"Entertainment Weekly" of your friends

When Wanszezit forwarded this link to us this morning, I was certainly surprised if not shocked. Is this real?

Facebook, one of the more popular social networking sites and a typical example of what the web 2.0 "movement" is all about, has emerged as the second most visited site from Hong Kong. For a website that only started targeting the Asian region a short time ago, this is even more remarkable.

It would be foolish to give an analysis of its success with Wanszezit nearby, but I would like to share my personal experience of adopting to the "Facebook" frenzy.

I was aware of the website for quite some time but did not bother to sign up. As a member of the late majority, and more importantly an extreme introvert, I am not keen to try it out. Then for reasons I did not remember, I finally gave in about a year ago. Nonetheless it didn't catch my interest and was quickly forgotten.

Things started to turn when I joined the development team half a year ago.

First come the Facebook application "Street War Online" (古惑仔Online). Although the gameplay and the objectives were simple and unchallenging, I (and most of the colleagues) was immediately addicted. Alter ego in a orderless world is forever attractive. As a side effect, my "friends" list was closed to double less then 3 weeks.

When the excitement subsided later I soon realised, with the expended list, this is a great place to "know" all your friends and relatives. As soon as they shared their photos online, you will have a pretty good idea of what they are up to recently. Who's getting married, who recently went overseas, what they have been doing in the weekends, and other things that you cannot imagine can now be seen online.

It feels like going to a nudist beach but you are the only person wearing clothes.

As with any social-based websites, it will definitely benefit from the continuous growth of users and the increased in traffic. Monetising the website will be politically challenging (and more on that later). But with its popularity, survival in the near future is unquestionable.

So the question now becomes...will the "Facebook phenomenon" be here to stay?

Given that the Hong Kong people are crazy about entertainment news and the willingness to share, I have no doubt that this will become part of the culture.

Be prepared to add your sons and daughters to your "friends" list real soon...