Buzz
As the number of active users grows, the Facebook logo is becoming increasingly recognizable. Check out more images of popular websites.
Leon Neal/AFP/Getty ImagesIn 2004, Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes—three Harvard students—created a website aimed at connecting students, sharing photos, and helping them meet new people. Initially called thefacebook.com, the platform quickly gained popularity on the Harvard campus. A month later, the site expanded to include students from Stanford, Columbia, and Yale. By 2005, students from 800 college networks across the U.S. could join, growing the user base to over 5 million. That same year, the site rebranded as Facebook.
Originally designed for college students, Facebook is now open to anyone. Despite this wider reach, its core purpose remains unchanged—to offer an engaging and simple way to share information. Like MySpace, Facebook is a social networking platform.
To use Facebook, you must first sign up for a free account. According to Facebook's terms, members must be at least 13 years old, and users aged 13-18 must be currently enrolled in school. New members must provide a valid e-mail address before completing registration. After setting up your account and answering a few questions about your job, education, and location, Facebook will create a personalized profile for you.
Facebook offers several methods to discover friends:
- You can browse and join various networks, categorized into four types: regions (networks tied to specific cities or countries), colleges, workplaces, and high schools. After joining a network, you can explore its members and search for people you know, with options to filter by age, gender, relationship status, political opinions, and more.
- You can sync your e-mail contacts from a Web-based service. For this, Facebook requires your e-mail address and password. It then uses a tool to scan through your contacts and match them against its database. When a match is found, you’ll be prompted to add that person as a friend.
- You can also search for specific individuals using Facebook's search engine. Simply type in a person's name, and Facebook will display any profiles that match your query.
This article covers Facebook profiles, apps, and how you can access Facebook through mobile devices like cell phones. Turn to the next page for a deeper dive into Facebook profiles.
One popular feature on Facebook is the poke. When you poke someone, a notification is sent to the other user, letting them know they’ve been poked by you. What does this signify? While many people use it for flirting, Facebook states it doesn’t carry any particular meaning—it’s simply a fun way for users to interact. Essentially, a poke can be whatever you choose it to be.
Facebook Profiles
The top section of a member's profile displays the profile picture and a sidebar for applications.
Image courtesy FacebookYour Facebook profile is the Web page that other members will see when they look you up. It provides an overview of who you are and what interests you. Facebook assumes that many people you'll want to connect with share similar connections, whether it’s through work, school, or your hometown.
To help you reconnect with old friends and meet new ones, Facebook collects data about you and others to build a vast network of connections. The benefit is that you can easily find old classmates or colleagues with Facebook profiles; however, the downside is that others within this network can find you as well. You can opt not to answer certain questions or adjust your privacy settings to limit visibility, though this might reduce the effectiveness of using a social networking site.
Your unaltered profile includes:
- A space for uploading your profile picture.
- A friends section that shows photos of the Facebook members you've added as friends.
- A section displaying personal details you've chosen to share, such as your birthday, job history, education, and interests.
- A mini-feed section, which updates visitors on your activities. For instance, if you change your profile picture or add a friend, the mini-feed will notify them of the update.
- A comments section, known as the wall, where others can leave messages for you.
If you visit another member’s unchanged profile, you’ll encounter the same fields and sections, but under their profile picture, you'll find additional options, including:
- Instant messaging, which opens a Facebook IM client.
- Sending a message to the person, which works like e-mail
- An option to add the person as a friend, if they’re not already. Once they log into Facebook again, they'll see your friend request and can choose to accept, reject, or ignore it.
When you log in, you’ll land on your personal Facebook homepage. The layout includes a news feed that keeps you informed about what your friends and networks are doing. There’s also a status update section, where you can get alerts for messages, event invites, app recommendations from friends, and a spot to let others know how you’re feeling or what you're up to. You’ll also find a link to invite friends to join Facebook.
Business owners, artists, bands, and public figures can create specialized Facebook profiles. Instead of adding them as friends, you can become a fan of their page. If you work for a company without a Facebook presence, it’s a good idea to consult with your colleagues before setting one up, as HR departments often prefer to avoid surprises.
You can personalize your Facebook profile using a variety of Facebook applications, some of which were created by other users just like you. In the following section, we’ll dive into the exciting world of Facebook apps.
Facebook profiles are built using dynamic hypertext markup language (DHTML). This allows you to easily rearrange elements of your profile, such as your information box, by simply dragging them to a new location.
Facebook Applications
This part of your profile includes the wall, where others can leave messages or comments. The wall is just one of many available Facebook applications.
Image courtesyFacebook’s wide array of applications distinguishes it from other social networking platforms. First-party apps developed by Facebook include photos, videos, groups, events, marketplace, posted items, notes, and gifts. These are available to all members. Here’s a quick overview of what each app does:
- The photos application allows you to upload unlimited pictures. If a photo features another Facebook member, you can tag them in the image. After tagging, the photo will appear both in your album and on your friend’s profile.
- Facebook's video application works similarly to YouTube. Members can upload videos in nearly any format, though files must be under 100MB and videos shorter than two minutes. Facebook converts all videos into the flash (.flv) format.
- With the groups application, you can join existing groups or create your own based on shared interests.
- The events application allows you to organize real-life gatherings and invite other members.
- Facebook’s marketplace is similar to craigslist—it lets members buy and sell goods directly with one another. Facebook only hosts the transactions; it does not intervene in the sales process.
- The posted items application lets you share videos, songs, or other web content by posting the URL to your profile. A thumbnail of the link appears, which acts as a hyperlink. Your friends can click on it to explore websites that you find interesting.
- With the gifts application, you can send a virtual gift to another member in the form of a small icon. There are many gifts to choose from, all designed by Susan Kare, the creator of the original Macintosh computer icons. The first gift is free, but subsequent gifts cost $1 each and require a credit card—Facebook does not accept PayPal. Proceeds from these gifts are donated to charitable causes. Gifts can be sent privately or publicly, and you can include a personal message with them.
Facebook is constantly evolving and creating new applications for its users. If you're familiar with Facebook, you'll know there are hundreds of additional applications available. These apps weren’t created by Facebook itself—rather, they were developed by fellow members of the platform.
Many websites provide users with limited access to an application programming interface (API), allowing them to build applications on top of the host platform. However, on most of these sites, user-created apps aren’t featured prominently. On Facebook, third-party apps can significantly alter your site experience, including a complete makeover of your profile. Your simple profile could turn into an engaging page filled with videos, games, product reviews, and virtual pets. But, there’s a downside—activating too many apps can turn your profile into a chaotic, cluttered page that may be hard for others to navigate.
In the following section, we will dive deeper into how Facebook users can create their own custom applications.
Third-Party Facebook Applications
Facebook users have the option to incorporate third-party applications, like a map feature, to enhance their profiles.
Image courtesyTo develop applications on Facebook, the first step is to add the Facebook developer application to your profile. You also need access to a Web server to host your application, as Facebook does not host third-party programs. Applications can be web-based, desktop-based, or mobile device-based. In other words, you can create apps that interact with Facebook but don’t directly integrate into member profiles. For example, you could develop an application that opens a window on your desktop that connects to your profile’s news feed.
According to Facebook, its application programming interface (API) follows a Representational State Transfer (REST) interface, a term introduced by Roy Fielding in his Ph.D. dissertation at the University of California, Irvine. In a RESTful network, the design is determined by the function. Fielding’s idealized REST network envisioned a World Wide Web with independent components that collaborate to enhance data transfer efficiency [Source: Fielding].
For Facebook’s API, using a REST interface means that applications make method calls via Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) GET or POST requests. HTTP is the protocol used by the World Wide Web — a GET request retrieves information, while a POST request adds data to an existing Web page. This enables Facebook applications to pull data from member profiles, post updates to profiles, or both.
Developers can also leverage the Facebook Query Language (FQL), which is similar to Structured Query Language (SQL). Query languages like FQL are used to retrieve data from databases. With FQL, a developer can access information about any user who downloads their application. Essentially, Facebook applications are designed to gather data about users. Developers can use this data to create targeted advertising audiences or to build a customer base for products. Facebook has faced criticism for allowing developers to collect personal information and browsing habits from members.
For developers who want to deeply integrate their applications with Facebook, there’s the Facebook Markup Language (FBML). Derived from HTML, FBML includes additional tags specific to Facebook. This language enables developers to create applications that become a more integral part of a user's Facebook experience, influencing both the appearance and functionality of their profiles.
Each application on Facebook has a designated area called a canvas page, where developers can create content or features as they see fit. When a user clicks on an application icon, their browser will redirect to the corresponding canvas page. Developers can use this space for a variety of purposes, including displaying web ads, offering products via a Facebook interface, or simply sharing information with users.
Next, we’ll explore how you can access Facebook through mobile devices like a cell phone.
In September 2007, Facebook introduced the fbFund, a grant program designed to promote third-party app development. Developers without other formal funding opportunities can apply for grants between $25,000 and $250,000 to grow their businesses on the Facebook platform [source: Facebook press release].
Facebook Mobile
Facebook is now the second most visited social network globally and the sixth most visited website in the U.S. Users can enjoy access to the platform from both their desktop computers and mobile devices.
Chris Jackson/Getty ImagesThere are three primary ways to access Facebook features using a mobile device like a cell phone: through mobile text messages, mobile uploads, and mobile web browsing. Let’s break down each method.
Text messages use a standardized mobile text transfer protocol called Short Message Service (SMS) or Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS). SMS enables the sending and receiving of text messages between services such as Websites, voicemail systems, and email servers. An SMS message is limited to 160 characters. The MMS standard improves upon SMS by allowing larger messages with no size limit (though very large messages need a 3G phone network for transfer). Not all phones are equipped with SMS or MMS capabilities.
When you send a text message to Facebook from your phone, the message first travels to a mobile switching center (MSC), which then directs the message to a signal transfer point (STP). From there, the message is forwarded to a short message service center (SMSC), which then delivers it to Facebook. When Facebook responds with a message, the reverse process happens. Through text messaging, you can access basic member profile details, send messages (including pokes and wall posts), add friends, and interact with some Facebook apps.
Mobile uploads work in a similar way to text messages, but require MMS. MMS allows the transmission of not just text, but also audio files, videos, and images. The process mirrors that of SMS, but requires a device that supports MMS. If the device doesn’t support MMS, some service providers will notify the user when they receive a multimedia message, typically with a link to a webpage to view the content.
With MMS messages sent from your phone, you can upload images to your profile, where they'll appear in a special uploaded photos section. Additionally, you can upload notes or videos to your profile. In all cases, you'll need to create the multimedia message first, then send it to the correct email address associated with your Facebook profile.
To access Facebook on your phone, it must have web browsing capabilities. Once that's confirmed, you can visit Facebook’s mobile site by going to m.facebook.com. If you want to upload notes, simply send them to [email protected], and for photos or videos, use [email protected].
Unlike the typical desktop version of Facebook, the mobile version is built using Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML), a more restricted variant of HTML. This is because World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the global organization focused on web standards, recognized that mobile devices need simpler, more efficient languages to properly display content. While computers can handle complex webpages, mobile devices need simpler code, making XHTML an ideal choice for the mobile web.
Next, we’ll dive into some of the impressive statistics behind Facebook.
Facebook Credits was a virtual currency introduced in 2009, enabling users to purchase items in games and applications on the platform. The conversion rate was 1 U.S. dollar for 10 Facebook Credits. Although initially intended to become the primary payment method on Facebook, these plans were eventually abandoned. In 2013, Facebook discontinued its Credits system.
Facebook Facts and Figures
Image courtesyOriginally conceived as a side project by a group of Harvard students, Facebook now operates out of Palo Alto, California, with an additional office in New York. The company boasts a team of over 350 employees and offers a benefits package that's hard to beat. Here's a look at some of the perks:
- Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with no premiums
- Four weeks of paid vacation and eight company holidays
- Free, catered breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day
- Dry cleaning and laundry services
- Your choice of an IBM Thinkpad or an Apple MacBook Pro
Facebook's growth is relentless. The company reports more than 57 million active users who have logged in within the last 30 days. Since January 2007, new user registrations average 250,000 per day, and the number of active users doubles roughly every six months. The U.S. leads in membership, followed by Canada and the United Kingdom.
Facebook claims the title of the number one image-sharing platform on the Internet, surpassing the second, third, and fourth-ranked sites combined in terms of traffic. The platform receives over 14 million image uploads daily, and with no restrictions on how many images a user can upload, coupled with the constant influx of new members, this number is expected to increase exponentially.
Since Facebook began allowing third-party developers to create applications in June 2007, over 7,000 programs have been launched on the platform. Every day, an additional 100 applications are introduced. According to Facebook's estimates, more than 80 percent of its members have used at least one of these third-party applications.
Given its immense popularity and heavy traffic, Facebook requires substantial storage capacity, both digitally and physically. A Facebook employee revealed that the company uses around 200 memcached servers for its daily operations and a few additional ones for development purposes [source: Grimm]. Memcached refers to memory caching, a technique for temporarily storing data in a server's memory, reducing the need to query a database. This speeds up data retrieval by minimizing the time between a request and its response.
In addition to the memcached servers, Facebook employs custom-built servers for its back-end functions and utilizes a monitoring system to oversee all servers. Since servers occupy a lot of space, Facebook leases storage from vendors. In 2007, the company made an agreement with DuPont Fabros Technology (DFT) to lease 10,000 square feet at a data center in Ashburn, Virginia [source: Data Center Knowledge].
How does Facebook generate enough revenue to sustain its operations? While it does earn some income through web advertising sales, the bulk of its funding comes from private investors. To date, Facebook has secured over $40 million in funding since its inception in 2004.
