Facebook.com is about an online average of advice for academy acceptance and aerial schoolers. For its admired ability Zuckerberg and his aggregation of Harvard dropouts (taking their cue from Bill Gates, no doubt) charge be attractive for Google-sized compensation, but the two billion dollar amount is approximate and difficult to justify. Perhaps Facebook is emboldened by their own astute accommodation in not affairs to Yahoo for $15 actor in 2004.

Zuckerberg was acceptable aggravating to authorize a bazaar amount for his creation, not an childish move on the face of things. However, Viacom’s action was not by any amplitude of the acuteness abridged change and the cardinal of entities that can and will bifold the bid Facebook already got is finite.

Facebook’s cartage numbers, as referenced on Alexa.com, during the aftermost three months are not encouraging; that is, if the ambition is to angle for added and greater buyout bids. The numbers absolutely accept trended bottomward aback March, abomination for adorable aggressive behest growth.

These abbreviating statistics can be at atomic partially attributed to the alternate attributes of the academy year aback Facebook, afterwards all, is geared appear the academy student. It doesn’t amount how abundant the artefact is, it won’t accumulate acceptance from accomplishing their own affair during summer vacation and this annual dip is potentially damaging.

Seeing as how fast online fads can aggrandize and arrangement in amusing networking as we’ve apparent in its abbreviate time span, what if the numbers don’t appear back? What if article new ancestor up in two months that steals Facebook’s thunder? (And, again, MySpace’s success serves as acceptable acumen why this barrage is account stealing.)

Facebook.com’s success has additionally been bedridden with some altercation that could taint its acceptance with students. At Syracuse University a accessory over abandon of announcement ensued back a Facebook.com accumulation went abdicate in critiquing a apprentice abecedary and concluded up with expulsions from the chic and amusing abeyance afore three acceptance transferred. Afterwards Penn State’s football aggregation exhausted Ohio State this year acceptance rushed the acreage and fabricated a ruckus. Overwhelmed badge fabricated alone two arrests that day, but after in the anniversary they logged assimilate Facebook.com and, like Canadian Mounties who consistently get their man, got affluence of names and faces and photos from the advice acquaint by acceptance about their on-field shenanigans. Kids allocution and these belief advance like wildfire, which may affect Facebook.com abnormally they can’t ascendancy abusage of their artefact and the abrogating repercussions that appear from it.

The approaching is able for the amusing networking business amplitude and I don’t accept Facebook.com is doomed. Still, accustomed the attributes of brief and over-hyped dotcoms, Facebook may accept accomplished their advance acme this academy year, with achievability for amplification and success alone accidental on acquisition. Time may not be on their ancillary because as the pages of the agenda about-face there will absolutely be new fads and trends that will abuse to accomplish article abroad the Next Big Affair at Facebook.com’s expense. The alarm is ticking.

Facebook have 18 million users, plenty. However MySpace has 100 million + and sold for a mere $580 million to News Corp’s in 2005. YouTube sold to Google for a reported $1.65 billion in 2006 but it serves over 100 million video’s a day and has over 25 million visitors a month. So what makes Facebook so valuable? It gets relatively huge traffic levels but not on par with YouTube or MySpace. Despite now being available to anyone it began life as an exclusive network for students (you needed an educational email to register) and this is still its primary user group.

So where’s the money?

Currently Facebook displays conventional banner advertising on users’ homepages and selected pages through the site. Adverts are unobtrusive and random in so much as they’re not targeted at any particular user- they’re just served to the entire site on a random basis. Facebook are doing ok out of this arrangement on the basis of the number of page impressions they receive, although in reality they’re keeping advertising at a minimum in order to build up the value of the site for its eventual sale which will almost certainly happen in 2007/8. Smart guys!

The power of information

Register with Facebook and quickly you can find yourself giving away huge volumes of valuable personal information. Think about it Facebook know your name, they know how old you are (actually your D.O.B which is infinitely more valuable as I’ll go on to explain), they know if you’re male or female, they know your hometown, your postcode if you choose to give it away (although I doubt many users choose this), they know if you’re single, in a relationship (and who with), married, divorced etc, they know your sexual orientation. Ok so you can answer all these questions as honestly, dishonestly or vaguely as you like but from what I’ve seen people happily give accurate information about themselves as it’s their friends and potential friends who are going to see it- and no one else right?

But what else do Facebook know? Well they know where you went to school, where you work, more sinisterly your religious and political views. From this we can start to build up a pretty valuable market profile. As I’m telling Facebook I may as well tell you I’m Male, 22 (born in August), Straight, in a relationship, conservative, atheist from Brighton, England. Went to school at Blatchington Mill Secondary, college at a place called BHASVIC, University at Bournemouth. From this information we can draw further assumptions- I live in Brighton and based on the location of my schools catchment area we could pretty accurately map places in Brighton I know about, visit, and live in (think Google maps API). I’m a straight; conservative from a reasonably wealthy area in full time employment therefore I’m probably white, middle class with a decent disposable income.

So what else? Facebook know what you look like, they probably know what you used to look like a few years ago as well. Probably most significantly they know who your friends are, they know how you know them, they know when you talk to them, what they look like and ultimately they know exactly the same information about them as they know about you- you’re interests, likes and dislikes and your friends tastes as well.

They know your email address, so they know if you use Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail etc. They know your phone number so they could pretty easily work out your phone provider. They have your IP address so they could work out your ISP. They know where you’ve arrived at the site from so they know what search engine you use (enter Yahoo! And Google to the bidding war), what browser you’re on, they know if you’re visually impaired or have learning disabilities from the settings on your browser.

Facebook know when I’m logging in and from where so they know the hours I work, if I’m using the internet at work, the pages I leave Facebook to go to or the pages I come from so they know what other sites I look at. I can set my current status and tell Facebook exactly what I’m doing or feeling right this second.

Ok so you get the picture by now, one last thing though, is your Facebook password the same as your email account password, your internet and telephone banking password, every other password you use in your daily life (because until I wrote this post mine was!) how much more information do you want to give away?

What’s the risk here?

Realistically it’s pretty slim. Facebook are a nice bunch of guys and a great site, I love using it and despite knowing what I know about information security and the like I choose to give away a big chunk of the information I’ve talked about here.

Yahoo! And Facebook

So if Yahoo!, Google or god forbid Microsoft successfully purchase Facebook (as I say I’m reasonably confident this will happen this year) the Orwellian lucid dream proposed by this post becomes a perpetual nightmare. Imagine a company who have made billions and dominated the fastest growing market in the world by developing algorithms which crawl hundreds of millions of pages of random information (the internet) and categorize that information with the ultimate goal of matching it to businesses and selling advertising.

The search algorithm let loose on Facebook

Imagine the search engines let loose on Facebook. An algorithm tuned to pick out profile information (John, born 13.08.84). Map it to keywords in personal interests i.e. football, Manchester United. Plot your location on a map i.e. Brighton, England. Follow links to your closest friends with similar interests i.e. Bob and Dave who live round the corner and serve me an advert something like:

Happy birthday for next week John.

Did you know its Dave’s birthday the week after?

Why not book tickets for Brighton and Hove Albion vs. Manchester united on 12.08.07

Click here to book now and get 3 tickets for the price of 2 (why not ask bob to come along- he supports Brighton and you haven’t spoken in a while).

Book today and we’ll give you a half price limo from your house to the game with trashy-limo’s.com.

Now that’s powerful advertising and it’s just around the corner. If Facebook has 25 million registered users by the time it’s sold, half of whom visit every day that’s a minimum 12.5 million page impressions a day. Serve the advert above at $1 a click (which is far less than its worth based on the current AdWords CPC model) expect a click through rate of up to 10% based on the precise nature of the advertising and that’s $1.2 million minimum a day- almost $½ a billion a year. Grow that user group to 50 million (realistic if Google or Yahoo! can tap into their existing user database) and sell ad space on an affiliate basis say the football tickets at $300 with a 10% affiliate kickback and a 10% conversion rate =$3 per user x 25 million users =$75 million a day or $2737500000 in year 1! OK lets not get carried away people aren’t going to spend $300 every other day but the logics there and so the cash.

Will the audience except it?

Better quality advertising means less advertising- less websites rammed with banners so you can’t find what you’re looking for, less popups, less low quality products. This is the main driving force behind the success of search marketing programs and profile based advertising is already in place with Google’s personalized search returning more targeted AdWords ads than previously possible. If it falls into the hands of Microsoft then people may be more wary but with the image of Google or Yahoo! and Facebook profile information is seen as soft information as the company doesn’t sell you products directly and he service is free. It’s the way the internet is going and I believe it’s where we’ll be in 5 years.

Identity theft

The point I’ve been making tediously through this post is that we should be more careful about what information we give up and to whom. If the internet was a county it would be Nazi Germany and Facebook would be the Gestapo! Social utilities like Facebook are afforded the sort of privileged information fascist governments the world over would and have killed for. We moan about identity cards being introduced in the UK (ironically there’s several Facebook groups dedicated to the cause) but we happily give up personal details to a bunch of college geeks in the states who are ultimately planning on selling our details to the highest bidder (the value of any site is based on the volume, quality and amount of information they have about their traffic- but best of luck to them) possibly to the company who already control the majority of world business systems through the windows platform.

This post is not meant to scare- it’s simply a recognition of the power of new internet technologies, their possibly applications and to pose the question- if your Facebook friends are your real friends shouldn’t they know your birthday? Are Facebook really going to buy you a present?!

All the users must be bored looking at the same layouts time and time again. To match the number of users, there are several sites for free Myspace layouts. There will be many categories to choose from. This makes the experience very exciting for all users as they get to browse through many layouts. Free layouts are very easy to use.

There is no need to download any kind of software, and neither is there any other technical aspect involved in it. All the users have to do is to copy paste a code in the certain area of the home page and the layout is ready to use. Free layouts for Myspace can be found anywhere, on the Internet. As there are many sites like http://www.killacodes.com/ that are dedicated to this cause, it won’t be difficult to find.

Search engines are the best option to find these layouts. Anyone can just use the search engines to find the best free layouts. They will be of good quality though they are free of cost. They can be changed any time too, as the users please. They may want to change it often, and they will be able to pick any number of layouts.

These free layouts are in many categories and there are many contributions every day. They will be updated every day so there is no need to look for any specific designs. There will be so many thousands of them that there will be enough choices. All users must make use of these free layouts as they will make the profile more interesting.

If they are changed often then it makes a lot of sense, as there are many users and many people will want to see different looks to the profile. By using these free layouts a profile will also be more prone to visitors. Since these sites are very easy to find, there is no harm in using them often. The best sites that have the free layouts will be posted on the search engines.

To get more insights into the free layouts one can also read articles about them. They will tell you how to find the best free layouts as well as how to use them. Free Myspace layouts are also not very hard to find, as the site is very popular. There are many sites that exclusively have the list of free layouts and a user may browse through them free of cost.

Since the site offers many opportunities with the features, there will be a lot of people flocking to the site. To match the number of users, there are many layouts that are being designed. Many designers post the layouts on the Internet, and they will offer the designs for free. Any user may pick one of these designs and apply it to their profiles.

The versatility of the features, and the number of users are a reason for the layouts to be popular. People want to experiment with them, as they will be of various themes. They can pick any kind of theme that they want, and they may just apply the codes to the site home page. Once this is done it will automatically be updated.

These Myspace layouts are also so popular because one can create their own designs. Since everyone will have different choices, they will be allowed to create a good theme for themselves. It allows a user to enhance his profile in a very big way. The different uses of the layouts will attract more users to the profile.

Myspace layouts are also so popular because they are available for free, and they are available on many sites. It is very easy to find good layouts too, as search engines will be of use. Users may also use suggestions from various sites, and they can be followed for the best results. There will be layouts to cater to all the needs of the people.

The layouts will not be monotonous but of various categories, and there will be everything right from films to music. It is up to the user to pick what he wants, and that is what makes the layouts so popular. With other networking sites, there will be no layouts to choose from. The layout designers will not leave any theme untouched.

As much as possible, they will give the user what he needs. Most users are happy with the choices that are offered with the layouts, but there are some others who may want to make their own designs because they may have a very specific profile presentation to make. Layouts are what will speak about the profile, so many users will take time to select this and customize their profiles.

Myspace layouts are becoming more popular by the day. Since there are many users, there is the need for the designers to keep updating almost every day. There is also no end to the creativity offered with the layouts.

This site caters to any kind of individual. Whether they are young or old, or whether they have different interests, they are all allowed to use the site. And any user may access free Myspace backgrounds and apply them to the profile. Everyone will have different interests, so there will be the choices available to the user.

All users will want to have different Myspace backgrounds, and there will be no restrictions to the user. If they are keen about any one background, they may sue it. They will also be allowed to use it for free, and thus it is easy for all users to make their profiles different. The sub categories in the profile will need good backgrounds, and this is a very good chance for the user to make use of the backgrounds.

There are also various types of people who sign up on the site. There could be teenagers who only want to form some exciting groups, and there could be some others who are there for pure business purposes. Whatever the reason, there are many backgrounds available for free that the user may use. Any individual will be able to find the kind of background he is looking for.

All he has to do is pick one from the many categories that are available, and there will be a code that he can use. All he has to do is apply the code and he has his background ready in his profile. There will be no need for him to look too hard either. There will be many ways for him to get good Myspace backgrounds.

As these are very simple, they will be easy to access on search engines. Irrespective of the user as well as the profile, they may use any kind of background they wish to choose. Users will never get bored either, so all of them may decide to change the backgrounds every now and then. They will be given the choices and all that they would want is the code.

The Myspace backgrounds are very easy to apply and they are of various categories, thus making it very popular too among all the users. Different colors as well as themes are available with these backgrounds. There might be a lot of backgrounds to choose from, and the users should know what they want before they begin the search.

The Myspace layouts are available for free, and the themes vary, as they will have to cater to the needs of various types of people. The layouts will basically give the profile a very unique look, and will thus allow many visitors to take an interest in that. With the layout, the navigation is easy. At the left hand corner you have the photo gallery.

You can put pictures of yourself and create an album too at this point. Right below that are the contact details, and there is the interest column. No other community has such features, as they are plenty as well as innovative to keep the user occupied all the time. On the right side you would have blogs and also a column to write about yourself.

The right side bottom is dedicated to friends, and a column where friends can leave messages. The user can keep exploring a lot, as there is no way that he should be bored. Layouts are of various types too, and they can be chosen from various web sites. Many of the features are available so that people may get more creative.

The most exciting feature one can access through the Myspace layouts is the forums. This is the place you can meet and discuss with as many people as you want. The layouts provide opportunities for the users to express themselves in many ways with the features. Since they can choose a theme of their choice, they will begin taking more interest in developing the profile through these features.

The features will include everything that is needed for a community site. Since it is all about communication with people, forums and blogs are extremely popular. Through this people can express their thoughts to a great extent. By taking some time to check through the types of layouts available, the presentation of the profile could be more interesting.

Centering the profile – many of us want to keep our profile in the center of the web page just because it looks good. The code for this is available on many Myspace Codes websites. You just have to copy the code and paste it into the appropriate section of your MySpace profile. Then just save it and refresh your profile in order to see the centered page.Hiding the contact table – What if you do not want to be contacted by others? Just use a MySpace Code snippet and paste it into your profile. You are still able to communicate with each other, but they can not contact you. This protects against a lot of spam. You can delete the code at any time and your profile is visible for other members.

Image Codes – you can use these types of codes in order to use your own images in your profile. Just upload them to one the the free image hosting websites and copy the URL of the image into a text box which comes up when choosing this option at one of the MySpace codes websites out there. They will provide the final code snippet which can be used in your MySpace page.Hide myspace comments – you can hide you comments section of your profile just by using the appropriate MySpace cpde.Remove add a comment link – If you do not want to receive feedback you can use a code snippet and disable the comments section for other members.There are many other codes available which can be used to improve your MySpace profile and make it look better. It just takes a couple of minutes…

Tips for Uploading Photos to MySpace

One of the most important things to remember when uploading files to MySpace is that these files may be seen by many people. This is especially important for those who are uploading pictures of themselves to place on their MySpace website. Members are not required to place a photo of themselves on their profile but many users do include a photo so those who visit their website have a visual image of the member. Users may place an embarrassing photo of themselves thinking only their friends will see this photo but in reality many other members and nonmembers may view this photo as well. This other members may include potential bosses, neighbors or others who might be shocked by these photos.

Parents of children who use MySpace should also exercise caution when allowing their children to post their photos on their MySpace profile. There are many harmful predators on the Internet and many of these predators are seeking young children to prey upon. Parents should carefully consider whether or not they want to allow their child to add a picture to their profile. Alternately, parents might recommend their children use a picture that represents a hobby of theirs or a favorite cartoon character instead of their own photo. When posting a picture of an object or character care should be taken to ensure posting the photo is not a violation of copyrights associated with the photo.

Uploading Photos and Videos to MySpace

Uploading photos to your MySpace account is fairly simple. First you must log into your account and then click on the links that says, “Add/edit photos.” You then receive a warning stating that photos which include nudity, violent or offensive materials or copyrighted images are not permitted. You are also given the option of making photos visible to only you or to everyone. You can then browse through your hard drive to find the desired photo. Photos uploaded to MySpace must be .gif or .jpg format and must be smaller than 600k. Once you find an appropriate photo, click upload and the photo will be added to your account. Once a photo is added you can create a caption for this photo.

MySpace members can search through existing video clips on MySpace to find video clips to add to their website. They can also upload their own videos for use on their website and for others to share. When uploading videos to MySpace, members should be sure to read the terms and conditions to ensure the video they are posting is permissible. Uploading pornography or other objectionable materials may result in the member having his MySpace account deleted.

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There are so many reasons why you have to join myspace.com and there also so many reasons why you would think twice in joining such website. Although there’s no proper debate whether you have to join or not, there are people that will advice you not to join these social networking sites while there are others who doesn’t see the problem in joining them.

One of the reasons why you shouldn’t join these types of websites is security. This is especially applicable for those that are not of legal age yet. There are sexual predators that cloak themselves with very sympathetic ideas to anyone who has a problem. Kids who sometimes get frustrated at school and family tend to rant on things in the blogs of their myspace webpage. There they start giving clues about themselves. And predators will have the chance to take a look at a more personal level of other people and they will try to connect to what they feel. They start to bond and then horrors will just start there. Without the social websites, your kids can just go online, watch some free clips online or play family friendly games.

Not only is it dangerous for kids but for adults also. You might reply on a classified being placed online in myspace classifieds. But the catch is that you’ll have to pay them before you can actually work for them. Before you start thinking of paying them, don’t. There are so many crooks out there that all they wanted is your money. You can easily find them offering home based jobs stuffing envelopes and entering data online. It’s sounds really great but too great and they are using the myspace classifieds especially to those who are not really familiar with online scams.

However, there are so many good things in myspace that you can think about on top of your head. That’s why millions are online everyday just to update their list of friends.

If you have an account for personal use, you can easily get hold of your long lost friends. They may change their phone number or email, but they can’t just change their myspace page since there are already tons of contacts there. You may lose their number but you can always get in touch with them anytime through myspace.

Businessmen can also myspace to create contacts that have the same interests. They can swap ideas or even trade services and from there they can get bigger and bigger or even have more clients because of the popularity they have in the website.

Artists, musician can also have a chance to express their art freely in myspace. There’s a page for these people and from there they can have a number of fans that will like their music. In fact, some of the known singers nowadays started in myspace and people started to really get crazy about their songs and before they know it, they already have a million dollar record deal.

These are only some of the reasons why have or don’t have to join these social networks. It’s still up to you whether you wanted to join these networks. Either way, be sure to protect yourselves and your family online.

Myspace layouts are very popular and so there are plenty available on many sites, all free of cost. But how safe are they to use. Sometimes dealing with the Internet can be challenging. There will be many links on one site, and they will lead to other sites. One always needs to avoid advertising. There are many users who are not too sure about how to create the layouts.

Since the popularity of the site has increased so much, there are so many sites that have been designed for Myspace layouts alone. Those who are not familiar with how this is used, will instantly go to Google and start searching. What they are not aware of, is that there will be a lot of advertisements to avoid, as there will be a lot of links that are posted on several sites.

Some users may even look at certain profile layouts and will want to customize theirs too the same way. By wanting to do so, they will immediately want to search for the same layouts. Thus a little effort should be taken when hunting for good Myspace layouts. One must make sure that there will be no spamming involved, as this might lead to a lot of time being wasted.

While looking for good layouts it is better for one to keep in mind what they need exactly. If at all there are sites that involve many links as well as advertisements they can be avoided. It is good to find a very simple site, which has good designs, and not any back links from these layout designers. By using good layouts, you will have to make sure it hacks the profile of Myspace profile.

By doing so, you will be able to customize all aspects of the profile one by one. Thus the results will be better too. This is far better than just getting an all-new layout, which will not allow you to make changes as you please. You must also know how to change the codes when applying the layouts, as there will be many to choose from.

If you are not familiar with what you need, or how to use these layouts, then you must be able to get help from someone. Those who are familiar with this will also give some inputs about this. Many users are likely to get bored with looking through so many sites, to choose from so many layouts. This can be narrowed down to a few by doing a little research.