Web 2.0 - Facebook

Facebook

This is an example of social networking; it is not the typical static website as this allows people to communicate. By someone creating their own profile, they can upload pictures and videos of themselves and friends that they can share with any of their friends on Facebook. It allows you to communicate between friends on an instant chat, which appears as a bar on the right hand side of the screen. Friends that are online are shown on the list, which makes them available to chat. However, this site also allows people to post comments on their friends profile or send private messages via an email system that is on the Facebook website (facebook mail). Friends can be blocked and added as the person chooses, also with options to choose if your profile is assessable to friends or even people that are not your friends. Because Facebook has the friend finder application, people can find friends they wish to add and get in contact with even if they live abroad. This is a good example of web 2.0 because it is a social networking website that can be edited by anybody. It is not a static website and is for the use for people to edit information they wish to like many of the other social networking websites, such as Myspace, Bebo and Twitter.

Facebook includes quizzes and applications that allow you to take such tests as ‘what will you be when your older?’ and ‘What are you wearing at the moment?’ These applications are visible on the main homepage to friends and contacts. Facebook allows the person to choose what information they wish to share with others, they can also create quizzes about themselves, which friends can take to see how well they know each other. People can also update their status to how they are feeling and what they are doing; it is a good way of communicating. The founder of Facebook was Mark Zuckerberg that originally was studying psychology at Harvard. A number of social networking programs were produced before this such as ‘Facemash’ that rated people’s attractiveness. In 2004, ‘The Facebook’ was launched and it became popular between the students and university and soon in was launched as a website for the use of all countries in 2005, after a purchase for the address made Facebook worth $200,000. Most the people that use Facebook are of all ages, although it has become increasingly popular for younger users to chat to eachother. Many older users use it as a way of contacting old friends, but originally it was designed for any user no matter what the age.