The ‘Face’ Behind New Web Success

Since Facebook, a social networking site, switched over from solely allowing college students and alum to be a part of the network, it has taken off significantly. Founder Mark Zuckerburg, 22, has a huge success on his hands. I’m sure he never thought 3 years ago, as he created the site in his dorm room at Harvard, that it would have the impact that it has. Advertisers are now flocking to get their names featured on the site. What was once a MySpace fad has turned into a Facebook craze. Facebook offers many different features that don’t even come close its rival MySpace. On Facebook, for instance, you’re able to add many different applications. One of them being Fluff Friends. You can acquire these little virtual ‘pets’ by allowing the application on your page. All you have to do is choose a Fluff Friend, and voila! It appears on your page for others to pet and feed. You can earn ‘munny’ by petting other people’s Fluff Friends. It has become so popular, that groups have started up on the site, where you can add people to become your Facebook friend just so that you can earn points to buy food and habitats for the creatures. They also have My Heritage applications, Fortune Cookie, Horoscope features, My Garden, My Aquarium, a graffiti wall where friends can draw a picture for you to find on your page, and much more. You can also write on friend’s ‘walls.’ This feature allows you to leave notes or comments. MySpace allows users to do the same, write notes and leave comments to friends on the page. They also offer a music feature, which allows music to be played on your page, which Facebook doesn’t. Facebook does allow for more privacy, though. You can select areas of your page that you don’t even want friends to see. And those who aren’t friends with you can’t view your profile at all. MySpace has also become very commercialized, and plagued with advertisements. Since being bought by Rupert Murdoch for 580 million dollars, founder Tom Anderson, 29, is a very wealthy man. Zuckerburg will also be in the running for a big payday. Google, as well as other internet conglomerates, have shown interest in the site. Yahoo has offered him an easy 900 million. He won’t budge as of yet. As Facebook fame continues to grow, he wouldn’t want to opt out now. At this point, he’d like to oversee the site, and not have it run by others who really don’t understand the concept of it all.  He wants the site to remain as independent as possible, so that he can keep building on it.  And judging from its success, that’s a smart move.

Zuckerburg puts on a happy ‘Face.’