As a social network, Facebook offers its users the opportunity to publish personal information and interact with other users. Information published on Facebook concerns among other marital status, education and personal interests and allows users to find common interests, create groups and invite other people to join. Interacting with other Facebook users allow them to exchange mails, multimedia documents.

Facebook offers its users to make use of optional features called “applications”, represented by small boxes stacked on several columns that appear on the display page of the user, also called “Profile”. Once a user has installed a new application, this appears on its profile and his/her Facebook friends are informed of this.

 Which type of information can a user find Facebook?
- a list of all his friends
- a list of friends he has in common with the another friend
- a list of networks to which the user and his friends belong to
- a list of groups to which the user belongs to
- a box to access to the photos associated with the account of the user
- a “mini-feed” summarizing the most recent developments concerning the user’s profile

- a “mini-feed” summarizing the status updates of someone’s Facebook friends;
- a “wall” (wall, in English) where friends can post short messages, gifts, video’s and to which the user can reply.

Since April 2008, users can also make use of a “chat” application that enables them to inform his friends of his online presence and, if necessary, to discuss live online on a private platform (so far, however, the application does not allow more than two people in a salon).

The choice of applications to display is left to the user who can add them after consultation of the catalog, but can also, change their arrangement on the page, hide some of them to his friends or simply remove them.

Since May 2007, Facebook is open to third-party applications. This has contributed to the success of the site: many designers, whether beginners or experts, did not hesitate to offer their applications to be used on the web or locally. According to Facebook, on 30 November 2007, more than 8 000 applications, official or unofficial, were available. Next to that, tools and development frameworks (framework, API, code samples …) are offered to developers so that they can design new applications corresponding to the Facebook standards. For instance, FBML, a cousin of the HTML language, has been established as the standard language to be used by developers for application on Facebook. And although not compulsory, developers are bound by it.

On 23 July 2008, during its annual conference developers, Facebook presented the latest evolution of its platform and called its developers, whose number exceeded 400 000 at that time, to connect their websites to Facebook via Facebook Connect.

Sources:

- http://www.nonfiction.fr/article-364-comprendre_facebook_et_linternet_social.htm

- http://www.wikio.fr/high-tech/internet/reseaux_sociaux/facebook

- http://www.koreus.com/video/facebook-realite.html

 Main critics of Facebook:

 1) The look and the operation of Facebook are not too suited for professional use.

It’s the major blame made to the social network. The system of connecting with friends, consulting freely information made available, pictures, etc. are such that Facebook will always be considerd as a tool for personal use, not professional.

2) The search function is not practical.

The basic research only displays basic information about a Facebook user (name, profile picture…). It is indeed not easy to be 100% certain that we have found the right person … using advanced research functions are indeed only available to your circle of friends. This is also true when searching information on different groups.

3) The privacy issue.

Like in the office, it is recommended not to share or show too personal information (picturess of drink evenings, of you in swimming suit …). Additionally, a Facebook user can also adapt the information he wants to make available to his friends, limiting the access of too personal information to friends the user barely knows. Finally, it is also recommended to hide its email address as it could increase a user’s spam mail.  

4) Facebook is time consuming.

Like Diggs, users can spend hours on Facebook. Chatter, visit profiles, test applications, takinf part to quizzes … can be time-consuming. Therefore, users are recommended to limit your visits to a few per day.

5) You can not transfer your profile Viadeo to Facebook or LinkedIn .

Because it social network uses different standards, you loose much time setting up and animating your profile with applications which are similar in their aim.

6) You have to login if you want to read your messages.

Even if it is possible for a user to display a “Facebook” on his browser or to receive messages on his iPhone, it would have been much more convenient to have an instant messaging system or even better, the content of the message in the email info about Facebook.

 7) Your friends/contacts are obliged to create an account to get information about you.

Your contacts are obliged to create an account to view your entire profile, your answers to post on your wall or to your posts… It does indeed not offer the same flexibility as a blog or a website where users simply need to enter their email address to post a comment.

8) Many groups aren’t very active but more fanciful.

A lot of groups do not have a real “raison d’être”; they do not offer quality information at all and are not regularly updating . On the other hand, the abundance of groups allows the creation of new groups on a wide range of topics.

Sources :

- http://conseilsenmarketing.blogspot.com

- http://www.wikio.fr/high-tech/internet/reseaux_sociaux/facebook