Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Sign up to stay tuned
|
With its many innovations, Facebook has become the face of Internet
|
Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy
Going with the trend Youngsters have a world of choice in front of them
Shashank zones out most of the time from constricting physical world --- his mother considers him an alien--- and spends time in the rapidly expanding universe of Facebook. He clicks through various photos on Facebook pages and checks out if they are
‘hot or not’. He then clicks ‘yes’ to show that he is interested in someone to be friends with. The guy at the other end would get a notification on Shashank’s interest in him or her. He then reaches out to the Are You Interested app to see if others are interested in him. He regularly uploads his upgraded personality and tweaks his relationship status.
Vinod is an engineering grad, who mumbles something and types out furiously. He is playing, with his friends, Scrabulous--- a knockoff of Scrabble, launched by the Agarwal brothers from Kolkata last June on Facebook.
In houses, college campuses and dorms and offices and cyber cafes, enthusiasts are becoming denizens of Facebook universe. Ever since Facebook opened itself to user-created applications, it has become a beehive of computer geeks and gamesters, and a honey for investors. It’s a go-to, do-everything site for social cyberati.
“I like Facebook for its simple interface. You don’t get crap load of bells and whistles,” says Shashank.
LOL with friends
Facebook seems to get the combination right--- it’s the need to pat each other; it’s a bit of a techfest; it’s about a LOL (laugh out loud) with friends.
On Facebook you send an invite to friends, ask them to download the required app to the page, and viola! You are onto it. (An application is a software program you can add to your Facebook’s page and give a shout-out to your friends.) The apps, referred to by friends, get downloaded onto the users’ pages and have a natural way of spreading.
With it’s Facebook Platform you can customize the pages; you can mash up the pages with add-ons like Graffiti program, which allows you to scribble on other people’s profiles, and Honesty Box that gets you a lowdown on what others think of you.
While other sites like My Yahoo! And iGoogle allow you to have customizable web pages, FaceBook, with its email, RSS feeds and instant-messaging apps, offers a more comprehensive experience. “The thing with Facebook is it provides vital social context, better than others,” says Tarun K., an engineering student.
“The social experience of playing online is thrilling,” gloats Vinod, adding excitedly: “It really gets adrenaline pumping.”
Trying out another game – Noggin - in which one can make as many words as possible working horizontally, vertically and diagonally from four by four grid of letters, Vinod says: “It’s enough if you are online”. Moreover, these games are not timed, allowing gamers to feel comfy playing at their convenience and at their own pace.
It is not that only teeny-weenies or twenty-somethings get onto this social networking site but it is almost a compulsion to communicate-- Facebook style.
G.B.S.N.P. VARMA
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
|
