The Power of Facebook - Part 2

Facebook has become a phenomenon of sorts, the people that run the social network can do almost anything they want. In some ways they already have, they've completely changed privacy settings, making you vulnerable to having you're infromation viewed by almost anybody. They've changed the layout numerous times, making minute altercations that some people consider pointless and unnecessary.

Yet, all the people that complain at every turn when a change is made, they still stick through it, and eventually they adjust. They sit happily, as Facebook does exactly what it wants with hardly any long term repercussions. It has become a global brand. As big as McDonalds and Coca Cola, in fact, it may be even bigger. After all, it now boasts over 800,000 members. The number of active users on Facebook actually went up from around 1 million in 2004 to over 750 million in 2011. It's the most used social media website in the world by miles. It's Alexa ranking is number 2, only coming behind Google.

It has become a newspaper for some people, something to read when you wake up in the morning.
It employs more than 3000 people, incredible considering how basic the actual concept is, and the idea that it all began with just a handful of people. It can be how we find out dramatic news stories, and is slowly becoming the cliche answer to 'where were you when...' question. It's how I found out about Michael Jackson's death back in 2009. I'm sure it was also how people discovered Amy Winehouse had died earlier this year. There has suddenly been no need for journalists to break such big news, because it spreads across the internet within minutes.

Flickr - Davichi

Many would argue that this is all good news, and it's hard to disagree. News is spreading faster than ever, and at the same time you can engage with your friends and family miles apart as if they were sitting right next to you.
Along with this, Facebook has continued to try and take advantage of it's huge number of use, and the fact that they provide their 'friends' with such detail of their life. Facebook has improved it's system, particularly in the United States, to help those that may seem suicidal to their social network friends, through interactions such as status updates and 'FB Chat'.

Facebook houses offices all over the world, including in London which boasts one of it's biggest offices. They have job roles that range from marketing, corporate communications, monetization and developer relations. It just shwos you how broad Facebook is for something that on the surface simply connects friends online. A user can be 'flagged' by concerned friends, which then enables them to speak with a trained councillor through the facebook chat feature.

Faceook recently released what they consider the most discussed topics on the social netowkring website this year. The order was the following:-
1 - Death of Osama Bin Laden
2 - Packers win the Super Bowl
3 - Casey Anthony found not guilty
4 - Charlie Sheen
5 - Death of Steve Jobs
6 - The Royal Wedding
7 - Death of Amy Winehouse
8 - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
9 - Military operations begin in Libya
10 - Hurricane Irene

Along with this their 'Memology' showed what where the most popular(or trending) movies, songs, artists and stars on Facebook.

Harry Potter is the fastest growing movie on Facebook this year with an unbelievable 37,500,000 likes. That is far ahead of second police which is The Twilight Saga that has almost 27 Million likes.

Family Guy is one of the most liked things on Facebook with 40 Million Likes, with The Simpsons not far behind (37 Million)
House is the fastest growing tv show, and currently has close to 26 Million. Which is followed by Two and a Half Men(24 Million).

Despite not starring in any big blockbuster films this year, Megan Fox remains the fast growing celebrity page, with just under 30 Million likes.

Overall, their seems to be only a small sway of interest in comparison to 2010 as far as entertainment is concerned

To read more on the 2011 Memology, and for the full top 10 on each category click here.
To read 'The Power of Facebook - Part 1' click here.

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Facebooks controversial face recognition feature goes global

Facebook has now globally released a new 'Face Suggestion' feature which scans new photos and suggests people that should be 'tagged' based on facial recognition.
The new technology has been active in the US since late last year, but has only recently been used across the world.

Facebook users are able to turn off the feature, however, the feature was automatically activated when it was introduced. This has upset some users, who have said that they were not informed of this new feature or asked beforehand if they wanted it activated.

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The Power of Facebook - Part 1

Last month I asked my followers to tweet my some random facts. One that really caught my attention came from @TomCallan. He said that 'if Facebook was a country it would be the 3rd biggest in the world.'

Now this really fascinated me. It's a lot of people. Lets put it into perspective.

China has over 1.3 Billion people, making it the highest populated country in the world. In second place is India which is the home of over 1.2 Billion people. The 3rd biggest country is The United States more than 311 Million.(and just for those interested the UK is 22nd with around 62 Million).
Facebook has over 500 million active users. Which confirms that the fact is correct, it actually has close to double the amount of America's citizens, which is pretty big. It becomes easy to understand when you consider the vast amount of users across a number of countries, including a large chunk of America itself. And yet, around 70% of Facebook users live outside of the US. This also means that thier are over 70 different translations.
If Facebook was a country, it would be a very multi-cultural one.

The Facebook logo has become regonisable wolrdwide, and it is ranked 2nd in the global Alexa rankings(only coming behind Google).

Making 'The United Nations of Facebook'
I think a UNF name for the country would make the most sense, as it would be filled with a number of nations uniting.
I suppose the basics of a 'Facebook Country' aren't too complex, such as the FB logo would be the flag.

The trickier stuff comes when deciding details such as the form of government. It would be easy to say a democracy, because of Facebook being very much reliant on the people. We've also seen in the social networks history that a lot of decisions made by those that run the website have not been well recieved. Although, those decisions often work out in the end, or we simply adapt to the changes. I would personally suggest a Republic.

A country of Facebook users would also mean that anybody could be found and accessed through the website, privacy could easily become a thing of the past. Although, i feel like an impression is getting created that everybody would know everyone, but that obviously wouldnt be the case with over 500 Million people populating it.

It certainly would be an interesting prospect, and thier would be a lot more to consider when looking at how Facebook has transferred into something that has taken hold of the world. But i'll leave that for another blog.

I'll just leave you with an image that was released by Facebook not too long ago, and shows exactly how widespread it has become.


A picture that really does some it all up. Courtesy of Facebook.

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Young Teachers and the Dangers of Facebook

Thier have been alot of reports recently regarding the dangers of facebook regarding young teachers. It seems that teachers with low privacy settings are at risk of having thier private lives cross with thier career.
Some incidents have lead to investigations and terminations because of inappropriate postings of pictures and status updates on the social networking website.

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