Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Facebook Gets Ready to Take Over the World
byAs a college student and summer intern at Sundog, I’m telling you that Facebook isn’t just an online social network—it’s a way of life. According to a 2006 study by Student Monitor, Facebook is the second most “in” thing among the undergraduate population—losing only to the i-pod and tying with beer and sex. I’m not surprised. I use it every day to keep in touch with (and keep an eye on) friends and acquaintances. 
We can write notes on each others walls, share photos of our weekend adventures, and even exchange secret messages. The site’s founder Mark Zuckerberg developed these features as part of the original co-ed geared Facebook site in 2004 when he was just a sophomore at Harvard. So just how far can the 23 year-old take his business?
According to recent articles, apparently pretty far. This one from Slate.com calls Facebook “comfy, sturdy, and attractive without being showy—the kind of social network you’d bring home to Mom.” The author has Facebook slated to not only completely take over its main competitor, MySpace, but to give powerhouse portal sites like Yahoo and Google a run for their money. And a New York Times blog suggests companies like Apple or Sony might want to look into purchasing Facebook, since it’s estimated to be worth around $1 billion dollars-a price that will only continue to sky rocket. Zuckerberg, however, maintains that he isn’t interested in selling Facebook—not yet anyway.
These days, the site isn’t just for college students either—anyone with an email address can create a profile and gain access to countless interactive web applications, an events calendar, and even a marketplace, where users can buy and sell pretty much anything. As of July 2007, the site boasts 28 million members and is the second most-visited site on the web-beating out 6th ranked MySpace. What began just three years ago as an online social network for the 18-24 set has become a billion dollar empire.
While many people now view Facebook as a lucrative business deal, my friends and I still see it as just an online extension of our lives-pictures and plenty of juicy gossip included. After all, that was its intended purpose…
