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Facebook Turns 6 – You've Come A Long Way, Baby
Posted in: Blog, Facebook, Industry News by Jessica on February 4, 2010
I’ve never had the opportunity to say this, so I’m going to bask in this moment.
Back in MY day, Facebook was very different than it is now. Only college students were allowed, and the news feed was non-existent. We didn’t use Facebook to figure out a company’s business hours, talk with our favorite aunt in Vegas or live feeds. Back when it was www.THEfacebook.com, there was no Farmville, no Mafia Wars, dopplegangers or status updates. The utility of Facebook was brilliantly simple – if you didn’t go to class to take notes, send your friend a message (writing on the wall was kind of weird at the time).
Then came the groups, the photo tagging, and the complicated relationships.
Here’s what a profile page looked like when I first started Facebook in 2004:
Ah, blissfully simple. Nice, clean boxes. Then, everyone freaked out when “The mini feed” came rearing it’s ugly head. As if the addition of the status wasn’t too creepy feeling, Facebook wanted to chronicle every thing you did on the site.
If we only knew! The mini-feed has now split into a news feed AND live feed, your wall is the most prominent feature, and we are inidated with pay-per-click ads on the right side of the page that are targeted toward everything we put into our personal information in our profile.
Mark Zuckerburg had no idea his small Web project would turn into a revolution for marketing and advertising. With over 350 million users, Facebook has become part of almost everyone’s lives, whether they want it to or not. For businesses, if you do not have a presence on Facebook, you are behind your competitors. For students, Facebook is a way to not only keep up with class notes and party spots, but an outlet to talk outside the school walls. For families, it’s never been easier to stay close when you are spread apart.
Am I pleased with the progression of Facebook? Sure. Why not? I’m a big believer in “Facebook is what you make it.” If you love Farmville and taking quizzes, wonderful. If you love connecting with other professionals, fabulous. If you are a helicopter mom (please stop what you are doing), Facebook is good for you.
More importantly, now we have the ability to use Facebook (and all of social media, really) for good. News breaks faster than ever and awareness can be given to important causes and charities. Millions of people united to help those in Haiti stricken by disaster by donating food, money and time.
So happy birthday, Facebook. I’m excited to see how far you’ve come, and where you’ll go from here. If you had it posted on a profile, you’d have 350 million notifications. Lucky you.
Jessica Swink is a freelance writer specializing in articles about Search Engine Optimization and Facebook Marketing.
