The New York Review of Books published an article outlining some the factors key to Facebook’s rapid early success.
Facebook, network of choice?
In The World Of Facebook [The New York Review of Books]
“Mark Zuckerberg, the primary founder of Facebook, who dropped out of college six months after starting the site, took most of his ideas from existing social networks such as Friendster and MySpace. But while Microsoft could as easily have originated at MIT or Caltech, it was no accident that Facebook came from Harvard.”
“Facebook was successful early on because it didn’t depart significantly from how its audience interacted, and because it started at the top of the social hierarchy. Zuckerberg distinguished his site through one innovation: Facebook, initially at least, would be limited to Harvard. The site thus extended one of the primary conceits of education at an elite university: that everyone on campus is, if not a friend, then a potential friend, one already vetted by the authorities. ”
It is always good to be aware of the intentions of the companies whose services we use on a daily basis. It seems that Facebook is an unavoidable part of the college experience today, for better or worse. Considering the recent changes in Facebook’s privacy settings, it may serve students to be skeptical of the company. They use all of the data that you input on the site in order to make money on advertisements, it is a good idea to remember that the internet only gives you the illusion of privacy!
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