Advantages of Facebook
Facebook, as facebook.com is commonly known as is one of the most popular social networking platforms today. It began modestly in February 2004 and has come to become a phenomenon in the recent times. The best aspect that most members attribute to Facebook is its ease of use as compared to other social networks but, as most people realize today, Facebook is one of the most popular platforms to share photographs and announcements. Although Facebook caters to various needs of individuals, every niche group of individuals looks at Facebook with a different outlook as to its advantages and disadvantages. For example, for internet marketers, Facebook is a means of advertising while for a group of students, it a good means of sending messages and announcements back and forth. The strength of Facebook lies in its flexibility of use that allows almost all means of effective communication efficient.
Let us look at the advantages of Facebook in better detail:
- Medium of advertising: Facebook is an efficient and effective means of advertising since it costs almost nothing but reaches the world at large. Although there are varied expressions of the number of members on Facebook, the number could be anywhere between 60 million to 80 million as per data dating to November 2008. Facebook is only growing by the day and it would not be surprising if it has already crossed the 100 million mark. Amazing, isn’t it? Can a business imagine the possibilities of its advert getting an exposure to this large mass of people? Although many members seldom log into Facebook, an advertisement posted at a cost of a mere $10 or $20 reaching a tenth of its members can open a lot of possibilities, especially so for virtual or internet based businesses. Again, Facebook comes up tops here with member comfort by not displaying advertisements all over the pages. It displays them on the top-right corner of the home page and in the column on the right in the internal pages. This ensures that the adverts get good coverage and at the same time do not stick out like a sore thumb for a member. The effectiveness of advertising on Facebook is already proven and many businesses are making a beeline to Facebook all the time.
- Legal advantages: Facebook is an informal interactive website and does not seem so serious for many but legal professionals have a different take of it. A prime example here is the case of the University of Pennsylvania where officials claimed that they had tracked down the identities of students who bombarded the field in the October 2005 Ohio state game. Facebook is also known to be used by the police to track down students violating the moral codes or standards of colleges and even culprits who are at large. Many students contest the use of Facebook with authorities since they feel that something like a singular drunken photo should not be used against them for penalty.
- Social interactivity: Websites like Facebook are very useful when used to track down long lost friends and relatives. In fact, the more popular they get, the more useful they are since they would have a greater or a larger network where the chance of finding that someone are so much higher. Facebook also entertains groups and causes that make many a people come together for common interests thus facilitating making new friends surpassing geographical barriers. It also facilitates knowing people better and gives way to relationship and love lives that many swear by.
- Student interactions: Although statistics prove otherwise, they are not the beacons of reality. It is true that mostly middle aged people and retirees (owing to availability of time and Facebook’s popular perception of being a social website) use Facebook, but it is also a fact that the younger generations makes the most of it. This is solely because of the social habits and common interest areas that most of the younger people share today. A lot of organizations or groups on Facebook comprise of younger people and these groups and organizations come up with a zillion posts daily about new and upcoming programs, invites and gathering notices. Even for the more mature users, Facebook, in this context, acts as perfect, cost effective and most reliable medium. Dominantly, Facebook today is the single most group communicating medium today and this quality will only assume more importance as time goes by. With Facebook being available on more and more platforms like mobile phones and Wi-Fi networks in many countries, Facebook is adding supporting infrastructure to group communication capabilities in real time.
- Photo sharing: One of Facebook’s greatest strengths, the photo sharing feature is a great advantage for many. Photo’s can be uploaded to Facebook with ease and this can be achieved directly from a mobile phone too. The user can organize the photos into albums and set restrictions as to who can see the photos and who cannot. This Facebook has largely contributed to the popularity of this social networking medium and has eased the cause of members to a great extent. If such a feature were not available, members would have to send multiple emails with attachments to their friends and relatives or snail mail prints. The photo sharing feature also features a comment which is very innovative method of conversing with pictures and opinionating them.
Facebook by large has a lot of advantages over other social networking media which have contributed to its success. Its aesthetic feel is also one of its strengths and as mentioned before, everyone has a different take to Facebook and uses it to their own specific advantages. This flexibility of use that Facebook offers makes it highly customizable for professionals as well as personal use making it one of the best communication mediums available today.
Getting into Facebook is as easy as 1,2,3 and only needs to give in a few details. Making a good and a detailed profile would be useful to have a bigger network. One last advice, use Facebook to your advantage but be careful as to what you say to whom in there, follow a simple, modest and courteous trend and you will be safe.. :).
Facebook Statistics:
# Facebook today has over 300 million active user and over 50% of them login to Facebook daily.
# The age group of above 35 is the fastest growing on Facebook.
# Facebook is also the most active website on a daily basis due to the fact that it clock over 6 billion user-minutes a day and has over 40 million status updates and 10 million fan-page requests daily.
# With over 2 billion image uploads, 14 million video uploads, 3 million events and 2 billion content/links monthly, Facebook is the most sought after SNS on the internet.
# Facebook also has over 45 million active user groups and over 70 translations.
# With over 350,000 applications online and with 70% of users using them, Facebook encourages over a million developers from across 180 countries.
# Facebook connect has been implemented by over 15,000 websites, applications and device since December 2008.
# Facebook mobile is also very popular and over 65 million active users access Facebook on mobile devices and are known to be about 50% more active than others. Facebook mobile has been deployed in over 60 countries by over 180 operators.
