Facebook is one of the many more prominent social networking websites available to the general public. Like the other sites, it enables people to sign up to post different types of information, in addition to communicating and keeping in touch with friends.
Facebook was developed by Mark Zuckerberg, originally serving as a social networking service exclusively for students of Harvard College. Two months after its launch on February 2004, students who belonged to other Ivy League schools were also granted access to the site. The popularity of this site eventually led to other universities being added to Facebook. People with university email addresses (or, email addresses with domains such as .edu) from around the world ultimately were granted access to Facebook.
Everyone was eventually treated to the opportunity of joining Facebook two and a half years after it was originally launched. Facebook was made available to anyone in a particular age range and with an email address during September 2006. Now, people who wish to join Facebook can do so by joining affiliate networks representing schools, workplaces, or even countries. Apparently people have recognized the potential of Facebook, as it jumped from being the 60th to the 7th most visited website on the Internet between 2006 and 2007.
By definition, a facebook is actually the term used for a certain college’s publication which is distributed at the start of a school year. This publication can include pictures and profiles of individual students, to serve as guides for each one to know each other more.
Facebook users can actually do more than just view other members. Apart from the usual fare in social networking websites such as messaging, Facebook also has a bulletin board of sorts (‘The Wall’) for viewers to leave messages on a user’s profile for everyone in the network to see. Recently Facebook has given its members the ability to include attachments on their messages on The Wall.
That isn’t all that Facebook users can do to keep relations healthy online. Virtual ‘Gifts’ are also available for users to purchase and send to other users, usually with a message attached. The design of Facebook made certain ‘gifts’ available only during particular times and with limited amounts, adding more value to the transactions made between friends.
The Facebook Platform was also introduced just this year, with the purpose of enabling members to create applications which can be integrated with other Facebook features. Developers appreciate the Facebook Platform because it gives them another approach in personalizing their own profiles while making the same gimmick available for other members to use. These applications can enable members to feature their favorite contacts on their profiles, among other creative purposes.
In the spirit of fun, Facebook users also have the opportunity to ‘poke’ each other. This feature was introduced by developers without any actual aims in mind. A majority of Facebook users ‘poke’ other members to gain their attention or just to say hello, however there have been many reported interpretations to this particular action which are just as creative.
The unique innovations that Facebook has introduced to the online social networking service field are apparently very creative. This is a definite factor which contributes to the growing success of the site.
