Facebook is one of the most popular social networking websites launched in 2004. Members of Facebook can interact with friends they already know offline or meet new friends, communicate through public or private message board or a chat feature, and notify friends about themselves by updating profiles, sharing images, adding video clips, playing games, etc. Additionally, users can join some virtual groups organized by workplace, school, or college to keep connected with families, friends, co-workers or like-minded people with similar interest such as music and politics.

The usage of Facebook is not limited to making friends. Department of Homeland Security and the FBI also make use of Facebook and other social networking sites to decide who have permission into the country and who may pose a terrorist threat to national security. When vetting applicants for citizenship, immigration officials may scan personal profiles on the web, looking for some information and images to help verify background details, confirm martial status, or even check with whom the applicants are chatting and making friends online. If the immigration officials don't like you holding a knife in a Facebook profile picture, then you may not be able to step into the country. Even if you are buying an airline ticket, your web profiles may also be reviewed by being crosschecked against YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Again if a passenger is using fraudulent identifications or suspected of some involvement with terrorism, then he/she will not be permitted to board a flight.

Facebook constitutes a data-rich site for researchers to get statistics and trends due to its heavy usage patterns. In recent years applications specially designed for Facebook has been developed. For example, 'Friend Statistics' app can show details about your friends on your profile page in diagrams or charts. The proportion of male and female users in your network, the percentage of those who got married, how many people are within the age of 20-40, which popular groups are recently joined by most of your friends, as well as their locations can be visualized in colorful graphics, with full control over which statistics are shown on your profile by only a click of mouse on the editing page. With 'Friend Filter' feature, you also can filter your friends by selecting different categories such as gender, relationship status, horoscope to see who is/are the one(s) you are interested in.

Facebook has become an incredible online platform for advertising or creating brand awareness. Not only does Facebook include over 100 Million active users, but it provides numerous ways for business owners to reach these users in a legit way, and one of them is using Facebook application. Facebook released its API so business owners can create something fun and interesting that engage users. Imagine you are going to hold a speed dating party that are targeted to women with age between 25 and 35, and men who are from 30 to 45 with good education background. Using a 'statistic' app can help you quickly figure out those who are 'bachelor or master holders', 'single', and within a specific age range, and invite them to join your party. On top of that, pre-screen matches can also be made using scientific matchmaking data prior to meeting the real person in the party, say a dating app can help you find your perfect match by analyzing the Chinese zodiac, birthday and characters. According to Chinese zodiac, 12 animals were chosen to symbolize the terrestrial branches, people who were born in the year of rat (e.g., 1972, 1984, 1996) would be an excellent match with those who were born the year of dragon (e.g., 1964, 1976, 1988). It is pretty much like an extension of match.com, the best way to widen your social network and boost the chance of meeting your future spouse.

A ticket broker can take advantage of Facebook application and make money too. For instance, an app can be developed to track the number of people who are interested in U2's concert held in August. Once the data is collected, marketing staff can send emails or messages directing them to purchase tickets in the official site.

Start developing meaningful, innovative Facebook applications that can give your business a tremendous boost! Contact us for more details.

 

---

More Website Building Software Software for website building, create flash photo gallery, music player, videos, calendar, interactive maps, and more...

---

Web Design Articles