Anyone else out there experiencing the Facebook explosion? I'm not a stats type guy so I haven't looked at them ... but I feel and am experiencing the boom.
Although I've been impressed by LinkedIn, Ecademy and Xing (and disappointed by MySpace, Ryze and others), I'm just blown away by Facebook.
After a friend posted on his Facebook status 'Wondering whether Facebook will be a waste of time', I felt compelled to reply that in many respects I feel that Facebook could be the new email!
Why?
One, there have been articles for years saying that email is broken. Office workers with unmanageable inboxes. Gmail replacing Hotmail thanks to the ability to store more and search more easily. It's a whole other story but basically email doesn't work for the volume and types of electronic communication we have these days.
IM (including Skype) is even worse. Again another blog post, but basically if I didn't have IM off or my status set to invisible, in a very short space of time I would be spending 10 lifetimes IMing. In short - IM is useful but I'm sure if it starts to get more widespread , 'invisible' will be the default status for most people. (Perhaps the 'status' setting is the reason it hasn't become more popular).
So the world has been waiting for an answer to the email and IM problem. I think SNS services, basically with Facebook being the best example at this time, are the answer and here's why (in the few minutes I have left before the last train home):
1) Random, not urgent messaging has a new 'home' that can be dealt with efficiently in batches of down time.
2) Discussions are threaded, organized and interlinked.
3) You can stay 'connected' with a huge number of people with no additional effort. It's efficient.
4) You can stay connected with people permanently (assuming they update their profiles) even after they change their email address.
5) Information can be shared with others at the click of a button and there's a direct, 1-level link to the original author.
That's just the first few reasons of the top of my head. So, why Facebook rather than other SNS?
1) Clean, user friendly interface (unlike MySpace) and overall great usability
2) Appeals to people both for business and fun
3) Very viral. The number and creativeness of the applications is simply amazing.
4) Re-use of content. Existing blogs, photos etc. can all easily be used on Facebook.
5) They have created an infrastructure that allows for all types of realtionships (unlike LinkedIn where connections have to be know and trusted or MySpace where everyone is a friend).
So for the first time tonight, as I sat next to a pile of business cards after a night out at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan bar, I decided not to try to send a batch of emails, which would undoubtedly result in few replies and very, very few long term relationships or to send individual emails which would undoubtedly lead to me falling asleep at the keyboard sometime around 4am, still not finished. Instead, I sent a Facebook invite (from the web site) to 10 people in one go. 2 were already registered with the email addresses I used. I'm confident I'll connect with more and get at the very least 5 long term connections. As they post and update I'll know what they are up to and will easily be able to get in touch when appropriate. Amazing.
Of course I don't have that email message in my email archives and unless I also keep a separate record, Facebook owns or controls these connections and information to some extent. Unless I have an export option there are some risks of outsourcing my personal network. There are other questions as well. But for the meantime I'm highly impressed and wonder if even Facebook themselves realize the magnitude of the system they have created.
