of students in [previously] supported colleges have a profile [on the site]. [Of those who are signed up,] 60% log in daily. About 85% log in at least once a week, and 93% log in at least once a month." According to Chris Hughes, spokesman for Facebook, "People spend an average of 19 minutes a day on Facebook."
Because you can find "friends" via college attended, or jobs held, you can locate and link up with people you have lost track of, catch up on activities, see the new home town, spouse, children, even learn what music they're listening to these days.
Features of Facebook include:
The Wall: each user has a "wall," upon which friends can post messages (for the worlds to see), including photos and videos and links.
Messages: just like email, threaded.
Gifts: "In February 2007, Facebook added a new gift feature to the website. Friends could send "gifts" -- small icons of novelty items designed by former Apple designer Susan Kare -- to each other by selecting one from Facebook's virtual gift shop and adding a message. Gifts given to a user appear on the recipient's wall with the giver's message, unless the giver decided to give the gift privately, in which case the giver's name and message is not displayed to other users. Additionally, all gifts (including private gifts) received by a user are displayed in the recipient's "gift box" (right above their wall on their profile), marked with either the first name of the user (for public gifts) or the word "Private." An "Anonymous" option is also available, by which anyone with profile access can see the gift, but only the recipient will see the message. No one will see the giver's name, and the gift will go in the recipient's gift box but not the wall.
"Some Facebook users are given one free gift to give; each additional gift given by a user costs US$1.00. The initial selection of gifts was Valentine's Day themed, and 50% of the proceeds received through February 2007 were donated to the charity Susan G. Komen for the Cure. After the month of February, the proceeds were no longer donated. Soon after, Facebook began making one new gift available each day, most of which had a limited supply or were available for a limited time. The daily new gift is advertised on every user's home page."
Marketplace: you can post free classified ads within certain categories.
Pokes: you can "poke" a friend - the equivalent of passing him in the hall and saying hi.
Status: tells everyone where you are and what you're doing now.
In addition, this May, Facebook launched "Applications," which allows third party developers to create new applications that can be used on Facebook, such as Grafiti, which allows users to leave visual messages on another users wall. The possibilities in this category are endless.
I should warn you of one thing, however - especially if you're in that baby boomer group as I am - your college graduation date must be 1970 or later in order to participate.
Sounds like it's time for a Facebook, Senior, wouldn't you say?
When you went to college, you may or may not have been part of a semi-humiliating little school publication known as The Facebook. An alphabetized list of freshman, with photo, hometown, High School and nominal major was presented in a saddle-stitched booklet, and typically delivered to all students via campus mail.
The (ostensible) idea behind it was to introduce the incoming freshman class to the upperclassmen. The more common uses were to pick out likely looking freshman women to meet, and for fraternity rushing purposes. They also made for some amusing evenings in the dorm.
Facebook the web application, as Wikipedia explains, "was founded by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004. Initially the membership was restricted to students of Harvard College. It was subsequently expanded to other Boston area schools (Boston College, Boston University, MIT, Tufts), Rochester, Stanford, NYU, Northwestern, and all Ivy League schools within two months. Many individual universities were added in rapid succession over the next year. Eventually, people with a university (e.g .edu, .ac.uk, etc.) email address from institutions across the globe were eligible to join. Networks were then initiated for high schools and some large companies. Since September 11, 2006, it has been made available to any email address user who inputs a certain age range. Users can select to join one or more participating networks, such as a high school, place of employment, or geographic region.
"As of July 2007, the website had the largest number of registered users among college-focused sites with over 34 million active members worldwide (also from non-collegiate network). From September 2006 to September 2007 it increased its ranking from 60 to 7th most visited web site, and was the number one site for photos in the United States, ahead of public sites such as Flickr, with over 8.5 million photos uploaded daily."
Why the astounding popularity? Probably because it's not MySpace. There is quite a discussion going on in the blogosphere (gee, I hate that word... somebody invent something new, quick!) over which site is better. Though MySpace still has significantly more users (MySpace has about 100 million users to Facebook's 20 million), Facebook has only recently opened its doors to include just about anyone who can find a way to fit into one of its many and growing network structure.
But one blogger put it best when he gave "Five reasons I like MySpace:
- Everybody has a beautiful MySpace page
- It’s a haven for Internet marketers
- Tons of people over 99 years old - my demographic
- Easy discovery of loud music upon page load - no clicks required
- Advertisements are unobtrusive and targeted
Five reasons I hate FaceBook:
- Every page looks the same, is consistent, and is easily navigated
- Third-party integration increases functionality and adoption factor
- Personal email discussions are threaded - too organized
- Account is tied to my cell phone number - near impossible to game
- You don’t feel like you’re in the middle of a 'friend competition'"
While most social networking sites will include some trolling (as in, looking for "hookups"), my first view of MySpace was a totally naked teenage girl in what she perceived to be a provocative pose (we can only hope it doesn't linger somewhere out there in the ethernet for her kids to see one day). Not so Facebook.
Right now, it's truly a social networking tool which helps users, quite literally, manage contacts - and explore new territory. Silly as it may seem, it's fun and even somewhat instructive to rate movies along with your contacts, eventually getting an assessment of your "movie compatibility" score. Create a photo-essay of your trip to South America and post it on your Facebook page. Invite people to events or organization meetings.
And people use it. Again from Wikipedia: "According to TechCrunch, "about 85% of students in [previously] supported colleges have a profile [on the site]. [Of those who are signed up,] 60% log in daily. About 85% log in at least once a week, and 93% log in at least once a month." According to Chris Hughes, spokesman for Facebook, "People spend an average of 19 minutes a day on Facebook."
Because you can find "friends" via college attended, or jobs held, you can locate and link up with people you have lost track of, catch up on activities, see the new home town, spouse, children, even learn what music they're listening to these days.
Features of Facebook include:
The Wall: each user has a "wall," upon which friends can post messages (for the worlds to see), including photos and videos and links.
Messages: just like email, threaded.
Gifts: "In February 2007, Facebook added a new gift feature to the website. Friends could send "gifts" -- small icons of novelty items designed by former Apple designer Susan Kare -- to each other by selecting one from Facebook's virtual gift shop and adding a message. Gifts given to a user appear on the recipient's wall with the giver's message, unless the giver decided to give the gift privately, in which case the giver's name and message is not displayed to other users. Additionally, all gifts (including private gifts) received by a user are displayed in the recipient's "gift box" (right above their wall on their profile), marked with either the first name of the user (for public gifts) or the word "Private." An "Anonymous" option is also available, by which anyone with profile access can see the gift, but only the recipient will see the message. No one will see the giver's name, and the gift will go in the recipient's gift box but not the wall.
"Some Facebook users are given one free gift to give; each additional gift given by a user costs US$1.00. The initial selection of gifts was Valentine's Day themed, and 50% of the proceeds received through February 2007 were donated to the charity Susan G. Komen for the Cure. After the month of February, the proceeds were no longer donated. Soon after, Facebook began making one new gift available each day, most of which had a limited supply or were available for a limited time. The daily new gift is advertised on every user's home page."
Marketplace: you can post free classified ads within certain categories.
Pokes: you can "poke" a friend - the equivalent of passing him in the hall and saying hi.
Status: tells everyone where you are and what you're doing now.
In addition, this May, Facebook launched "Applications," which allows third party developers to create new applications that can be used on Facebook, such as Grafiti, which allows users to leave visual messages on another users wall. The possibilities in this category are endless.
I should warn you of one thing, however - especially if you're in that baby boomer group as I am - your college graduation date must be 1970 or later in order to participate.
Sounds like it's time for a Facebook, Senior, wouldn't you say?
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