Facebook, the social network site, is celebrating its fifth birthday and users are getting a variety of virtual presents.
It all started in 2004 as a college project to connect friends online but has now mushroomed to become the largest social network with an estimated 150 million members. MySpace, its closest rival, has about 130 million members, although the two animals are quite different.
MySpace has a lot of celebrities and ‘PR’ entries and is often used for promotional purposes, Facebook is more about making and keeping in touch with friends, wherever they may be.
The average Facebooker apparently has around 120 ‘friends’. Facebook is a phenominal achievement in such a short space of time, but the founder, Mark Zucherberg, believes there is still a long way to go. One area he will eventually have to focus attention is ‘the bottom line’, as everything boils down to money in the end.
There is little point in having a monumentally successful social network with a huge membership if it is not financial viable.