Everyday, I’m a little more amazed and impressed by Facebook. The way it works, the way information is connected is just so useful and really smart.
First of all, I am simply blown away at the “friend suggestions” that Facebook offers me. I am constantly seeing people I really do know or names I recognize. I understand it’s probably not a very complex algorithm – see who my friends have recently friended who is not on my friend list and present them to me – but you know what? – it works. And that other site is miles behind, tech-wise.
I’ve also noticed that the number of people in my age group on Facebook is seemingly tripling every day. I can’t believe the people I’m coming across these days – people I haven’t even thought of in over a decade are cropping up regularly. And the fact that the “mini-feed” is keeping me informed of what they do via pictures and blurbs is just genius.
There are plenty of concerns about Facebook, from their Beacon debacle to the privacy issues to the data mining they are presumably doing, but the truth is that they are providing an amazing service in the meantime.
In the past few days, I’ve had some really interesting conversations pop up on some photos I posted. The interesting part is that these are people, in some cases, I haven’t spoken to in years, and others I still talk to, but in all cases, it feels like a mini reunion. I get to keep up with my friends easily. I’ve not experienced another social network that has delivered like this, for me.
You believe MySpace is technologically outdated? You should take a look at Google’s Orkut, then… It surely improved a little lately, and some features like (useless) “apps” were added, but tends to stay behind alternatives such as Facebook both in technology and innovation. It lacks customization support, and tends to suffer with automated spam lately. Still, Orkut is the leading social networking environment here in Brasil by a huge advantage…
Nothing like some healthy competition, though 🙂
(Occasional OSNews reader here, I rarely do comment on anything, but I spotted this post and got interested on commenting about this scenario. Sorry for randomly appearing on your personal blog…)