Brief history:
Facebook was founded in February 2004, by Mark Zuckerberg and his roommates – Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes. It received its first large investments 2005, while Facebook was still not available for the whole public. Facebook was opened to anyone aged 13 and above only in late 2006. It is currently valued somewhere between $1.3 and $10 billion and is the leading social network in the world with more than 200 million registered users.

Reasons for success:

The success of Facebook arguably comes from its appeal to the older demographic. The fact that there are very little customizations one can do with their Facebook page/profile may actually appear more attractive than the tuned-up user pages of MySpace, especially for older people who continue registering at Facebook at rapid rates. The company continues to receive a lot of free advertising both for its sudden popularity and the innovative features it adds to attract new users.

According to Google Trends, Facebook is much more popular than MySpace in every European country. The reason for this is probably the availability of Facebook in almost every language in Europe. Conquering the user base in the U.S. still remains a close battle, however, if MySpace don’t act soon, they’ll eventually lose the battle of the most popular social network in the U.S .

What needs to be done:

Facebook has a lot of areas to expand in, starting from the already-growing 35-54 year old segment, to the teen demographic which might migrate from MySpace. It also has a lot of potential in advertising alcohol, as the 21+ age group accounts for more than two thirds of overall Facebook population. The expansion of Facebook is international, for example, in Denmark, two thirds of the population is classified as active Facebook users.

While the company is busy gathering new users, there is a bigger problem Facebook has to face – how to monetize the traffic they receive? The idea of Facebook virtual gifts worth $1 didn’t work out, and although the company is earning quite a deal from advertising via Microsoft, there is a lot of work to do to make advertising more efficient. Perhaps the targeting of ads is missing something big, or maybe they just don’t want to push advertising in too early, as it could drive away potential users. We’ll certainly see a new strategy of monetization on Facebook in 2009, as it is nearing the physical limit of its users in most of Europe, Australia and other countries. Time will tell whether or not the popularity of Facebook will make it a great business power like Google, at least in social networking terms.

Once you’ve linked your Netflix and Facebook accounts, you’ll have a number of new options that you didn’t have before. You can share your ratings with whomever you like.

This would seem to indicate that Netflix is finally moving towards a more integrated online experience. Their by-mail service still has a lot more offerings than the video on demand, which is a crying shame. “Instant Play” movies have all the advantages in the world over using the mail to get the job done. Digital movies leave a much better carbon footprint and are better for the customer.

“It’s the first time Arabic speakers will be able to use Facebook in their own language,” Ghassan Haddad, the Facebook director of localization, told The Guardian. “It’s potentially huge.”

Currently Facebook is available in 40 languages and plans to add 60 more languages in upcoming days. Nearly 200,000 people helped to translate the website, according to Facebook.

The Arabic and Hebrew versions of Facebook are accessible now.

“What are doing right now?” greets you when you login.

You can then enter 140 characters in such a fashion that they’ll clearly convey your attitude to anyone on your “friend list.”

I guess Facebook used the “If you can’t beat’em join’em” philosophy to come up with this new feature.

Dan Leone says he was fired from Lincoln Financial Field after expressing anger over the Philadelphia Eagles’ failure to re-sign free agent safety Brian Dawkins in a Facebook post.

Leone has run the front gate at the stadium for five years since working his way up from the guest services gate.

The post was only up for a few days when Leone was fired. He said the boss indicated displeasure at his post and he immediately apologized.

Apparently his answer wasn’t good enough and he was terminated.

Even though he’s been canned, Leone remains a fan.

Social networking has become a fundamental part of the global online experience,” said John Burbank, CEO of Nielsen Online. “While two-thirds of the global online population already accesses member community sites, their vigorous adoption and the migration of time show no signs of slowing.”

Not only that, but people are spending more “time on site” on social networks, meaning they’re finding the tools to be an integral part of their daily lives.

Of course the link to the “Plug-in” is fake. It will instead install malware on the user’s computer. Once it’s safely installed, the worm will merrily make its way through your contact list, doing the same thing to your friends. It’s easy to see why these worms spread so quickly using these tactics. It’s because they’re “social.”

What makes Koobface so pernicious, is that the code code can be easily modified, which could render the worm even more dangerous.

“It is able to download new instructions on the fly, so that if the author desires, they can sniff credit card or banking transactions, install keyloggers, send spam or any of a number of other malicious activities,” Argast explained.

“Not to mention the social faux pas of being the source of the infection to your friends — it’s the equivalent of being the source of mono that takes down everyone in your circle of friends. This particular piece of malware spreads via links which entice users to install a codec to view a video — this is always a bad idea. Fake codecs are a major threat vector today,” he continued.

The best way to avoid this worm is to not install it. Pay attention to the links you click on and make sure the site you’re at is the one you think it is. Beware fake YouTube pages at all costs.

One writer, identified as Samuel, applauded Madoff yesterday in French, for pulling off “the biggest hold-up of the century.” A writer called Pete thanked Madoff for “leading the end of Wall Street credibility.” The page, which described Madoff’s interests as “destroying wealth,” claimed 1,226 fans as of yesterday, up from 826 on Dec. 19.

Madoff detractors used profanities, and his admirers tended to superlatives.

Of course the case of Madoff is creating strong opinions, but mostly of the negative kind among sane, rational people.

The brothers version of Scrabulous was scrapped from Facebook when the lawsuit began. It was replaced by the real Scrabble, which was not greeted with as much enthusiasm.

Now some are wondering if the lawsuit being dropped will open the door for a return of Scrabulous.

It’s not quite smooth sailing for the game. Mattel owns the worldwide rights to the board game and could sue if the brothers tried to return to the social network.

Nokia’s “Share on Ovi” media sharing service was opened as a Facebook application last month, and members of the network can also play Nokia’s “Reset Generation”, the world’s most expensive mobile game to develop, which links cellphone and PC gamers allowing them to play against each other.

“We obviously talk with a mass of companies and Facebook is one of them. Facebook is big in the U.S., it’s gaining traction in Europe, but it’s small in Asia,” Savander told Reuters in an interview.

Nokia has made a strong move into mobile applications and content provisioning and expects to go even further in coming months.