Comments on: Facebook Now Open to Anyone

By: Montoya

Montoya — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 13:55:08 +0000

I always thought Facebook was cool because it was *just* a college network. I don’t want them to play the “me-too” game and try to compete with MySpace; there’s a good chance they will only lose what made them unique.

By: Currants » Facebook = MySpace with networks

Currants » Facebook = MySpace with networks — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 04:53:46 +0000

[...] Everyone knows by now that Facebook is open to anyone. As of Tuesday morning, you don’t have to go to college or even high school to join. You just need an e-mail address and a desire to stalk and to be stalked. The only difference now between Facebook and MySpace is that Facebook doesn’t allow members of one network to view others outside of their own network. But still, opening “the flood gates” to non-students will put Facebook on a more even playing field with MySpace. I wonder if MySpace will remain the top dog. Liked It? Share It! Clicking on the icons below will help other people learn about this storyThese icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]

By: Dan Blank: Publishing, Innovation and the Web » Blog Archive » A Social Network Opens Up. MySpace for Adults?

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 09:12:58 +0000

[...] Read more about the change from: Kevin Briody, Fred Stutzman, Paul Stamatiou [...]

By: cavemonkey50.com

cavemonkey50.com — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 03:07:33 +0000

Facebook Has Opened Up…

Earlier today, the college social networking site, Facebook, unlocked its doors and is now open to the public. Now anyone of any age and status can join the site. This is a big change from the previous requirement of enrollment in a college or select c…

By: Facebook is Now Open at SaRiSaRi

Facebook is Now Open at SaRiSaRi — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 00:49:38 +0000

[...] Facebook is now open to all. For those who don’t know, here’s what Facebook say they are. Facebook is a social utility that helps people better understand the world around them. Facebook develops technologies that facilitate the spread of information through social networks allowing people to share information online the same way they do in the real world. Facebook is made up of many networks – individual schools, companies or regions – each of which are independent and closed off to non-affiliated users. To join Facebook, people can authenticate into a school or work network, or they can join a regional network. They can then create profiles to connect with friends, share interests, join groups, send messages, writes notes and post photos. [...]

By: Brad Dougherty

Brad Dougherty — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 00:04:21 +0000

I don’t see why this is such a big deal. You can easily set the privacy settings so that people that are not in a network can’t find you. You also can just not add people as a friend. There is nothing that is forcing you to add that creepy person

By: Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 22:40:48 +0000

I don’t like this idea. I was hoping they wouldn’t open it up. I don’t think it will be too bad, however, as I only use it to connect with the people on my friends list.

By: J Phill

J Phill — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 20:47:57 +0000

Yeah I agreed that it shouldn't have been opened up to corporations and high schools. I wrote a post about people exposing their information in the first place on those sites, and now with companies on there, it's even easier for them to filter out potential candidates. So, I don't think opening up registration for everyone will help Facebook's reputation. But that's just me.

By: Adam

Adam — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 18:12:41 +0000

Excellent news, I understand why people are worried but due to the nature of my degree, and my Uni’s opinion of new technology, I wasn’t able to join and missed out. Personally I like the idea of a social networking site that bans you from using your own CSS… Ugly MySpace!
Thanks for the heads up Paul.

By: Brian Gilham

Brian Gilham — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 16:20:08 +0000

For many of the reasons mentioned by Kachina, I think (hope?) Facebook will be the more successful network, but I too fear the onslaught of random users.

*sigh*

By: Kachina Crowe

Kachina Crowe — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 15:52:06 +0000

“Facebook has incorporated many privacy features to ensure the happiness of every user.”

I think every user is a pretty serious overstatement considering the number of groups that were created to petition the coming Facebook Free For All. Facebook solicited opinions to “discuss” hesitancy about the coming changes, but it certainly felt to me, the user that the decision had already been made.

I think this is lousy. Sure the accounts have to be validated, but that doesn’t do anything to protect against “real” creepy people, or people starting up multiple accounts to perpetrate acts of harrasment. – sure you can report people, but that’s effectively bailing water out of a leaky boat. As the service gets bigger and the site grows it’s only going to get harder to police.

Just for the record, I didn’t think it was so wonderful when Facebook opened up to high schools and certain companies, I thought it was the beginning of the slipper slope we now find ourselves as users careening down.

As per your question: I always felt that Facebook was the superior networking site, having better design, higher reliability and that level of exclusivity. But now who knows? I guess the door is wide open for Facebook and MySpace to compete at having the most guys named “Chaz the Chimmney Sweep” who want me to add them as a friend.

… Lousy.