I saw a tweet today announcing Facebook’s 5th Birthday! I thought to myself wow I didn’t realize Facebook has been around for this long. If I sat here and tried to count the amount of time I have spent on Facebook in my life I would say maybe months, who knows I’m addicted. I just got off the phone with my bestfriend trying to decide when it was that we officially joined Facebook. I believe for me it all started in late 2005.
First, I spent some good time putting together a “fun” profile. I was a Junior at that time, Go Noles! My favourite part was sharing albums and posting messages on friend’s walls. Then the most important part of Facebook was seeing everyone’s relationship status. No joke I broke up with a College boyfriend and he deactivated his entire Facebook account because he did not want everybody to make comments to him about it. Then when we got back together he reactivated his account. It sounds silly but that is how big of an impact Facebook can have on people. Having everyone find something like that out and at the same exact time is powerful.
In the beginning, Facebook was only open for registration to College emails. The use then seemed to be more focused on the party pictures, status updates, event invitations, and joining groups. All of which caused a lot of procrastination for students at least in my case. That was Facebook’s purpose in College to connect people. Facebook still connects us but wow has it come a long way. It has evolved in many ways with over 150 million users, it’s not just for playing around anymore.
The first big step was to make registration open to the public. A more mature public got introduced. As I graduated College, Facebook started to take on a new meaning. Yes I still keep in touch with long lost friends but it has become a more powerful tool. I personally share an insight to my everyday life. Now my profile is more strategically worded and the groups I create are not about nonsense but instead I have a group about my company: ARC. It is still about being social while marketing at the same time. I share a link to my blog and my twitter as well. The beauty is you can use Facebook in any way that you wish: work, personal, or both if you are smart about it.
Nowadays I have seen every kind of person jump on the bandwagon and I see a lot more businesses getting involved in Facebook. On a more serious note, many companies have used Facebook to screen potential employees. No worries, you can always set privacy settings so that others that are not your friends won’t view your profile. However I recommend not posting anything that might portray you in a bad light. Rule of thumb, if you would not want your mom or boss to see it just keep it to yourself. Besides marketing through targeted advertisements, groups, fan pages, website links; you can view Facebook as direct access to anyone.
Facebook what can I say I am addicted to you; I have you as an app on my iPhone and list you on my top 2 sites. You make sharing interesting and fun even through my notes like the newly spreading Random 25 Facts. Facebook you give me another avenue to share my thoughts and most importantly you are one of the easiest ways to stay connected. In the fast paced world we live in we are left with little time for our friends. Yet we are glued to our technology. This is the new era from signing KIT (Keep in Touch) in a yearbook. Instead of KIT…Are you on Facebook? Okay I’ll add you! Life made easy. Happy 5th Birthday Facebook!
Add me on Facebook!
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Initially I was hesitant to get too deeply involved and only peripherally interacted, testing marketing opportunities etc. ... until I realized the power of re-connecting with friends who had been lost to time and distance. It's a real rush to start up a conversation after 25 years has passed! I also appreciate getting connected with new contacts as well, with a bit more personalization than a simple tweet stream can provide.
From a business standpoint, I am super excited about the rollout of Facebook Connect (integrated with Disqus btw) which will have a major impact on exposing brands via the News feed plus provide higher level data mining. In a non-intrusive way, it will be the best word of mouth we have ever seen.
As you say, I have my iphone app that I check as much as my Twitter account .. here's to many many more birthdays for Facebook.
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