Tech Times - The Future is Facebook - By Sebastian Stent

Facebook - the fastest growing internet tool
July 17, 2007 Edition 1

Sebastian Stent

Facebook. You might have heard of it, unless you've been languishing in some remote forest. It's an online social networking tool developed by a smart young lad called Mark Zuckerberg.

It was created in 2004 from his Harvard dorm room, and was designed to bring students together. Its place on university campuses, as well as the fact that it required your real name and e-mail address to log on, bred a culture of honesty and integrity, which has made Facebook the fastest growing tool of its kind in the world today - the sixth most trafficked site in United States.

While Myspace receives about 57 million US visitors a month and Facebook only 14 million, Facebook is growing three times as fast as the Rupert Murdoch-owned Myspace and should soon eclipse it in terms of both members and use.

While its roots are on campuses, its appeal has spread, especially since it opened its doors to non-campus members last year.

Now there are about 24 million members worldwide, with an astonishing 140 000 new sign ups a day.

What sets it apart from its competitors is its focus on connections - as it is not just the people you know as "friends", but your connections through groups and networks. This has been jumped on by advertisers, who see it as the perfect place to sell, as information is so quickly and efficiently disseminated.

Many thought Zuckerberg would sell out, but his control on the program he started seems unlikely to wane. Last year, he signed a deal with Microsoft, which is now brokering advertising on the site, for a sum many expect to top $100 million a year.

However, what really makes the new Facebook exciting is the Facebook Platform, which was recently released and announced at a briefing entitled "F8" (fate?).

Here Zuckenburg explained the future of Facebook, as a kind of online, open source internet operating system, from which applications from hundreds of other developers could be accessed and used.

In this way, the producers of the programs are able to exponentially increase their customer base, mere-ly using Facebook as the conduit with which to reach their audience.

At the same time, Facebook does not charge these companies for its service, leaving it up to the software designers to popularise their products and thus reap the rewards.

As we step into the age of Web 2.0 - a user-enabled open source internet in which everyone is welcome and ideas are free - it will be interesting to watch the growth of this phenomenon, and how it impacts on our lives in the not too distant future. - bigeyeddeer@yahoo.co.uk