h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Facebook - An introduction - A55140879
Author: Nosebagbear (nbb) - U14077177

Hey
Please feel free to make comments as this is my first attempted entry and all help is appreciated.

Ooh Hello nsb! This looks a good entry!


I'm a fairly new convert to Facebook - and you have described it very fairly. There are a couple of minor things - but supper is calling so I'll come back to you.


Well done anyway!

Hi!

Congratulations on writing such a useful entry. As a non-facebook user (we do exist), I would have liked to see the words "walls" explained, in a footnote for example.

Good luck

A basic footnote done shout out loud if you think any more is needed (it could well be).

"Facebook was established in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and his roommates Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes while students at Harvard University. Initially only for use by Harvard students it spread to all Ivy League Universities and finally to anyone aged 13 or over."

You're missing part out here.

There was a stage between when it was open only to students in universities. To register you had to have an academic email account. I remember clearly because some of my friends had access to it as their universities were members, but mine wasn't, at the time. More and more universities were added all the time. After a while it then became open to everyone.

There's some info about that here http://mashable.com/2006/08/25/facebook-profile/ written in 2006 before it went open to everyone.

"At the time of its founding both Myspace and Bebo were starting to be used by large numbers of users, primarily students." - I think "teenagers and young adults" would be more accurate.

"Facebook initially struggled to overcome the advantages of these emplaced social sites however in 2009 Facebook was ranked as the most widely used social Networking site with a clear margin over the 2nd most widely used, Myspace."

Do you have a link supporting this? Last I heard Myspace was still leading.

"Facebook emailing - Facebook has its own webmail system which is primarily used for internal messages that need to be delivered privately but it can also be used for external use, allowing users to use facebook instead of an external email address."

I don't entirely follow this. Do you just mean sending someone a message, because it can't be read by anyone other than the named recipients, or is there an email service I'm not aware of?

My favourite facebook group is 'When I Was Your Age, Pluto Was A Planet'. You don't need to mention that but it might be worth saying that some groups are serious campaigning groups (though why anyone imagines a campaign group on a social networking site will achieve anything purely through its existence is beyond me) and some are completely pointless - there's even a 'Completely Pointless' section in the 'Just For Fun' part of the group categorisation system.

I think a paragraph on Events would be useful under the groups section. It's pretty useful for organising events without having to phone twenty people every time the details change.

Good work.

cheers - supper calls so i will do these points later but say what i will do now
I know perfectly well i was missing a bit of the histry but i was unsure of how important it would be. As it ahs been noticed so quickly i will put it in, suitably chastened
Students - teenagers and young alduts will be corrected cheers
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7257073.stm
If this link works i think it shows that fb is used more - i could be wrong but was hoping that the bbc would be using correct facts.
fb mail is primarily used by fb members who want to send messages to other fb users but dont want other people to see, i thought that it could be used to send messages to other email sites, e.g. hotmail but my test has not worked yet so i will check and see if i should alter this section.
I was wondering about doing events - it seemed like it would add too much for the length, do you think a few lines describing the principle would suffice?
As for the group (btw When i was your age Pluto was a planet is also my fav fb group but i was thinking to myself tone down the opionions ) i will add in a line about serious vs jokey and the jsut for laughs section

Should have managed this all by about 9ish, assuming nothing good on tv :D

cheers

Hello again nsb

the couple of points I had in mind were:


>>The primary feature on Facebook is the ability to invite friends and to be invited as a friend by others. When this is done, although it is an ongoing process that regular users will never finish, users are able to see each other's "walls" and "status".


The second sentence in the above doesn't really make it clear that it is only the facebook user's 'friends' who have access to each others' posts/walls/profiles. (unless the privacy settings haven't been used - which is extremely rare in my experience). Perhaps you could substitute the word *friends* for the word *users*?



In regard to groups - you perhaps should mention that there is an H2G2 group? Although it doesn't seem to see much in the way of traffic!

Lanzababy

"I was wondering about doing events - it seemed like it would add too much for the length, do you think a few lines describing the principle would suffice?"

This is nowhere near as long as some of our longer entries so I think a paragraph would be fine.

I see what you're saying with the link but it doesn't actually say that that list is in order - and even if it is, it's a UK order. I think worldwide user totals (if such information could be found) would be more appropriate.

i will certainly mention there is and h2g2 group - indeed i joined just before i started writing this group and have written on the wal just yesterday.
(walks off feeling virtuous)

http://blog.compete.com/2009/02/09/facebook-myspace-twitter-social-network/
This website seems to be trusted by a few places on the web and at least some say that it uses global figures rather than jsut the US, although it is a US based company

Finally
i think i've done most of whats been asked, any point that i've missed out jsut mention again please.

Hi nbb

You could mention the games (although I don't know if they are externally hosted) but I access Bejeweled Blitz via Facebook, a one-minute game which is *so* addictive I dream of crashing gems and explosions and +100,000 scores



GB

don't they fall under apps tho?
I may be wrong you answer and i'll go have a looksee

all the games i could find were covered by another app, some of which have been mentioned. I did however mention your problem :D

Yeah, the applications have something for everyone - and they should have health warnings as a lot of them are compulsive and addictive. (speaks for self)

I don't know about Facebook, but in the German version, StudiVZ, there were big problems with people being mobbed (even at the instigation of the founders, I think) and inappropriate use of private data by the company

This is a good start

General points:

1) You comprehensively list the features of Facebook. To differentiate your entry from, say, the Wikipedia entry, or Facebook's own help pages, you should be guiding people as to how best to use it. You do this in a few places, but the more guidance you add, the more interesting this is to read.

2) You use passive tense in a number of places (eg "This is where all the data that are posted by the friends of a Facebook user can be seen", "Any of these pieces of information can be commented on here"), where an active style would be friendlier. I suggest you work through it and see if you can make these active.

Specifics:

Too many ideas in this sentence - please could you split it?

This is interesting, but looks out of place where you have it. I'd consider expanding on this and giving it a separate paragraph. What did the authorities say was the reason when they banned it?

I'd introduce these other sites earlier and explain how they differ from Facebook.

what does this mean?

say something like what? And why would it say more about Facebook users in particular?

A bit clumsy - can you rephrase a little more clearly?

Can you introduce this list of categories of groups. Oh, and I'd avoid mentioning the BNP in any context.

I don't understand this bit.

What BBC Team? Is this something to do with h2g2, or some BBC News investigation?

I don't understand this.

Icy

Cheers ICY, msot of your points will be addressed, although it could take until tomorrow.
A couple of problems, im wondering how to take it out of the passive without making the entry sound quite strange and having it slip into the 1st person at times. If you (or any other commenter) could note a few more examples of where i use the passive and give an example of how the passive should read that would be extremly helpful.
Also i don't have a Myspace or a Bebo account so I can add in a few facts from the web but if anyone has such an account could they drop a comment saying what they're are like (worst feature, best feature etc)
Cheers i'll start working on it.

Most specific points addressed, your point of what does
"what goes on tour, goes on facebook mean" is jsut a play on "what goes on tour STAYS on tour"
I asked a few people and they've all understood it, if alot of people are confused then i'll take it off or i could add a footnote.

I've made a first try of your 1st general point, there are a few place that im thinking about and will come back to.
The 2nd point i will address in a bit, preferably after a few people have offered suggestions.
CHeers

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
h2g2 crashed my computer while i was editing i lost 3 paragraphs.

Now that i'm finished raving, i will have to redo the information, it should be up in an hour or so - it gives a review of MySpace and FAcebook and a list of their attributes versus Facebook's and a paragraph on how Facebook is banned in certain countrys.