Facebook has unquestionably become a part of life for the majority of internet savvy people around the globe. Whether you’re a high school student using it to gossip with your friends, in your 30′s looking for old classmates, or an entrepreneur or bussiness owner publicizing your company, Facebook seems to have something for everyone.
I have always been savvy with technology and computers – I started working with my first computer at the young age of 8 and when I was 10, I taught myself how to program in BASIC literally overnight. For some reason, though, I didn’t immediately jump on the Facebook bandwagon the moment it became mainstream. It seemed silly, frivilous and simply trendy. I had been using MySpace and enjoyed the ability to control the look and feel of my page. I managed to find a few old friends on it, but most of them never posted anything. Mostly I just used my page as a personal blog to track my mundane life.
Then one day, I finally took the leap. I joined Facebook.
At first the pages looked dull and boring. A stark contrast to MySpace’s colorful pages, flashing blinkies and auto-loading music and videos. But what I quickly realized is that everyone I had on MySpace was also on Facebook and… guess what… they were actually posting! Next I realized that not only were my old friends there, but so were dozens more. To date I have connected with nearly my entire High School class, a childhood best friend I thought I would never find, old teachers, college friends, remote family and even old boyfriends (most of whom I was already still on speaking terms with). While these may not be people I feel the need to converse with on a regular basis, I feel priviliged that I can know what great (or terrible) things are happening in their lives, offer congratulations or condolenses, provide advice, wish happy birthday’s or just simply “Like” their status because… well… I liked it!
Today, like many people, I am hooked on Facebook. I have not only used it to connect with friends, but I have also used it to promote businesses I have been a part of and to follow other businesses I have interest in. And let’s not forget the oh-so-addicting games. So what if Facebook never existed? Where would be then?
Perhaps MySpace would have remained more popular. Or perhaps social networking as we know it today wouldn’t exist – at least not at the level it is now. Businesses would still rely solely on expensive advertising, email marketing and banner ads. While these methods are still used, Facebook’s advertising has been, in my experience, invaluable.
Some say people would call, write or speak in person more. But let’s be honest here, when was the last time you called someone just to update them on your life or find out about theirs? In High School? 15 years ago or so? People tend to stay in their own circles – in their comfort zone. Facebook allows us to open up and reach outside of our circle. It extends our comfort zone.
One thing is for certain, the world would be a less “friend”lier place. I never would have found my childhood friend or connected with classmates who had been outside my circle in High School. This also means I never would have intended to attend a reunion, which I now look forward to. Facebook has given me the ability to reach outside my daily circle and laugh, cry and vent with old and new friends alike. It has rekindled friendships and connected me with people I thought I would never get to talk to again.
So despite the addicting games and countless hours easily wasted away with Facebook, I am thankful it was created. I am thankful I took the leap. I am thankful for finding friends.
Case in point: Life just wouldn’t be the same without Facebook.
Facebook will be launching their new group buying program tonight. Facebook Deals will be launching in 5 US cities tonight and then will be launching in Europe in about three months time. There have already been a lot of comparison between Facebook Deals, Groupon and LivingSocial, but its expected that unlike the other services Facebook Deals wont charge retailers a percentage of the revenues.
Groupon and LivingSocial are controlling this market simply because of their technology and user base. Now, Facebook with the worlds largest user base is going to enter this very competitive and lucrative markets. Groupon and LivingSocial better look out!
p.s. Google has just launched their own group buying service. This space is getting overcrowded now.
(via RWW)
Talkie has just launched a combination between social gaming and philanthropy, making environmental activism as easy as logging on to Facebook. Talkie is launching Ecotopia, a “green” game that rewards real-world eco-friendly actions with in-game points. Features include:
- Tackling global issues – Through its association with well-known non-profit organization Conservation International, Ecotopia addresses environmental activism head-on, with missions designed to teach players about conservation and sustainable living, through dynamic gameplay.
- “Social proofing” – By performing real-world acts of sustainability and uploading photos or video for Facebook friends to view and verify, players can earn substantial in-game rewards.
- Well-known gameplay model with a twist – Ecotopia’s city-building gameplay model allows fans of all skill levels to play with ease, but unlike other games, Ecotopia also challenges players to overcome obstacles in a heroes-versus-villains backstory.
Republic (the leading fashion retailer) has just launched their own Facebook Deals service. Republics Facebook Deals service will be managed by the team over at One iota.
Deals will be activated when users ‘check-in’ on their mobile phone through Facebook to Republic stores in Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham, Leeds and London.
Using Facebook Deals, Republic hopes to drive local retail footfall through Facebook and tap into the growing number of mobile users who are using their phones to source products, compare prices and seek out the best deals on the high street.
Visibli has just released the results from their Facebook study and the results are quite amazing. Visibli studied over 200 million facebook page fans to get a sense of how they engage across some of the other verticals as well, and compared them to brands: http://visibli.com/reports/fbstudy.
Some of the interesting findings:
- Bieber? Gaga? Wrong! Audi’s Facebook Fans are much more engaged than both of theirs.
- The half-life of a Facebook post is 1h 20m. Facebook posts receive 50% of their Likes in the first 1h 20m, 80% in first 7 hours, and 95% within 22 hours.
- Just like high school: Artists get all the love, with more engagement as their Pages grow. They’re the only ones doing it right. Opposite for brands – their engagement falls as number of fans grows (and media’s even worse!)
Facebook has finally unified their mobile applications. Up until now Facebook has had m.facebook.com and touch.facebook.com. The touch.mobile.com was specifically designed for touch screens, but now m.facebook.com will be the only Facebook mobile version.
Facebook’s Lee Byron says the new Facebook mobile site will adapt itself depending on the hardware you are visiting from:
“There will no longer be a difference between m.facebook.com and touch.facebook.com, we’ll automatically serve you the best version of the site for your device,”
The new website is made possible through a new UI framework that incorporates XHP (a PHP extension that incorporates XML), Javelin (Facebook’s lightweight Javascript framework) and WURFL (an open source mobile device database). The framework is dynamic enough to detect the UI and limitations of individual devices and adjust to them automatically.
BabbleOn has just released their free smartphone application for iPhone, Android and Blackberry.
“An application like BabbleOn is the next step in the social media arena, and will certainly revolutionize the way we communicate online,” said Michael Mills, President and founder of BabbleOn. “This application will break down the walls of social media communication and allow users to create voice messages for all to actually hear. For instance, you can sing Happy Birthday to your sister who lives across the country, record your baby’s first words, tell all your friends all at once you just got engaged or just update your status… the possibilities are endless and more efficient and satisfying than typing a message.”
Using the App is just as easy. Simply log on to your Facebook account through the BabbleOn App, press and hold the talk bubble to record then choose to post your message either to your wall or your friend’s wall on Facebook. The BabbleOn App includes:
- Simple and intuitive user interface.
- Ability to listen to your babble (recorded message) to determine whether you delete and start over again before posting to Facebook.
- Provides full access to your friends list on Facebook.
- Add custom text to babbles.
BabbleOn Technologies Inc. plans to expand the BabbleOn App with the upcoming launch of the online BabbleOn Community (www.BabbleOn.com). The website will allow users to follow friends, celebrities or products and see what all the babble is about as well as mingle and voice opinions on various topics via their computer or smartphone.
Crispapp has launched a Facebook Messenger application designed specifically for Apple gadgets. Facebook Messenger is essentially Skype for your Facebook friends. The application allows users to call anyone of their Facebook friends for free over VoIP.
The Facebook Messenger also lets you post pictures, view a friend’s wall, use emotions, browse message history, text chat via Push Notifications and add multi-tasking support from within the app.
The Facebook Messenger is available at a price of $3 and requires iOS 3.1.2 or later
via [PC WORLD]
The Washington Post launched a new agency, SocialCode, that is designed to help clients improve their marketing and advertising Facebook campaigns.
By designing campaigns that are targeted to enable brands to maximize their marketing budgets, SocialCode will help companies to capitalize on those features offered through Facebook’s advertising platform. They will customize social campaigns that are technically-heavy so as to streamline processes and reach a broader demographic.
Here is an amazing tutorial that helps any users to quickly customize their Facebook Fan Box with ease. The tutorial goes through the exact code you need to change and it is so easy that pretty much anyone could do it. Once your done customizing the code it ready to be added to your site. Enjoy!
Click here for the tutorial.
