The Morphology of Facebook

For those of us who are in college and have a Facebook account, we likely have a Myspace account also. For those who don't know what Facebook is, it is a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. I still remember back in the day (read: 2004) when I first opened my Facebook account and it was none other than a simple Web site where one could upload pictures, create a profile, have a comments section on his/her profile, and be "friends" with other people on this Web site. Not that one didn't have friends before, but now h/she has Facebook "friends."
The most fun was being able to "poke" someone. Not that way-geez. But just a poke, as in "Hey, I'm over here looking at your Facebook profile and I kinda wanna poke ya. Poke me back if you want to." It still is the most entertaining part of the site.

From this seemingly simple network social utility, we now have a Web site that has groups that one can join, events that are advertised and posted, notes that can be posted on what looks like a quasi-blog, and a marketplace where stuff can be advertised, similar to that of Craig's List.

The expansion of services that Facebook has to offer is not just due to an increase in new users on the Web site. It is a reflection of the morphology of the Internet as a whole. Along with Facebook, there is also Myspace (for everyone, not just college students) as well as a plethora of blogs emerging as the new trend, the blogosphere, which I just entered and started using last month.

At first when I heard about Facebook, I didn't want to have anything to do with it. I wanted to remain unknown to others until I met them in person, and found spending time on the site counterproductive. Since then, my notions have changed, and I am glad that I am a Facebooker, as well as a Myspacer, and a Blogger. To keep up with the exponentially growing technology trends, one is at a disadvantage if h/she does not have any accounts with the services listed above.

My motivation comes from the insightful saying on the back of my Yogi Tea bag from this morning, and is my advice to new users of the Web 2.0: "Keep Up!"

Labels: facebook