Obviously that’s a move that could scare some users, and there are some restrictions: you must have your profile set to viewable by “everyone” in order to appear, and only your limited profile will be public. Additionally, only profiles of those over 18 years old will be shown. The screenshots below show the new Facebook search box on the homepage and the search result displayed if your profile is set to appear. It’s also worth noting that some Facebook profiles have already been indexed by Google for a long time now, presumably due to users posting badges to them from other sites.
Facebook Profiles Will Appear in Google Results Next Month
(what’s the hype about facebook anyway? I signed up and was waiting for the big “Aha” moment. Am I too old to get bit by the facebook bug?)
Just like any social site, the only way to “get” Facebook is to have a reasonable amount of friends who use the site reasonably often. Otherwise it, like so many other “we’re the next big thing” sites, offer very little for you. However, if you have a lot of friend activity, it is very cool. The “critical mass” thing is an issue, IMO, since you might jump ship before achieving critical mass, since there’s not really any other value… so many will leave “before it gets good.”
Sep 5th, 2007 / 9:22 am
Its mostly a college and highschool thing. Its the nice clean alternative to myspace.com, although there is virb.com as well. Its so easy to keep track of old friends! Thanks for the heads up on the google search!
post-college facebook addict,
Niki
Sep 5th, 2007 / 10:12 am
For me, the “aha” moment came when I started adding Facebook applications to my profile. Facebook provides web developers with a well-documented API, allowing third parties to bolt all sorts of things onto Facebook. I have accounts with Flickr (photos), Pandora and Last.fm (music), Amazon (reading and wishlist), and my own WordPress-powered blog.
Previously the only place where all of these sources of info about me got aggregated was in my blog, and that didn’t even work all that well because I didn’t have the time to properly maintain it. Because Facebook makes it so easy to integrate with other sites, I’m now able to aggregate my blog, Flickr photos, and Pandora/Last.fm listening into one big description of me.
Now that I’ve bundled up everything about me into one place, I can use Facebook’s social networking to easily make all that info available to my friends.
Sep 5th, 2007 / 11:06 am
I think the “aha” moment is when you realize that facebook will be shaping the way we think about communication. Our future comunications will be influenced to leverage facebook like amounts of data.
I’m suprised I haven’t heard about the film industry using facebook to update their network on what their schedule is.. If a director is looking for a, I dunno, director of photography, he can search through his network for availible DP’s.
These social networks are quite powerful stuff.
Sep 5th, 2007 / 1:15 pm
No, Swiss Miss, you aren’t alone.
I’ve tried to get into Facebook, and so have many friends. The problem is that it’s closed. You have to login. It feels like a club with a dress code.
Well, I don’t wear a jacket & tie, and I don’t care for a username and password.
My computer wears a jacket & tie to get into the internet club, saving me having to wear ’em.
I don’t want to have to wear ’em to get past the inner doorman.
Sep 5th, 2007 / 4:32 pm
I am equally unimpressed with Facebook so far, I have to say. Guess I’m too old…
Sep 7th, 2007 / 5:21 am