Facebook is a social network that is worth checking out.
I first learned about Facebook about 4 years ago when my son Kevin went to college. Kevin occasionally used Live Journal in high school and sometime after receiving his .edu email address he joined Facebook, which was restricted to college students at the time.
Occasionally Kevin would talk about someone "Friending" him or communicating via Facebook and he also spoke of myspace and what was happening there. This whole social movement appeared to be associated with teenagers and early adults, as they grew up with these tools and used them a another form of communication.
For me, I have had a Linked-in account for a while but primarily used email and the phone for communication at work and with friends. I discovered blogs and podcasts in late 2005 and in a way that became my own list social network.
Everyone spoke and wrote about Web 2.0 in 2006, and though-out 2007 Enterprise 2.0 (Web 2.0 for the Enterprise) has been a frequent topic. With increased adoption of Web 2.0 properties, like Myspace, YouTube, Facebook, and Linkedin, social networking has grown in respect and enrollment.
In September 2006, Facebook opened it's enrollment to everyone, and in May 2007 it opened it's platform to developers. There was a lot of Facebook buzz during this time which prompted a number of established folks to take a closer look at Facebook. Still, I had not given Facebook a second thought, until I read a post from Andrew McAfee concerning a demo that he sat in on at Harvard where he thought that Facebook got the Social Network right, and also included enough privacy and disclosure control to be effective.
After reading Andrew post about facebook, I decided to check it out. I created and account, poked around and for a while had no friends. My son told me that he was not going to Friend me and I could not Fiend him.
Soon after, I read another post about Facebook from Susan Scrupski at the ITSINSIDER blog where she comments on Facebook ......."In the past few weeks, I've become a Facebook fan myself. It's very true that the blurring of the social and professional is blurring with the ease of use of social media tools,"
Within a week I had three different friends and today I have over a dozen friends and acquaintances and that number is still growing. What is great is that Facebook is also starting to become a communication tool for me. Blogging is great but it is almost one sided, unless you publish something controversial. Posts like this take some time and with Facebook you can see what everyone is doing and share thoughts, pictures and media easily and quickly.
So I am a big fan of Ken Rutkowski from KenRadio.com. Ken is all over technology and although he has been somewhat skeptical about blogging, he is starting to come around. Then about 2 or 3 weeks ago Ken starts talking about Facebook and how really likes Facebook and thinks its a great tool. Ken is using a Facebook group as another forum for his technology content. I think this is smart and this is what is going to happen with a lot of specialized content.
Paul Allen has predicted that Facebook will be the largest Social Network in the world. I do not agree with that as Social Networks are just starting to evolve, and gain acceptance. With acceptance comes enrollment, and with enrollment comes the masses. Facebook is still very much on Social Non-Business side of Web 2.0, and this transition or adoption by the Business Community is vital for growth.
I see a Business Oriented Facebook someday with all the communication and media delivery features in Facebook today but also with advanced privacy and filtering surrounding groups and resources.
Facebook is worth checking out.
Technorati : Facebook, Social Network
