How Facebook works?

After i reviewed the ranking of most visited social networking site for last week and last month, I learnt that Facebook is really dominant to today's lifestyle. So, i've decided to do a deep research on Facebook.

The history

In 2004, Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes, three Harvard University students, launched a Web site designed to put students in touch with one another, share their photos and meet new people. They called it thefacebook.com, and before long the site became extremely popular on the Harvard campus. A month after the site launched, the creators expanded it to include students from Stanford, Columbia and Yale. By 2005, students in 800 college networks across the United States could join the network, and its membership grew to more than 5 million active users. In August of that year, the site's name changed to Facebook. It was originally intended for college students, but today anyone can join the network. Although the site's scope has expanded to include more than just students, its purpose remains the same -- giving people a way to share information in an easy and entertaining way.

How to start?

• you must create a free account on the site.
• Facebook's terms of use state that members must be at least 13 years old, and any member between the ages of 13 and 18 must be enrolled in school.
• It requires new members to provide a valid e-mail address before completing registration.
• Once you've created an account and answered a few questions about where you work, where you went to school and where you live, Facebook will generate a profile for you.

How to find friends on Facebook?

• You can browse and join networks. Once you join a network, you can browse through the list of members and search for people you know.
• You can let Facebook pull contacts from a Web-based e-mail account. To do this, you have to give Facebook your e-mail address and password. Whenever Facebook discovers a match, it gives you the option to add that person as a friend.
• You can use Facebook's search engine to look for a specific person. Type the person's name into the search field, and Facebook will display any profiles that match the name

What is Facebook profile?

The interface of my Facebook profile

Facebook profile is the Web page that other members will see if they look you up. It gives people an idea about who you are and what your interests include. Facebook assumes that many of the people with whom you'll want to connect work for the same company, went to the same school or live in the same town as you. To make it easier to find friends both old and new, Facebook gathers information about you and everyone else to create a dense network of contacts but u can always adjust privacy settings so that others can't find you.

In a profile, there will be these features:

• A space where you can upload a profile picture.
• A friends section, which displays pictures of Facebook members you've befriended.
• A section that shows the personal information you've decided to share with other members. This can include your birthday, work history, education and interests.
• A mini-feed section, which informs visitors about what you've been up to. If you change your profile picture or add a friend, the mini-feed will display a message about it.
• A comments section called the wall, where other members can leave messages for you.

You can customize your Facebook profile using Facebook applications which were developed by other members.

What is Facebook homepage?

The basic homepage layout includes a news feed that keeps you updated about what your friends and networks are up to. There's also a status update section, which contains notices about messages you've received, invitations to events, notices about applications your friends would like you to try and a place where you can tell people how you're feeling or what you're up to. There's also a link that lets you invite friends to join Facebook.

What is Facebook applications?

Facebook's applications set it apart from other social networking sites.

• Facebook's first-party applications include photos, videos, groups, events, marketplace, posted items, notes and gifts. These are applications developed by Facebook and available to all members.
• Facebook's third-party applications --there are hundreds of them developed by Facebook members.

I'll explain details about these applications in my next post.

Facebook Mobile

You can access Facebook features using a mobile device in three ways: mobile text messages, mobile uploads and mobile Web browsing.

• Mobile text messages -- When you send a text message from your phone to Facebook, the message transmits to a mobile switching center (MSC), which sends the signal to a signal transfer point (STP). From there, the message goes to a short message service center (SMSC), which then sends the text to Facebook. When Facebook sends a message to your phone, the process is reversed
• Mobile uploads -- work in a similar way to text messages, but must use MMS. MMS allows you to send not only text, but also sound files, video and images. The transfer method is similar to SMS, but it requires a handheld device compatible with the MMS standard.
• Mobile web browsing -- Your phone must have Web browsing capabilities in order for you to visit Facebook from it. You'll need to direct your phone's browser to m.facebook.com, Facebook's site designed specifically for mobile browsing.Unlike typical Facebook pages, the mobile counterpart's code is in Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML). XHTML is a more restricted language than standard HTML.