Facebook Review

A friend of mine sent me an email inviting me to join Facebook and become their friend.  I had heard of the website before but had not idea what it was like.  I tried to look at my friend's profile but was not able to unless I opened up an account.  I put it off for a while and about two weeks ago, I decided to try it.  Today I deactivated my account because it was just not the place for me.

The Facts

Facebook is a social networking website that allows people to communicate with their friends and exchange information.  It isn't just one big site; it's made up of lots of separate networks based around things like schools, companies, and regions.

My Experience  

I was immediately put off because the site required me to use my full name and email address.  When I originally entered my information, I didn't know that my full name would actually be displayed for everyone to see.  I didn't feel comfortable with that so I searched for a privacy button to see if I could only display my first name but that was not an option.  I finally edited my name to display my maiden name.  It was easy to upload a photo of myself and to complete the profile of information that I wanted to share about myself.  When I got all the basics down, it was time to figure out what Facebook was all about.  What I found was that there were many different applications that could be applied to my profile.  Many of which I felt were juvenile.  There were "drinks", "hi fives", "naughty gifts" and "pokes".  A friend had turned me into a vampire and with each fight, the winning vampire earned more strength to beat other vampires.  *rolling eyes* There are virtual pets that you can adopt and that friends can pet and feed. There are so many more applications that I won't even attempt to list them all.  I am sure that all these activities are fun for those that have a lot of time or for younger people. 

There are tons of groups that you can join as well as a listing of events in your network that you may want to attend.  Basically, my profile contained personal information and recent activity.  Literally almost every move I made and my friends made on the site was listed.  I could post videos, articles and other things that I found on the Web or on Facebook.  I was able to read the messages my friends left on my "wall".  I could import any external blog that I had.  My Home Page showed me all of my incoming messages, pokes, friend requests, event and groups invites, and more. 

As far as privacy goes, there is the basic visibility rule where only your friends and people in your networks can see your profile but there are also controls where a user could choose specific privacy settings for photos, notes and each part of their profile.

My Final Viewpoint

Although Facebook is not personally for me, I admit that for the right person, there are many fun things that one can do there.  I found it confusing, a bit overwhelming, and somewhat childish.  I am in my late thirties and most likely am not the intended demographic for the site.  I believe it is much more suited for teens up to the mid twenties.  I do belong to MySpace and enjoy it very much.  I find it to be a great networking site and I am able to promote the websites I write for.  I recommend Facebook but to someone in the age group I listed.  I give the site a 3 star rating.