I was stubborn at first; I don’t really like the idea of putting up my life story for the world to see. I don’t see why I need to show the world who my friends are. However one of my friends had been irritating me to join, so I decided I would review it for a week. I decided to see what this facebook thing was all about. I created an account and went on at random times every day for the week. This is what I found.

Once you have arrived, registered and confirmed your registration you can log into your own account. Most of the stuff is simple enough. You upload a picture that will represent you, and fill in the details about your life. You will need to find a Network to be a part of if you are under 18 and a friend will have to confirm that you are indeed a part of that network. Most likely your network will be your school/varsity.
Now this is where I stopped and said, “What now?” I saw you could see all the people’s profiles in your network and invite people to be your friend and so I began to look through all the faces in my schools network. I invited friends and a few strange people that never leave me alone – funnily enough they were the first to confirm that we were friends! I looked at their weird and wonderful profiles and I have to admit it was an eye opener to who people really are and the company they keep. I eventually got over that and decided I would send a message to a friend and find out what to do using the built in message system. He wasn’t much help!

I found a friend who was overseas and sent him a message. Finally I had found something worthwhile to do. We had a virtual chat and I sent a few other messages to different people. I found someone online who would not answer their phone and so I sent them a message and was able to get what I needed from them. That was 2 bonus points for facebook.

I then realized that I could use this site to find long lost friends. Unfortunately, long story short, all the numbers on my old phone from primary school were deleted when I changed phones and I could only contact a few people. So off I went typing names in the search box and coming up with nothing! Eventually I got a brain wave and searched for my old school as a network. Even still I only found one lost friend and a teacher but nobody from my grade! Obviously they all feel the same way as I feel about sites like this. So my first day of facebook was over, with only one old friend and teacher found and my life story with a few of my friends up for the world to see. The worst part was when I looked at the clock it had been something like two hours wasted!

Through the week I found a few more friends, added some pictures to my profile and joined a couple of totally random and pointless groups, which is something people do on facebook! I soon found a movies and music quiz which was, I hate to admit, the highlight for me. You can tell everybody your top movies, share ratings and look at the top ten money spinning movies. The music section is more exciting you can listen to parts of your favourite songs and friends can listen to them too. Apparently full songs are a new feature which is pretty cool.

After a week of facebook I actually haven’t been compelled to go back much. If I get an e-mail informing me that I have a new message I will go and check it but there is no real compulsion to go back. Unless all your lost friends are on facebook it is pointless, and although the random clubs, quizzes and music is fun it is easy to get bored of. The most excitement is seeing your friend’s photos, chatting and commenting on them. Unfortunately friends get over it too and then there is nothing new to look at, and I’m definitely not the person to go to random people and start asking them to be my friend.

I can see why people like it. It is an online, world wide community, where friends can stay in touch with each other’s lives and have a small part in them. With more updates regularly and more to do I am sure facebook will be an even bigger success, but for how long? People have gotten over sites like My Space before. The real question is how quickly the people of facebook can turn out new things to do to keep our age group hooked. With so many other things to do and real life to live, is this not just another thing that will end up going to the Geeks in the end? My answer? Probably. I’ve already gotten over it until some old friends find me. I think the more friends you have that you don’t see often the more you will enjoy facebook.

It is good for people to keep in touch but don’t get addicted like some of my friends, there is real life and real people to deal with right outside your door. Rather use this as a way to keep in touch with everyone and enjoy the perks every now and again. Just remember I am extremely biased to this kind of stuff so if I at least had a bit of fun it may be worth a try for you!

Ratings:

Security: 8/10
Ease of use: 6/10
Fun: 7/10
The test of time: 4/10
‘Addictiveness’: 9/10
Look: 8/10

Overall: 7/10

Update: It seems facebook has lasted well and become a worldwide phenomenon. I have to admit, I’m now a facebook lover myself.

If you want to join our fan page go to www.facebook.com/pages/Srizzil/68684081375