Facebook




 * [|Facebook]** has greatly expanded the social connections between individuals from work, other colleges and universities or different regions. According to statistics presented on Wikipedia (2006), Facebook has had the largest number of registered users as of December 2005. Furthermore, it is the 7th largest website visited as of November 2006 (Mary Ann Mavrinac - Chief Librarian - UTM). Facebook is a very good example of a social networking web site. Not only is it an outlet for meeting new people and connecting to those from past, but an entire service that allows for seamless communication through email, instant messaging, file sharing, and image postings and sharing. It has transformed social networking into an interactive portal that promotes various forms of communication.

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Facebook, originally called "[|thefacebook] " was founded by Mark Zuckerburg at the University of Harvard in February 2004. By the end of that year, the number of users exceeded one million. After quickly being utilized among all Harvard students on campus, it began to spread to other institutions within Boston as well as the other seven Ivy Leagues in the northeast region of the United States exclusively. Many others, including Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes joined Saverin in expanding this popular facilitator of communication. On August 23, 2005 "thefacebook" was purchased by [|Corporation], where the "the" was dropped from the name (Wikipedia, 2006).

Interestingly, Zuckerburg attempted to introduce a similar concept of facebook for high school students. It did not received as much attention as his original idea. Due to high demands from users, he instead allowed college and university students to add high school students to their profile. Aside from North America, Facebook has expanded into 21 universities within the United Kingdom as well as Mexico and the US Virgin Islands (Wikipedia, 2006). Facebook recently decided to allow everyone to join the network; you do not need to be in a university/college/high school/work network to use become a part of Facebook.

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The newsfeed is a feature in facebook that allows everyone in the users network to see changes and updates made by their friends. Using a newspaper-like format, the newsfeed lists "stories". For example, it will notify an individual when one friend has written on someone else's wall and include the content of the post. Another example is when someone puts up new pictures, a story will follow along with several pictures. Accoring to Facebook, they choose the stories that relate to interactions between connected users. Despite the fact that the user has the option to choose what will appear in the newsfeed and what will not, many users have complained about the feature. Facebook groups such as "Bring Back the Old Facebook" have been created with thousands of members protesting the feature (Facebook, 2006).

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The "Groups" function on Facebook allows members to create and join webpages within the facebook network based on their interests in such areas as business, entertainment & arts, geography, internet & technology, music, and sports & recreation. Certain groups are private and members are only allowed to join upon invitation while others are open for anyone to join. Some groups actually encourage more people to join because they are created for a certain cause (ex. breast cancer awareness) or to test a theory (ex. the biggest group on facebook and how fast it will expand). Members of groups can post pictures on the group's page, leave comments, participate in group discussions, and invite new members to join. Groups are also used as a contact database so that events can be sent to only members of a certain group. For example, a student organization may set up a group on Facebook and send advertisements of their events to fellow group members. There is also a section under each group called "Related Groups" where affiliates and partners can be seen.
 * Face book is currently the most popular site because many university student are logged on to that site and get to know other university students as well.

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Facebook allows for individuals or groups to organize events. Events can range from private parties to public demonstrations. An invitation can be sent to a list of desired guests. By accessing the "My Events" feature in Facebook, one can view the events that they have been invited to. They can choose from a range of options such as, attending, not attending, maybe attending, posting messages on "The Wall", or posting pictures related to the event.

A major advantage of this form of HTML Communications Portal Facebook is, (One could say that the Site is like an "MSN but in HTML version"), it provides all the services you would expect in a 'Portal Website' with its abundance of options in and around communications without ever needing to physically download a program. Therefore anytime, anywhere in the world... as long as there is an internet connection, your profiles, events, and emails are all at your fingertips.

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Facebook allows you to post onto other peoples' walls, leaving messages for them to view later. The status options allows users to leave messages about what they are currently doing, where they are, and how they are feeling; continually providing other users with an up-to-date message of what people are doing. Facebook is an incredible way to communicate with friends while getting to know people through their profiles. It is no longer, "what's your number?" or "what's your email?" but rather "add me to Facebook!" It is a fun and interesting site and a method of communication that continues to grow day-to-day. For proof of this, log on to Facebook and view the "Biggest Facebook Group" - just by refreshing your browser, you will see that the amount of members has already increased.

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 * Hi5
 * [|Friendster]
 * [|MySpace]
 * [|Bebo]
 * [|Multiply]
 * [|Piczo]
 * [|Tagworld]
 * [|openBC] (for business connections)



"I have been using Facebook for the last 2 months and I have found it quite entertaining. It has given me an opportunity to meet new people that have the same interests and occupation as I am, but it has also given me a great opportunity to find alot of my friends that I have lost touch with during the past few years. As this site grows, I feel Facebook will have so much more to offer than its competitors." - Janakhan R.

Concerns
With all the recent changes made to Facebook they have also opened up the site to the pubic. There have been petitions and many concerns about this new addition because the one thing that separated Facebook and other online networks was the fact that everyone was connected by education and represented by schools. Facebook allowed you to connect to others within the same program as you and also allowed you to view specific courses and those within that course. The comfort that we once had with Facebook has now left because other online networks are clearly made out for dating services and Facebook created a friendlier environment for the students.

Facebook is a relevant example of the recent [|Web 2.0] concept introduced in class. Facebook connects people across great distances, allowing for social activities to take place. It is a very addictive pastime and can be compared to MSN, Hi5, and MySpace. Currently, this online commnuity has been able to attract and maintain the attention of many students in high school, university, and college. The survey that professor Micheal Jones performed further solidifies the addictiveness of Facebook; many students revealed they go online very often to access it. Web 2.0 supports the idea that content found on the Internet today does not remain static; with Facebook, new stories and messages are created daily. This concept also supports the notion of community building; with Facebook, people are able to remain connected with others and engage in the exchange of messages. Communities expand as more and more add new profiles to their accounts.

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"Facebook logo." No date. Online image. __Cheerz anti-hangover__. 19 October 2006. <[|http://www.cheerzhangover.com/images/links/facebook-logo.gif>.]

Facebook. Oct. 30,2006. [|www.facebook.com]

Wikipedia. Oct. 19, 2006. __Facebook__. Oct. 19, 2006. <[|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook>.[[http://www.facebook.com/>]


 * All images were altered by Mike Rybinski in Photoshop