Facebook Celebrates Five Years

Feb 13, 2008
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Facebook Celebrates Five Years


Along with the fifth birthday celebrations, 150 million Facebook [http://en-gb.facebook.com/] users also got a mystery virtual gift, ranging from cuddly bears to champagne.

In the social playground of the internet, Facebook is the kid with all the bubblegum cards, sharing them out liberally as his dad gets them free from work.

Now that it's reached the heady heights of five years old, founder Mark Zuckerberg has decided to get out the Facebook baby photos on his blog, charting it's growth from the simple site in 2004 to the 2009 version that lets you throw sheep at people.

Facebook has also given a wedgie to it's nearest rival, Myspace [http://www.myspace.com/] mainly because it actually has people you might know.

While Myspace still has an impressive 130 million viewers, the list of celebrity fakes and "Too busy" celebrities simply doesn't compare to sending your friends that hilarious picture of when your cat slid into the washing machine.

Over in his blog [http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?blog_id=company], the 24 year old Mr Zuckerberg reminisces "The culture of the internet has also changed pretty dramatically over the past five years. Before, most people wouldn't consider sharing their real identities online. But Facebook has offered a safe and trusted environment for people to interact online, which has made millions of people comfortable expressing more about themselves."

From a "humble" Harvard dorm room back in 2004, "The facebook" was first started, and within 24 hours they had 1,200 students. By 2005, 85% of all American students with a computer were 'booked. Today it's available in 35 languages with 60 more planned.

The fastest growing demographic though are the 30 plus, who tend to spend more time online than their college buddies. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/88408-UK-Housewives-Live-Online]

"Social networking is nowhere as big a deal as it's going to become. Right now Facebook is the predominant social network, the one the other social networks want to be," said seasoned analyst Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group, "As this space evolves, people are going to be living with these social networking tools. They are going to become the new walled gardens and form a more central role in people's lives."

As with all serious internet business though, people want to know how they can make money. With two hours a day spent on there, on average, that's a lot of viewing time.

Opinions on how to do this, and why they should, vary wildly amongst the pundits, but one thing is clear, friendship means a whole lot more than adverts to most people. And Facebook has that market sewn up.

Source: BBC via SilentD [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7868403.stm]

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ellimist337

New member
Sep 30, 2008
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Wow. Doesn't seem like 5 years that it's been around. Granted, I've only had it for a year, and have never had trouble not being addicted, so maybe I just ignored it for a long time.
 

Cubilone

New member
Jan 14, 2009
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""Social networking is nowhere as big a deal as it's going to become. Right now Facebook is the predominant social network, the one the other social networks want to be," said seasoned analyst Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group, "As this space evolves, people are going to be living with these social networking tools. They are going to become the new walled gardens and form a more central role in people's lives."

Am I the only one here that is disturbed by this quote? I mean, I already have so many friends on facebook from all stages of my school life and other parts of the rest of, people I would not normally greet on the street. This is messed up me thinks.

Friends talk about it offline as if it means something. I know people who spend on it more than the 2 hours the article says is the average (which I already think is a lot). It's a bit scary really.
 

Aptspire

New member
Mar 13, 2008
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celebration about which I do not care!
seriously, I'm a proud Anti-Facebook (it all started when, curious about the FB rage, I tried to create an account. The system said that I "couldn't use my name" I never tried again)
:)
 

EeveeElectro

Cats.
Aug 3, 2008
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I liked the pirate language you could use for Facebbok.
'He be thinkin' ye be mateys, arr!'
It was pretty funny, but I got confused in the end.
It seems more 'adult' than MySpace which iiS FULL 0F GiiRLZ who are 12 year old trying to pass for 18.
All my family have Facebook too...
Anyway, I didn't know the website was that old.