What made Facebook such a hit?

[Carlos™]

I know that the reason why people love it, is the intense amount of user interactivity - in other words real-time interactivity.

But I would like to know more.

Is it because of the navigation, is it because of the colors, is it because of the clever logos or icons?

I need feedback. I'm doing a project similar to facebook, but not in the social media industry, however.

What made you go like "Hey, I'm on facebook! I love it!" what made you want to put out word of mouth?

How can I improve what facebook isn't improving user experience?

[JohnYE]

Hi Carlos,

This is an excellent question. I'm going to put it on out Facebook Fan Page to see what our fans there have to say. After all, they should be the audience for it!

Thanks for the great question!
John


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[Carlos™]

Why thank you, kind sir!

[mcfarldr1]

I think what was the most important thing about Facebook was that it provided an upgraded experience to users.

At the time it started to take off, the only other major option for consumers was MySpace and it will really geared towards unprofessional people, such as kids and college students. Facebook leaned towards a slightly older crowd. This and the unprecendented experience that Facebook provides, mean the ease of use and overall simplicity of the free service.

That's why people switch. Also, maybe because people were sick of seeing glittery pics posted on people's walls that said pointless things.

In my experience, Facebook is in control of setting the future for social networking websites. If there is something new out there that people like, Facebook is for sure going to jump on it and make it happen.

[ucavik]

I was using orkut earlier then switched to facebook, one thing i found remarkable about facebook was it offered a lots of privacy.

[guidemesingapore]

Well while other networks have now caught up to Facebook's features, at the time when it started, myspace was the biggest social network. Facebook simply gave a simpler networking system with more features. Also please remember facebook started off as a college project or like a yearbook kind of a thing. It got popular first in all colleges and universities and got famous from there.

[criniit]

At the time it started to take off, the only other major option for consumers was MySpace and it will really geared towards unprofessional people, such as kids and college students. Facebook leaned towards a slightly older crowd. This and the unprecendented experience that Facebook provides, mean the ease of use and overall simplicity of the free service.

Actually the very first version of facebook was a campus wide Hot or Not site, where college kids could rate whether girls on their campus were hot or not. It eventually evolved into a social networking platform for only college students. You could only register with a valid college email address, and then years later opened up to everyone being allowed to register.

I believe that the popularity of facebook stemmed originally from only allowing college students to register, was a place for students on campus to meet, talk with each other besides texting, and find out where the parties are at for that weekend.


There is actually a movie coming out this fall about the founding of Facebook, following the book that was written last year by the founders.