Facebook: phenom or fad?
Aaron Geiger
Issue date: 7/1/09 Section: News
SAN JOSE, Calif.-Is Facebook a phenomenon-or a fad? Even as it has grown to more than 200 million users and become the global leader in social-networking Web sites, many people see it as just a nifty way for people to share information and images among far-flung friends and acquaintances.
But admirers say Mark Zuckerberg's 5-year-old startup is poised to fulfill hype as the next big thing-that it will power online social interaction the way Google drives online search. Facebook is aggressively moving beyond the home page to pursue its mission to become a "social utility" that helps people "connect and share."
To typical users, Facebook may seem a stand-alone Web site-a vehicle for people to renew and revitalize personal relationships, to post comments and photos, and perhaps play games. But more than 10,000 Web sites now recognize a service called Facebook Connect, which enables users to use their Facebook ID and password to move fluidly between sites where registration is required.
The service also adds new social functions to those other sites. For example, a person who posts a video on YouTube can also share it via Facebook with a single click. And Facebook has global reach, having been translated into 50 languages, with 40 more in development, the company says.
Every new Facebook user, every "friend" added, every business that starts a page, every Web entity that recognizes Facebook Connect-all add to the critical mass behind Facebook's momentum. From a business perspective, the connections enhance the value of what Facebook calls the "social graph"-its ever-expanding map of human relationships-even while skeptics wonder about its ability to turn its popularity into profit.
How important is Facebook? Shouting over live rock at a recent Facebook party at a San Francisco nightclub, Mark Pincus, founder and CEO of fast-growing online game maker Zynga, likened it to Netscape, the browser startup that launched the dot-com boom in 1995.
But admirers say Mark Zuckerberg's 5-year-old startup is poised to fulfill hype as the next big thing-that it will power online social interaction the way Google drives online search. Facebook is aggressively moving beyond the home page to pursue its mission to become a "social utility" that helps people "connect and share."
To typical users, Facebook may seem a stand-alone Web site-a vehicle for people to renew and revitalize personal relationships, to post comments and photos, and perhaps play games. But more than 10,000 Web sites now recognize a service called Facebook Connect, which enables users to use their Facebook ID and password to move fluidly between sites where registration is required.
The service also adds new social functions to those other sites. For example, a person who posts a video on YouTube can also share it via Facebook with a single click. And Facebook has global reach, having been translated into 50 languages, with 40 more in development, the company says.
Every new Facebook user, every "friend" added, every business that starts a page, every Web entity that recognizes Facebook Connect-all add to the critical mass behind Facebook's momentum. From a business perspective, the connections enhance the value of what Facebook calls the "social graph"-its ever-expanding map of human relationships-even while skeptics wonder about its ability to turn its popularity into profit.
How important is Facebook? Shouting over live rock at a recent Facebook party at a San Francisco nightclub, Mark Pincus, founder and CEO of fast-growing online game maker Zynga, likened it to Netscape, the browser startup that launched the dot-com boom in 1995.
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