>>Facebook             share as much information as they wanted while having control over what they put up.”  From the beginning,

Facebook has kept its profiles and navigation tools rela­ tively simple in order to unify the look andfeel for each in­ dMdual.Within the first 24 hours the Facebook Web site was up,between 1,200 and 1,500 Harvard students had registerad and become part of the Facebook community. Within the first month,half the campus had registered.

Initially, Facebook’s Web site could only be viewed and used by Harvard students. The early momentum was tremendous,though,and Facebook soon expanded to in­ clude students throughout the Ivy League and other col­ leges. The initial decision to keep Facebook exclusive to collage students was critical to its ear1y success.It gave the social Web site a sense of privacy,unity,and exclusiv­

Facebook has  brought  a whole   ity that social media competitors like MySpace did not of­ new level of personal marketing to the world of business.     fer. Eventually,in 2006, Facebook opened upto everyone. The social networking Web site fulfills people’s desire to                                                                  Today, Facebook is the most popular social network­ communicate and interact with each other and uses 1hat          ing Web site in the world,with over 500 million active power to help other companies target very specific audi­                                                          users. The site allows users to create personal profiles ences with personalized messages.     with information such as their hometowns, work, educa­ Facebook was founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg,  tional background,favorite things, and religious affiliation.

who was a student at Harvard University at the time and It encourages them to extend their network by adding created the first version of the Web site in his dorm room. other users as friends, and many people try to see how Zuckerberg recalled, 1just thought that being ableto have many “friends” they can accumulate. To interact with access to different people’s profiles would be interesting. Facebook friends, users can send messages; “poke” Obviously,there’s no way you can get access to that stuff   each other; upload andview albums,photos,games, and

videos;and “tag” or label people intheir photos. They can post comments on friends’ “walls” and create status up­ dates viewable to everyone. In summary, Facebook is ful­ filling its mission to “give people the power to share and make the wor1d moreopenandoonnected.”

Facebook has become a criticalmarketing compo­ nent for just about any brand for several reasons. First, companies, sportsteams, musicians, and politicians can create Facebook pages-a place to communicate to and with their fans. Facebook pages offer groups and brands a way to personally Interact, bulld awareness, communicate. and offer information to anyone who takes an interest. Companies use Facebook to introduce new products, launch videos and promotions, upload images, communicate to consumers,listen to feedback, and create an overall personal look and feet Even politi­ cians from around the wor1d-from the United States to the Philippines-use Facebook to push their campaigns and communicate with supporters on a local,personal­ ized basis.

Facebook also offers targeted advertising opportuni­ ties. Banner ads-the company’s major source of Income-can target lndlVlduals by demographic or keywords based on the specific information they have placed in their profiles. adidas, for example, uses Facebook to promote specific labels Within the oompany, target consumers regionally, and give the brand a personal touch.The head of adidas’s digital marketing group explained,”Wherever our fans are,we’re going to use Facebookto speakto them and we’re going to try to speak to them in alocally relevant way.”