The Right to Write

Who doesn’t know the word ‘Facebook’ nowadays?

It’s the big thing right now, and you’d have to be living under a rock to not know it. The big question is, what’s so good about it? What’s so addictive? What’s with the urge to facebook instead of doing your homework/work, anything but facebook?

Is it the applications (apps.)?

“Okay, hang on, just let me send one more growing gift.”

“I just need to feed my puppy! You wouldn’t want him to die would you?”

“One more poke! Just one, I swear!”

My own favourite app. is Pieces of Flair. Virtual badges that brighten up your day (or depress it; either way).

Is it the convenient way to connect with people all over the world? (Only if the other person has a facebook account, too, though.)

“Just let me finish writing on her wall.”

“I’m commenting on his photo, can’t it wait?”

Or is it the thrill of beating your friends at games?

“Woohoo! I have the biggest brain!”

“I Bubble-Worded your butt, sucker.”

“Ooh, 290 points to 98, buurn.”

So what the heck is it? It’s certainly not the layout, the new facebook layout has gotten a few complaints, and greatly confused people like my mum (no offense meant).

Though, admittedly, both of the layouts (old and new) are already better than some other similar sites, such as Yuwie, which offers money for every click on your page. Facebooks’ advertisments (ads) are not in your face, but still visible.

And so, I have a few theories on why Facebook is such a success.

Theory #1: It was the first of its kind.

Simple, but true. Facebook is pretty ahead of its time. All the other websites that are somewhat modelled after it do not have the drive of people already on Facebook, like Friendster for example. Part of what’s missing there are the applications. I mean, half of the purpose of logging on to Facebook is to see what your flower has grown into, right?

From the app. Growing Gifts, the Self-Watering Flower (which, I think is awesome.)

Theory #2: The wide selection of games.

As I mentioned before, there are some great apps on Facebook and that means games too. The games are Addictive with a capital A. My brother now has to monitor my mum to make sure that she is not playing word games when she is meant to be doing her work. And the games are fun, with Mario Kart now available.

Theory #3: Easily sharing whatever news you find on the internet.

With the ‘post a link’ feature, you can share the latest news, Youtube videos and many other sites at a click of a button.

Facebook has been recognized as the next big thing. TIME magazine did an article on the top 3 biggest things in the Information Technology (IT) world in no particular order, and Facebook was among the 3, along with Google and Apple.

And so, the question still stands, what makes Facebook so addictive? It’s possibly something that I mentioned above, maybe something else.

But whatever it is, I’ll probably be facebooking my day away.