“A do-everything site with the potential to devour the whole Internet,” according to Christopher Beam of Slate magazine (see How Facebook could crush MySpace, Yahoo!, and Google).
Facebook started as a college alternative to MySpace, but has exploded in popularity and will soon overtake MySpace as the most visited social networking site. According the ubiquitously accepted Alexa.com website rankings, Facebook is now the 10th most visited site on the Internet – up 6 places since the rankings were last updated (MySpace is unchanged in the 6th spot).
“MySpace, if you ask me, is a spam-infested state of nature,” writes Beam. “The average user page comes with a crapload of embedded music and video players, some seizure-inducing wallpaper, and a bunch of friend requests from "models" who want to "get to know you." Facebook, on the other hand, is much less customizable but also a lot more reassuring. The interface is comfy, sturdy, and attractive without being showy—the kind of social network you'd bring home to Mom.”
Here’s the wow factor: Facebook was only opened to the public one year ago. Previously, the Face was only available to party-hardy, horny and fun-seeking college teens. Last year, the owners of Facebook reportedly rejected a $900-million offer from Yahoo!
According to Facebook, there are more than 40 million registered users who spend an average of 20 minutes per day on the site (6 million are from Canada which is one-fifth of the country).
What is Facebook, today? It’s a place to put up your own little website of yourself and to share your interest with friends, colleagues, and others with like interests. Most importantly though, it’s very easy to find people of like interests, or the same geographic location, community, religion, etc. Even more importantly, it’s far easier to use than MySpace and its more ‘viral’ (i.e. it’s very attractive to potential users and easily spreads its tentacles to grab more and more members).
Here are some more interesting statistics from Facebook itself:
• Over 2,000 applications have been built on Facebook Platform
• No. 1 photo sharing application on the Web (comScore)
• Photo application draws more than twice as much traffic as the next three sites combined (comScore)
• More than 2.7 billion photos on the site
• More than 6 million active user groups on the site
Personally, I don’t particularly have a lot of time for Facebook. I only joined it because a few friends kept inviting me and I finally gave in. In two months, I have 42 friends including some that I haven’t talked to in almost 20 years.
Why do I continue to use it? Well I hate e-mail. I don’t know what I’m more sick of the latest Britney, Lindsay or Paris bad behavior report or mailbox full of crap. Do you have any friends or family you would like to stay in-touch with but don’t have the time? Facebook is a simple and viral means by which you can stay in-touch with people you don’t have time (or perhaps an inclination) to write, talk to or visit on a regular visit.
Some though like my wife refuse to use Facebook. They’re terrified about their privacy being invaded. To each their own.
