When founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, began the social networking site Facebook back in 2004, he was a Harvard sophomore, and had to know he was onto something that would change the face of social networking forever (New York Times, 2009). Just how big it would grow was anyone’s guess, but Zuckerberg was right about one thing; Facebook has not only changed the world of networking, it has become the second most widely used site just after Google (New York Times, 2009). Furthermore, Facebook continues to rack up the numbers as the company continues to grow and pull in record numbers of participants. But what are the numbers behind this social network, and how does one use it to their advantage?
Similar to that of other social networking sites, Facebook pulls in record numbers by giving their users a chance to connect, collaborate and stay in touch through a carefully designed interface. The blueprint behind the scenes literally restricts how users may change the appearance of the page, thus cutting down on visual clutter and threats of spam, which plague all of the other rival network sites including MySpace and Twitter (New York Times, 2009). Currently, Facebook has more than 200 million active users worldwide, and adds more than 5 billion pieces of content, including photos, links, notes and albums each month. Those figures alone push Facebook past its rivals with great tenacity and speed (Reisinger, 2010). In 2007, Facebook unveiled an initiative to allow third-party software designers to create programs while advertising their applications on the site (New York Times, 2009).
Facebook now has everything from games to music, to photo and file sharing tools, which allows for user collaboration and has fueled even more activity on the site. By enhancing their site, Facebook continues to add new users to its league of social networking junkies. As for collaboration, I’ve noticed colleagues that I work with at the university in San Diego and how they use Facebook to communicate with faculty who teach at other campuses around the globe. They set up team-building pages, such as French, German and Latin foreign language clubs, which are all virtually connected to the main campus in San Diego. With Facebook’s music and photo sharing features, my photojournalist and indie-musician friends are able to swap photos, images, and music sheet scores with one another no matter where they live around the globe. Furthermore, colleagues can share ideas, issues and concerns using Facebook, which adds a layer of personality to their otherwise mundane or tedious daily tasks when using traditional email applications. Sure, these numbers may be impressive, and it’s true many people are now using Facebook to collaborate, but in what other ways does Facebook lend its recipe for success to the rest of the world?
Conscious of the power of social networking sites, like that of Facebook and the Internet, fashion brands are seeking to engage dialogue with their consumers long before they actually purchase any product or walk through the doors of a brick and mortar store. Creative director, Frida Giannini of Gucci, said that they recently introduced an iPhone application that not only let’s users share music, but connects each of their fans through their Facebook page, which currently has 500,000 fans (Pfanner, 2009). Ms. Giannini also stated in the article that “In six months, a million things can happen” (Pfanner, 2009), which tells the story of how the economy can turn in the blink of an eye as it did, leaving Gucci stores and other merchants vulnerable to the economic struggles of the world. Giannini noted that it is extremely important to keep their consumers informed of new items, sales and upcoming events, and those online applications, such as Facebook, allow her to do just that. While Facebook permits merchants to advertise their brand, what other ways can one use that same technology to succeed?
Location, location, location! That’s the word that is synonymous with event planning and coordination, and what other city has more to offer for an event than San Diego? That’s where Facebook comes in. Elaine Pritchard, an event planning specialist in La Jolla, California, uses Facebook everyday to communicate with her current clients about their upcoming events. She also uses the social networking site to obtain new clients, display images of her events, and provide quotes to potential clients. Ms. Pritchard noted most recently that, “Facebook literally keeps me in business.” She admitted that without Facebook, she would have to hire a web- development company to design a website for her, which she feels is a waste of money. “Why bother creating a website when Facebook can do everything that I need?” she said in my recent interview. Not only does Ms. Pritchard use Facebook to run her business, she uses it to stay in touch with her clients from around the world who have used her services to plan their special events. “It’s like my little window to the world that I can open and close anytime I want to,” she said.
While Ms. Pritchard uses Facebook to run her business, it’s clear that other social networking sites, such as MySpace and Twitter, will most certainly have to rethink how they can keep up with such an innovative tool as Facebook. And just as the technology continues to evolve, Internet sites that allow for communication, collaboration and networking, they too, will have to evolve or they will cease to exist or will simply be taken over by the behemoth known as Facebook.
References:
New York Times, (2009). Business: facebook, inc. Retrieved on February 22, 2010, from
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/facebook_inc/index.html
Pfanner, E. (2009). New York Times: global business: luxury brands and the case for $4,000
sunglasses. Retrieved on February 23, 2010, from
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/business/global/19lux.html
Pritchard, E. (2010, January 28). Event Planning Specialist, La Jolla, California. Interview.
D. Reisinger, (2010). Los Angeles Times: technology: the business and culture of our digital
lives. Retrieved on February 23, 2010, from
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/02/twitter-tweets-rising.html
2 comments:
Mr. Smith,
I enjoyed reading your article.
I didn't realize how much Facebook has become a part of so many lives.
The retail aspect of this social networking can be temendous. Who needs a physical building to shop when everything is literally at one's fingertips?
One aspect of Facebook that has become all the rage, is the Farming Community. I have co-workers who actually are "caught up" in the entire farming community and talk about what crops they are raising and what crops they have lost or sold. It is amazing the amount of conversation that is generated about one single topic.
Personally, I feel that Facebook and other sites like this, leave a huge area for revealing too much information about one's self and the windows for misuse, abound. I think that one needs to be extremely careful when accessing Facebook or any other social networking site.
I use Facebook at least once a week. I avoided the multiple requests to be "friended" for a little over a year and now find it invaluable. I speak/write to old elementary school, high school and college friends & family as well as friends I have developed through my children's school and work.
While it started out as being purely social, I started a company page for my office and am now garnering business off of that as well. Now people associate what I do with who I am and it has been profitable for my business in that sense.
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