If someone had asked me approximately seven months ago if http://www.facebook.com/ could reshape the way I thought about social networking, I would claim they were crazy. At that point, http://www.myspace.com/ was my bread and butter. I was obviously still well below the power curve. By starting work at a new company, I came under peer pressure as everyone seemed to use Facebook. Always stubborn, I rebelled against it, saying it was a passing fad. Finally after about a month, I caved to see what the entire hubbub was about. My eyes became open to an entire new world of possibilities in efficient ways of world communication. Gone were the juvenile and obsolete ways still in use by Myspace. Gone were super-personalized pages that ate up so much computer memory that you couldn’t even scroll down.
Facebook took the best part of social networking and made it the focus: communication. Where Myspace allows a customizable page laden with graphics, slideshows, games and things I don’t even deem understandable, Facebook uses a central “Wall” features as the basis. For those in the Stone Age, Facebook defines on their website as: founded in February 2004, Facebook is a social utility that helps people communicate more efficiently with their friends, family and coworkers. The company develops technologies that facilitate the sharing of information through the social graph, the digital mapping of people's real-world social connections. Anyone can sign up for Facebook and interact with the people they know in a trusted environment (Ref: http://www.facebook.com/).
The website focuses on people communicating with people! Sounds pretty complex, right? The general layout of a Facebook page is quite simple and easy to understand. A user has a “Wall” for communication of messages, pictures, web links and videos between people and organizations. The basic premise is a simple time-descending news feed that is updatable day or night, with the option of others to comment. By taking away the frills and customization out of the picture, users are able to focus on what is important; conveying direct messages to others. I bought it hook, line and sinker after learning this in the first hour of using the site.
In fact, my usage of http://www.myspace.com/ trickled to almost nothing, and I ended up deleting my personal page a few months later. The website is now my primary medium of communicating between friends and acquaintances. The sheer amount of people using the website is quite astronomical with over 300 million users, and over 50% logging in every day (Ref: www.facebook.com). I found people from elementary school, or others I served on active duty with in the military over a decade ago. Facebook is catching like wildfire! But wait, there is more. Facebook has other practical applications that apply to the more business-oriented person or company: the fan page. Through the use of the fan page, a business entity can communicate news, events, advertising and their general message; but also track fan demographic metrics in monitoring who is interested in the establishment. In terms of applying this to my chosen profession of public relations/public affairs, the site is a godsend from the angels on high.
Stay tuned for part II of this article detailing how Facebook is used on the professional level!
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