[LINK] Three Facebook links

[rfmcdonald]

• In the Business Week blog post "Facebook Climbs Toward Profitability" by Douglas MacMillan, we find out that--at last!--Facebook is becoming financially viable. "This doesn’t mean the social network is a profitable operation yet. Rather, the cash it generates from advertising and other forms of revenue now exceed the cost of servers and other capital expenditures required to keep Facebook running. One-time costs, like the reported $50 million acquisition of Friendfeed last month, and operational expenses like personnel, are not included in this equation. Outside investments in the company, like the $200 million it raised from Digital Sky Technologies in May, are not accounted for either."


• Writing in the National Post, meanwhile, Neil Seeman points out the obvious reality that choosing your Facebook friends wisely is essential. "When we dumb friendship down, on Facebook or in everyday life, we risk confusing people who may misconstrue what is signified by that relationship. This, in my view, is the best reason not to friend your patient or your client. When in a trust relationship (what lawyers fancily call a "fiduciary duty"), your client or your patient may be vulnerable."


• Finally, UTalk Marketing analyses the demographics of social networking platform users. "[S]ocial networks and blogs now account for more than 67% of all online activity. The likes of Facebook and personal blog sites such as Wordpress are growing twice as fast as any of the other four largest sectors (search, portals, PC software and email). [. . .] Twitter users are more interested in sex, LinkedIn users watch soap operas and MySpace users don’t exercise, according to one study from Anderson Analytics. [. . .] Social network users’ top three interests are music, movies and hanging out with friends, and they use social media most to stay in touch with friends, family and classmates.