Facebook Turns Six Years Old
It’ s a bit ridiculous to think that the concept of social networking is so new, as its become difficult to imagine the Internet without it. Today, we celebrate a very special day, the sixth birthday of one of the most important websites on the Internet. Facebook has grown from a small niche into an international sensation, with over 350 million people using the site to network with the people around them. Six years is a long time, especially for the Internet, and Facebook’s every-changing identity means that its likely here to stay. For today’s article, we’ll look at some of the things Facebook has gotten right to reach this point in its lifetime, and what it can do to continue to be a mainstay.
1) Put people into networks.
This was, in many regards, the demise of a forerunner of Facebook, that place for friends known as Myspace. Without networks, indicating where people where from or what school they attend, it became easy for random people to find you and request to be your friend. This contributed to the ridiculous amount of spamming that occurred on Myspace, as it became common for people to add requested friends without much consideration for who they were. This was largely because of item #2.
2) Make people use their real names.
In addition to keeping out RiDicuLOUs PuNCTuatION!1, this also greatly reduced the number of scenester teenagers on Facebook. While I can understand wanting to put a witty phrase instead of your actual name, this decision made Facebook seem more professional and made it much easier to find people.
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