The official Facebook blog has just reported that the social networking site has just reached a new milestone – 150 million users worldwide, with 50% of them using the social networking site everyday. No wonder, my 15-year old son is now on Facebook, and so does his throng of teen-age friends. And guess where they came from? – from Friendster.According to the Facebook blog, the 150 million users are coming from all over the world, reaching as far the Antartica. If you are to take a closer look into the demographics of these 150 million users, you’d find out that it now includes grandparents, parents and children “using Facebook in more than 35 different languages.” This is certainly a big leap from when Facebook was just starting out with most of its users coming from colleges and universities in the U.S. And analyst are predicting that Facebook will continue to grow this year, possibly reaching 200 to 300 million users.
Sounds fun right? But what we are probably not considering is how these 150 million users are utilizing Facebook? I’ve seen some of my Facebook contacts sharing photos, updating their status every minute or so, this friend becomes a friend with this friend, this friend posted on the wall of another friend and so on and so forth. At the end of the day, it makes you want to ask, what has their Facebook activities contributed on productivity?
Of course you can argue that Facebook was not meant to be a productive tool. But then, we have read so many thing written about Facebook being a great Internet Marketing tool. And I fully support and believe that. That’s why I used to have high regards for Facebook. I really appreciate people sharing what they’ve written and what’s so special about it, sharing upcoming events and why it’s cool to attend that event.
But of course, Mark Zuckerberg didn’t design Facebook to be an Internet Marketing tool or as an education portal but rather a social networking site where people should meet people and expand their circle of friends.
So, maybe that explains why more and more Friendster users are shifting to Facebook. And that explains why I keep on reading status messages written in text messaging style.
Honestly, I dread the day when I see a Facebook status that says -> “Hi, pls add m to ur Fcebk act“.
4ward n onwrd Fcebk!
