Week 4 - Social Network

Firstly, if you are expecting a post on a lesser known social networking site, I am sorry to say that I'm going to disappoint you. I am here to write about Facebook. Why am I writing about a topic that probably millions of people have already written about? Because I am going to write everything entirely from my own perspective.


Before Facebook even exists in my life, everyone around me was using Friendster. Classmates were asking people around them to leave testimonials on their profile pages, upload photos and more. Basically Friendster was the social networking site that was popular among Singaporeans. But why did Friendster lose out eventually when it shares many similar functions as Facebook?Applications. Facebook won the competition because it allows third-party applications to be used on the site itself. Personality quizzes were the craze then. After that, game applications on Facebook became popular. From cafes to restaurants to farms to virtual pets, from boardgames to mind games to card games, there are now a great variety of game applications to choose from. Some game companies like Zynga and Playfish created many different game applications on Facebook that earned them millions of players and with that, possibly lots of profits too, given that there is always a special currency in each game that could only be bought with real money (i.e using credit cards or PayPal). The special currency would allow players to buy better or prettier virtual items in the games.
Many of these games have their own online forums as well, forming online communities of their own and encouraging players to interact. This is a form of social networking that Facebook has indirectly brought about as well.

Take myself for example, I have gotten to know some people over a Facebook game application's online forum. I am not at all embarrassed to say and admit that I have become friends with some of the very nice players even though we have not met each other in real life before. They are from the other side of the world, far away in the US, Australia and New Zealand. Our friendships have progressed to the point that even if we do not play the particular game application anymore, we still chat on a secret Facebook group everyday, keeping each other updated on our lives. And how long have this been going on? Years. It has been 3 years going 4. We have even exchanged Christmas cards for 2 years :) We know each other probably even better than the friends whom we have met or known in real life.

Back on the topic on Facebook, I would say that Facebook encourages social interaction much more than the old Friendster, with the "Share" function, "Like" button, "Notes" section, "Wall" on profile pages, news feed and comments enabled for every single feed. There are many more opportunities for people to share their likes, thoughts and opinions. Friendster, on the other hand, had tried to incorporate similar functions into the site too, but it is like a lost cause now as many ex-Friendster users have already left for Facebook with no intention to return.

So long, Friendster.

Edited: Here's an online article about someone who has shared his interesting views about deactivating his Facebook account. Enjoy! :)
http://eastprovidence.patch.com/articles/so-long-facebook-its-been-real