#NerdsUnite: Social Media Musings (why Facebook is so addictive)

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Jay. He lives alllllllll the way over in India and is the founder of TechTheBest.com. He's here today to talk about his latest and greatest observations in the wonderful world of social media. I only have one more thing left to say ... HIT IT JAY!! </editorsnote> 

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @JayThadeshwar

I just realized that I have started spending almost entire day on Facebook after finishing my exams last week. I find some of my friends highly Facebook addicted. There were social networking platforms before Facebook also, but none of them were as addictive as Facebook is. People used to get crazy behind Orkut and Myspace but not to this extent. So, to feed my curiosity and provide information, I thought of posting on Why Facebook is the most addictive social media platform?

I marked down some reasons that make Facebook the most addictive social networking website.

Fashion

Yes, Facebook is a fashion and fashion never ends. Fashion is all about being different, being exclusive and showing off the same. Facebook is one such platform where all these is possible. Most of the Facebook users log on to Facebook to post some quotes, photos, videos and show off how cool they are. They also log on to check out what’s up in their friends’ lives but that’s secondary.

If you remember, The Social Network movie greatly presents this idea. When Eduardo doubts about the Facebook’s future and wants to earn out of it as soon as possible, Mark says, “It’s Fashion and Fashion never ends.”

Feeding Curiosity

Facebook feeds curiosity in the best way. We all are curious about what’s going on in our friends’ lives. Facebook bring all that to you on your screen without taking any efforts. Orkut was also one such platform where you could checkout what’s up with your friend’s lives but for that, you had to go to respective person’s profile and then checkout his scraps. Facebook provides all bread and butter on the home page only.

•            Who is in relationship? With whom?

•            Who is getting married, who is getting engaged?

•            Who breaks up?

•            Who’s getting clicked in lot of pictures, with whom?

Facebook answers all these questions on the home page, all you need to do is just to scroll down the page and read stuff. Thus, Facebook feeds your curiosity.

The Social Network movie also represents this attribute very artistically. When Dustin arrives to Mark’s practical class, he asks him about a girl’s relationship status because he wanted to get up with her. Mark immediately gets an idea and runs towards his dorm room to add a feature “Relationship Status” to his under construction site “TheFacebook.”

Always Up, Fast and Smooth

Have you ever faced a problem with Facebook getting delayed to load or not working properly? Answer will be NO for most of the users and those who have faced any problem would be because of slow internet connection or browser problems. Facebook runs well even eith the slowest internet connections. Facebook’s auto prompt option, messages, chat, recommendations, notifications etc. run properly in slow internet connection as well.

Back to the social network movie – When Eduardo stops payments to freez the servers, Mark yells at him saying, “Facebook is never down and that’s where we stand out, Facebook is never never down. Once our visitors suffer, we lose them irreversibly.” 

Easy to Use

Facebook is very easy to use. Design is everything for website and Facebook has a great design that makes everything easy that even a layman can understand. Right from start up, Mark has used all new codes to develop Facebook. Everything is self designed and not developed on any ready made platform like WordPress or Joomla.

Back to The Social Network – Remember the lawsuit discussion among the Winkelvoss twins and Zuckerberg, Mark says that he didn’t use any of their codes, not a single line of their codes was used in Facebook. The entire sequence of the movie when Mark writes codes for Facebook shows that he wanted to build something that he dreamed of and no platforms were providing that. He created very easy to use and well designed website.

Mutual Feelings

Facebook is the website where people share their data willingly. People want to know what’s going on in their friends’ lives and they get it easily. You don’t have to hack anyone’s account or digg in to anyone’s profile. People share things because they want to.

Back to The Social Network – In Lawsuit discussion room Eduardo speaks, “You don’t need to hack into anyone’s account and people will share their information voluntarily. And the world where social structure is everything, this is the thing.”

You Feel Worthy

Facebook makes you feel worthy. More no. of friends make you feel worthy. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Social Needs play 3rd important role in our lives. Facebook fulfills your Social Need. Getting more friends, getting more subscribers, more likes on your status updates, more likes on your pictures, more comments on your posts make you feel special and worthy.

Back to The Social Network – Divya Narendra says, “That guy (Mark Zuckerberg) doesn’t even have 3 friends and gets 900 members on his websites and making them friends.” This sentence justifies that having more friends means you are socially worthy and Divya Narendra accepts that Zuckerberg is worthy now. 

Kills Boredom

Facebook kills boredom. We all use Facebook to kill our boredom sometimes. We log on and checkout our friends’ updates, pictures, videos and more stuff like that and that pulls you out of boredom. Facebook is one of the best ways to kill boredom with minimum amount of efforts.

The Social Network – Sean Parker’e entry scene – When he sees something on his girlfriend laptop and asks about it, the girl replies that it’s a new website that connects students and it’s really fun as it doesn’t make you feel bored. 

Find and Meet New People

Facebook is the best way to connect to new people you have never met before. You can just add a name in the search bar and find a person’s account you want to. You can send friend requests to anyone and ask them to join your network. You can message to anyone and subscribe people that you want to be updated with. Thus, facebook keeps you connected and helps find more people.

Business Aspect

Mark Zuckerberg very intelligently included the Fan Pages in Facebook to get the maximum advantage from the business people, companies and brands. Facebook has become one of the most important platforms to promote brands and no company can ignore the power of facebook. This facility was not available in any of the social network before.

Mark didn’t start Facebook with intention of adding Fan Pages for brands, companies and artists but eventually it came up.

The Social Network – Sean Parker says, “You don’t even know what the thing is yet, how big it can get, how far it can go.”

Mobility

Last but not the least is the Mobility of Facebook. Facebook was launched on perfect time when mobile phone industry was being shaped across the world. Orkut, myspace, friendster and other social networking websites were not available so easily on mobile phones as Facebook is.

Even a mobile with minimum capacity and which can access web has a great accessibility to Facebook and that’s what makes Facebook unique and more addictive. You don’t need to get on your PC to use Facebook. You can access Facebook from your cell phone with beautifully designed application from anywhere on earth.

Thus, as explained above, Facebook is addictive because of the decoration that Mark Zuckerberg has made over the period of time.

#thatisall

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