The Power of Facebook

The strength of Facebook really comes from the applications present on Facebook. Applications represent a level of customization that the user can present on their Facebook profile and really represents the only real changes that a user can make on their Facebook page. Facebook maintains the same color scheme (white background with blue as a mode of separation) for all of the pages associated with the website. This is in contrast to others online social networks who allow the user to create their own backgrounds and color schemes, which has to lead to some interesting design choices. Groups, photos, events, videos and other methods of individualizing the profile exist within a two of the three bars present on the profile page. The left bar on the profile page controls the layout of the applications, has a search function and has an advertisement. The center bar is the smaller of the two customizable bars, which contains the profile pictures, links to control other functions and other “smaller” applications (“Friends,” “Hug Me,” “Groups,” et al). The right bar contains the status of the user, profile information and the “larger” applications (“Mini-Feed,” “The Wall,” “iLike,” et al). When a user logs on the Facebook website, he or she has access to a “News Feed,” which shows the users a sample of the changes made by the user’s friend since the last time the user logged-in.