FACEBOOK FEVER!!

DO YOU HAVE FACEBOOK? That's the question people ask these days when they meet a new acquaintance or an old friend. These days EVERYBODY has facebook!!If you don't have one, than you must be living in Timbuktu or the North Pole!!Now,let's analize this new internet mega phenomenon that goes by the name of FACEBOOK.

Facebook, formerly The Facebook, is a free-access social networking website that is operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. Users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to connect and interact with other people. People can also add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves.What's exciting about facebook is that people can upload photos and videos, publish poems or tell stories on the "Write a note" application and these actions can be viewed by other members. It appeals to people's narcissism and need for attention and affection, The website's name refers to the paper facebooks depicting members of a campus community that some US colleges and preparatory schools give to incoming students, faculty, and staff as a way to get to know other people on campus.

Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook while he was a student at Harvard University. Website membership was initially limited to Harvard students, but was expanded to other colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League, and Stanford University. It later expanded further to include any university student, then high school students, and, finally, to anyone aged 13 and over. The website currently has more than 175 million active users worldwide.[5]

Facebook has met with some controversy over the past few years. It has been blocked intermittently in several countries including Syria and Iran. Apparently some women in these countries used it as a tool to meet guys and some people were afraid that this will lead to free sex and other abuses .It has also been banned at many places of work to increase productivity. Privacy has also been an issue, and it has been compromised several times. It is also facing several lawsuits from a number of Zuckerberg's former classmates, who claim that Facebook had stolen their source code and other intellectual property.

Lotsa celebrites have joined facebook: musicians, singers, actors/actresses, athletes, and even politicians!Some of the names you find on facebook are: Aston Kutcher, Ivanka Trump, Angelina Jolie, Tom Cruise, Madonna, Robert Pattinson, Michael Phelps, Brandon Routh and so on (All of the above names are on MY friend list except for Madonna, Tom Cruise and Michael Phelps.Bill Gates was once a member but since he received too many friend requests (some 8,000!), he decided to leave the social website.Famous Indonesian figures are also on Facebook, namely: Nicholas Saputra, Dian Sastro, Nadine Chandrawinata, Catherine Wilson, Julie Estelle, Doni Tata, Rakhee Punjabi, Mike Lewis, Tamara Bleszynsky, Sophia Latjuba, 3 Diva, Mariana Renata, Farhat Abbas and even senior actress Christine Hakim!! (Btw, all of these names are on MY facebook friend list :p)

Some of the celebrities used facebook to make announcement, for instance, to promote their new movie (Notably Nicholas Saputra for 3 Doa 3 Cinta), to announce their weddings (Dewi Dee Lestari and Reza Gunawan).Overseas, Michael Phelps uploaded his pic sipping marijuana through a bong 3 montrhs after he won 8 gold medals in Beijing olympics. This created a RIOT and Phelps was hugely criticized for his action.Later on he announced a public apology, not through television, but through facebook!!The apology was responded positively by his ever adoring fans.Michael Phelps' fan page has 1,9 million members, ranked fourth in America in terms of number of fans. Number one is occupied by Dr.House, one of the most popular character in the most popular series in the USA currently.

The popularity of facebook goes hand in hand with that of BLACKBERRY, a smart phone that can browse the net and enables the user to access all messages addressed to him/her directly, whether through emails or facebook.BlackBerry is most favoured by office workers who don't have enough time to meet their friends, on line or real, and are banned by their bosses to access facebook so as not to disrupt their work.BlackBerry is used as a status symbol, especially in Indonesia so that even kids and teenagers have it although they don't have enough intelligence or know how to use it!!

Some famous figures use it to publish fan pages of themselves, notably Dian Sastro, Luna Maya and Budi Anduk!!Du you know the Indonesian artist who has the biggest fan base in Indonesia?It's none other than Jeng Kelin, the famous comedy character in Prime Time. She has 108.379 fans, much exceeding the fans of overseas figures such as Sarah Jessica Parker, Uma Thurman, Daniel Radcliffe, Shah Rukh Khan and Simon Cowell!!

Facebook according to ALEXA, a trusted page ranker, has reached No. 8 as one of the most favourite websites in the world and has an estimated 150 million users, leaving MySpace (117.6 million users) and Friendster ( 100 million users)behind. Indonesian active users has grown fronm 700,000 users to 1, 2 million(!) users currently.However, in the United States, it has only 36 million users compared to MySpace's 73 million.

Sony Pictures, and The West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin, have confirmed they are in the process of developing a movie "about the founders of social networking site Facebook." Sorkin has set up his own account on the site, stating, "I honestly don't know how this works, which is why I'm here." The film so far, is untitled, and will be produced by Scott Rudin.[93] According to the Telegraph, the film is expected to focus on Zuckerberg, and 2,500 Facebook users have joined the movies group associated with Sorkin's film, suggesting "plot pointers, offering to help or even asking for a role in the film."[94] Sony was quick to refute suggestions that the film is a hoax (especially after musings that it might be a fake Sorkin account of which there are a number already),[93] with Steve Elzer saying, "We are developing the film that has been reported".[95] However, a spokesperson for Facebook said that, "We are routinely approached by writers and filmmakers interested in telling the Facebook story... At this point, we have not agreed to cooperate with any film project, but we are flattered by the interest.

Facebook received its first investment of US$500,000 in June 2004 from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel.[24] This was followed a year later by $12.7 million in venture capital from Accel Partners, and then $27.5 million more from Greylock Partners.[24][25] A leaked cash flow statement showed that during the 2005 fiscal year, Facebook had a net loss of $3.63 million.[26]

n September 2006, serious talks between Facebook and Yahoo! took place concerning acquisition of Facebook, with prices reaching as high as $1 billion.[30] Thiel, by then a board member of Facebook, indicated that Facebook's internal valuation was around $8 billion based on their projected revenues of $1 billion by 2015, comparable to Viacom's MTV brand, a company with a shared target demographic audience.[31]

On July 17, 2007, Zuckerberg said that selling Facebook was unlikely because he wanted to keep it independent, saying "We're not really looking to sell the company. ... We're not looking to IPO anytime soon. It's just not the core focus of the company."[32]

In September 2007, Microsoft approached Facebook, proposing an investment in return for a 5% stake in the company, offering an estimated $300–500 million.[33] That month, other companies, including Google, expressed interest in buying a portion of Facebook.[34]

On October 24, 2007 Microsoft announced that it had purchased a 1.6% share of Facebook for $240 million, giving Facebook a total implied value of around $15 billion. However, Microsoft bought preferred stock that carried special rights, such as "liquidation preferences" that meant Microsoft would get paid before common stockholders if the company is sold. Microsoft's purchase also included rights to place international ads on Facebook.

In November 2007, Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing invested $60 million in Facebook.

In August 2008, BusinessWeek reported that private sales by employees, as well as purchases by venture capital firms, had and were being done at share prices that put the company's total valuation at between $3.75 billion and $5 billion.

In October 2008, Zuckerberg said "I don't think social networks can be monetized in the same way that search did. ... In three years from now we have to figure out what the optimum model is. But that is not our primary focus today."

So, DO YOU HAVE A FACEBOOK??Add me up at alangeraldV@yahoo.com OR geraldo2409@gmail.com!!C u der!!