[…] wrote about reasons for using Facebook some time ago. I won’t repeat these things her. I will merely reiterate that it is a social […]

I went from eCircles to Everyone’s Connected to Friendster, and eventually Facebook.

Yeah, I kinda agree with all the points you make. One killer feature facebook implemented was the ability to create lists, such that it filters your wall, showing updates of people who you actually care about. God, I needed that one.

But I still hate going to FaceBook on a browser. The scripts all over the place makes it seem so slow. I very much prefer using the iPhone app, to view comments on my updates (linked from Twitter) and reply messages.

Sometimes, I miss static HTML pages. :P

Don’t forget it also provides an amazing platform for all sorts of different companies/celebrities/bands etc. to advertise to you, regarding stuff you’re genuinely interested in – enough to connect with them on Facebook.

It’s like the ultimate targeted advertising. They can just set up a FB page to post updates off for their product/brand/live tour/whatever, then sit back and watch thousands of people join it, all of whom have interest in whatever you have to give them. Why use javascript to target ads when you can use the consumers themselves?

@ Tino:

Well, if someone IM’s you when you are not online, you will get it next time you log in. So it works just like IM client, just you don’t have to keep it running to catch messages when you are away.

You would be surprised to know how much people use this thing. As I said – the site has become their portal for everything. Their email, AIM, casual gaming and etc… My brother for example always has it open in a background tab.

In fact, when I walk around helping my students during the lab I usually see most of them have Facebook open in a browser tab/window.

Now, whenever I actually need to talk to someone in real time I don’t even bother launching the IM client. I head for Facebook and use the in-browser chat thingy.

I thought you only could chat to people who currently was viewing the facebook page? How do other people start IMs with you when you only log in every other day? Or is it just that you rely on that the people you know sit on facebook all the time :)?

(My IM needs have mostly been replaced by Skype.)

Well, this was enlightening. I recently read a preview of Google Wave, and what I got out of it was that it’s a single page to use all sorts of different web services, all integrated into an (user friendly) interface. Seems like this is exactly what Facebook does already, especially if they released they API.

And here I was, thinking that Facebook was mainly used to find people you lost track of, contact them and keep an online profile for people who might be looking for you. It might has been its original purpose, but it seems to have evolved somewhat since.