by Rainier Wong

Created on: August 19, 2010

The way people keep in touch and meet new friends have change dramatically with the introduction social networking websites. Facebook, no doubt, is the most popular of such sites with a Alexa ranking of 2. According to Alexa, most of  Facebook's users are from the United States which made up of 27 % of the total world users. India comes second with a percentage of 5.9. Overall, there are currently more than

500 million Facebook users around the world. With so many users, Facebook can well be worth more than a million dollars now. For many, Facebook has become an invaluable tool for them since it was founded on February 4, 2004.

AN INVALUABLE COMMUNICATION TOOL

Facebook has indeed change the way people interact with one another. Users post messages on "Walls" to update their friends on their status, to share something interesting, or to voice their concerns. Users can also attached links to websites and videos or upload their own videos for their friends to watch. Users can also send private messages to their friends.

AN INVALUABLE ENTERTAINMENT TOOL

There are also a number of applications, Facebook users can add to their profiles to assist them with their daily tasks or for entertainment. Online games that users can play with another are also available. Users can also form groups to share common interests or just for fun. With so many applications, groups and games around, Facebook has become a invaluable tool for many people. Private messages can also be sent to group members.

AN INVALUABLE ADVERTISING TOOL

For businesses, Facebook can be a invaluable asset to them as they can use it to reach more than a million potential customers by advertising on it. In addition to that, businesses can also create pages to showcase their products and services.  They can mention their pages on official documents, advertisements, and even advertise about it on Facebook. Not-for-profit organisations can also create their own pages on Facebook to tell as many users as possible about their course and to voice their opinion. Facebook has indeed became a very useful tool for them. Some prominent people and celebrities have also created their own pages on Facebook. They include Bill Gates, Barrack Obama, and Angelina Jolie.

AN INVALUABLE EDUCATIONAL TOOL

Special pages have been created for various topics on Facebook. Each of such pages has an article from Wikipedia. In this way, users do not have to leave Facebook to use Wikipedia. In addition to the Wikipedia article, there also submissions by users on their walls known as related global post which is related to the topic being listed and a like button that users can click on to show that they like the topic. An example of such page is the page on airplanes.

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