What Makes Facebook Great?

According to José van Dijck, users are using Facebook to “connect” and socially interact with people on the internet (46). Facebook interface is set up to help people stay connected with others that might be far away from them. Facebook “empowers and enriches social experiences” (van Dijck, 47). This is one reason why many people use Facebook as one of their primary social media. Another reason is that social media allows users to gain followers or friends that make them seem more popular. This is called the popularity principle which states that “the more contacts you have and make, the more valuable you become…”(van Dijck, 13). This relates to Clay Shirky when he talks about reason why people use social media. One reason is the means of why people use social media, he asserts that people use social media for intrinsic and extrinsic purposes (Shirky, 72). For example, if someone wants to become more popular using Facebook; they are using social media to benefit themselves and make themselves feel more valued.

Many users continue to use Facebook because Facebook has established themselves as a social media brand; not only are they a powerful social media competitor, they are a company (van Dijck, 57). Facebook as a company is large, they are motivated by the money they make either from their parties or their users. “most general-propose motivator available has always been cash” (Shirky, 73). Therefore Facebook will continue to do whatever they can to gain as much money as they can for as long as they can. Facebook continues to appeal to their users and they begin shape their own norm (van Dijck, 48). Facebook keeps updating their services to appeal to the newest social format. For example, when group chats and video calling started to become popular, Facebook created Messenger and partnered up with Skype (van Dijck, 57–58). By adding these services, Facebook could continue to have their existing users and gain more users though Skype.

Facebook paved a way for what social media should be. They created a site where users can build communities, create “friendships”, and utilize technology to “connect” with anyone one around the world. Facebook replaced MySpace, Friendster, and other online sites where their goal was to communicate with other people across the web. As van Dijck states, “social media constitute an area of public communication where norms are shaped and rules get contested” (van Dijck, 19). Facebook stands apart from their other competitors by creating their own social norms and that is one of the many reasons why Facebook is still a competitor for the best social media out there.

References:

Dijck, José Van. The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2013. Print.

Shirky, Clay. Cognitive Surplus: How Technology Makes Consumers into Collaborators. New York: Penguin, 2010. Print.