Why is Facebook the leader of social media?

This is no rhetorical question, it is a fact. Facebook managed, few years after its launch in 2004, to become one of the most influential companies around the world, not to mention the idea of being the king of social networks, gathering more users1 and generating more income than its direct concurrent2. Our research aims to point out the quantitative and statistical performance developed by Facebook during the last month, focusing on the activity of a suite of technology news sites, such as CNET, PC World or PC Magazine. First of all, before analyzing Facebook's performance, it is mandatory to define Facebook`s identity, starting with the very idea of social networks. Recently, scholars have asked what is Facebook anyway? Unfortunately, a simple question like this issued a debate upon Facebook's true nature. From my point of view, the definition provided by E. A. Vander Veer seems to be the most comprehensible one: It`s a free-to-use, wildly popular social networking site which just means it`s a way to connect with other people that combines the best of blogs, online forums and groups, photo sharing and much more. By tracking the connections its members make with each other, Facebook makes it easy to find and contact people everyone from old friends and roommates to new customers, new bosses, and even folks you`ve never met before who share your interests (E.A. Vander Veer, 2011, p.1.). On the other hand, Marcia Amidon Lsted points out the inner dependence, that a social network could bring, transforming it into a modern addiction: For millions of Americans today, social networking has become a part of their daily routines. They come home from school or work, turn on their computers, and log onto Facebook, MySpace or Twitter. From the comfort of home, people can communicate with hundreds of friends at once by posting a status update or a tweet on Twitter (Marcia Amidon Lsted, 2011, p. 6). Though, the scholar hasn't anticipated the impact of Facebook's mobile app, launched at the end of 20113, which radically changed our mood for social networking. One can see people on the street anxious to answer back to any update on their Facebook wall or chatting during their subway ride, these concrete daily images sustain my idea that Facebook managed to become a virtual companion, not only a popular social network.

On April 2012, Facebook was declared to reach the limit of 1 billion users, an unmatched performance among social networks- Haydn Shaughnessy, articolul Facebook`s 1 billion users: Why the sky is still the limit, retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/haydnshaughnessy/2012/10/04/facebooks-1-billion-users-why-the-sky-isstill-the-limit/, accesed on March 30, 2013. 2 According to the Guardian, in 2006, Facebook praised itself of generating a profit estimated at $2 billionSarah Philips, article A brief history of Facebook, retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/jul/25/media.newmedia, accesed on March 30, 2013. 3 Christina Warren, article Facebook apps just got more mobile-friendly, retrieved from http://mashable.com/2011/10/10/facebook-platform-mobile/, accesed on March 31, 2013.

Since we have included Facebook inside the general category of social networks, we should continue our deductive approach, by establishing the particular features developed by Facebook as social network. Naturally, being popular, yet controversial, scholars' ideas tend to become ambiguous. From the fast emerging literature dedicated to Facebook phenomenon, I selected the most accurate descriptions. For instance, Matthew Millier attempts to highlight the differences between Facebook and similar social networks: While MySpace houses the creative souls and LinkedIn fosters professional relationships, Facebook appeals to everyone across the board. Facebook not only has the capability to do all the things that these other aforementioned sites enable, but it is also socially accepted to do so on this social network. On Facebook you can post your artsy pictures, connect with your boss and colleagues, and game with friends on Farmville all in one. Facebook is for your daughter and your father; your business and your best friend (Matthew Miller, 2011, p.3.). Sarah K. Foregger, developing her doctoral thesis on Uses and Gratifications of Facebook, mentioned that the social network is an anthropological tool of characterizing the contemporary society, as follows: Just four short years ago, the word Facebook was no part of the millennial college student's lexicon. Today, Facebook is not only an integral part of college student's vocabulary, but it has also become a verb. Students exclaim to new acquaintances, I'm going to facebook you! They gossip about what has recently facebooked them. They spend time facebooking. Facebook has become, like Google before it, something to do (Sarah K. Foregger, 2008, p. 1.). For Todd Kelsey, Facebook is a story, a modern interpretation of carpe diem concept: I believe that when you capture, preserve and share your story, there's bound to be someone, somewhere, who will be interested and find some meaning in it (and quite possibly, find some strength in it). Comparing with similar social networks, Facebook includes the advantage of a personal digital archaeology, meaning there is easier for an user to go back to old information posted on his/her account, in addition he/she, following a simple link, can direct to friends' walls, creating the feeling of instant interactivity (Todd Kelsey, 2010, p. 3). In the end of our theoretical description, I find it interesting to reveal the thoughts about Facebook of a person that worked for the company. Karel Baloun was one of the faceless founders of Facebook, putting his creativity in service of the social network between 2004 and 2006. Being fired by Mark Zuckerberg, his opinions might be subjective, as consequence I took in account only the concrete facts about the social network, such as its global performance. Karel Baloun admits that Facebook is no. 1 in the amount of time spent on-site by visiting users4. One key of Facebook's success was its youthful touch, being the most important site for folks in college. Facebook is the most successful privately held, closed social network (Karel M. Baloun, 2006, p. 6).

In order to sustain this idea, the author brings to discussion a study developed by ComScore's Media Metrix in 2006, pointing that Facebook was the site where the majority of social networks' users spent their time- Karel M, Baloun, 2006, p.7.

Our concrete research on Facebook is focused on Robert Yin's pattern. We are willing to demonstrate how do technology news sites promote on Facebook. To the question Why did they choose Facebook as a promoting tool, there is no need to insist, since they focus on technology issues and Facebook in one of them. Another question included in our approach is related to Who follow the online activity of these brands, seasoned with an additional inquiry What do users perform on technology news sites' walls. Gathering relevant data related to last month of activity on Facebook, we are willing to draw a quantitative and statistical report. Taking in account Robert Yin's taxonomy, our approach will be an exploratory one, attempting to reveal facts related to the inner mechanism of a certain process (Robert Yin, 2009, p. 9). The idea of promoting brands on Facebook is a contemporary phenomenon, a few scholars even wrote book about the marketing process behind Facebook's glamorous interface, but from my point of view, none of them merged into the depth of a particular context. Taking in account, this situation, I propose a vision focused on consumers' behavior and brands' fast react to feedback obtained from users. For instance, a brand such as CNET posts a piece of news, loyal users or simple visitors leave their feedback. Some brands interfere, by directing the discussion, while others leave total freedom to users, such is the case of the mentioned technology news sites. Having clarified this context, my hypothesis is based on the fact that the best tool to promote technology articles is posting them on Facebook. In this case, I should highlight the fact that on the original sites, Facebook gathers the most shares, comparing with Google+ or Twitter's tweets. Why have those brands chosen Facebook as an arena for debate? In this case, I will prompt a few examples, showing the immense impact of news posted via Facebook, gathering hundreds of likes and even more comments. Who follow them and what they do on Facebook will be reflected through a comparative analysis of users between the three brands. Facebook is the era of new marketing, at least this is what some scholars such as Brian Carter and Justin Levy believe, by saying that Facebook provides an excellent report tool to gauge the performance of your ad campaign (Brian Carter, Justin Levy, 2012, p. 107). Indeed, every text on Facebook receives an immediate, spontaneous feedback from users and the company can monitor it easier, much more the companies themselves are humanized, users knowing that they will receive an answer as soon as possible, otherwise they can hit back with a bad review (ibidem, p. 3). The social network, estimated at 800 million active users, large enough to cover China, is still fastest growing, despite the current technical and ethical issues, as consequence a company that wants to get promoted, should view it as a space capable to generate billions of pieces of content, potentially reaching an infinite audience. Technology news brands understood the immense impact that Facebook includes, as consequence the Like or Share buttons are among the first options on their original sites. CNET 3

created a dedicated headline, Most Shared on Facebook, at this moment articles such as Amazon scoops up Goodreads social network5, managing to gather more than 1 million shares worldwide. On PcMag, a featured news such as Smartphone OS Showdown6 was shared by 32 users, comparing with 28 twitters and 7 shares on Google+, this simple examples proves that Facebook is the first choice of readers, when they like to share an interesting piece of news. On the other hand, it seems that readers visiting pcworld.com are willing to share their favorite topics on Twitter instead of Facebook, for instance a featured article as How to keep work from home employees accountable-without spying7 was tweeted by 61 users, comparing with only 3 Facebook users. The pattern, which I have created for my research, supposes the comparative analysis between the three brands (CNET, PCMag and PCWorld), taking in account the first three posts on their walls. Although it seems to be an unsatisfactory category, it will generate adequate information. If you analyze at first sight, CNET's wall, we will notice that a simple post of a girl riding a bamboo bike has generate more than 400 likes, which are difficult to be monitored, taking step by step each post. Before displaying the results, I should add that each brand has posted different pieces of news, so the additional graphics had to be inserted, in order to make clear which one managed to use best Facebook as a communication tool. Starting with CNET, it is obvious that is the most popular technology news site (among our suite). Its first three topics managed to draw the attention of more than 1.000 Facebook users. The hottest news had little to do with technology, but with the brand itself, since one of its editors promoted an ecological way to ride in Asia. A singular feature, that should be mentioned in the case of CNET, is its cosmopolitan group of readers, if the other brands tend to be read by American and European lecturers, CNET's news are read even by people from Asia or Africa, which transforms it into a seductive marketplace for companies willing to advertise their gadgets. Topic A. CNET Asia's Jacqueline Seng tries out a bicycle made from bamboo. Wheeee B. The HP Pavilion TouchSmart 15z-b000 Sleekbook is a very slim budget laptop, but AMD platform requires a few trade-offs. Check out our review C. The Silicon Power Armor A15 provides superfast portable storage for rough environments. Check out our review
5

Jay Green, article Amazon scoops up Goodreads social network, retrieved from http://news.cnet.com/83011023_3-57576891-93/amazon-scoops-up-goodreads-social-network/, accesed on March 31, 2013. 6 Sascha Segan, article Smartphone OS Showdown, retrieved from http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2417059,00.asp, accesed on March 31, 2013. 7 Liane Cassavoy, article How to keep work from home employees accountable-without spying, retrieved from http://www.pcworld.com/article/2032004/how-to-keep-work-from-home-employees-accountable-withoutspying.html, accesed on March 31, 2013.

In terms of performance, article A managed to be extremely popular, as shares numbers, like numbers and comments, gathering 413 likes, comparing with the 145 and 37 likes obtained by the other topics, while speaking about comments it surely stirred the passion of 399 potential readers:

399 44 10 8 6 4 2 0 Likes Shares Comments Topic A 37 413 205 16 Topic C Topic B 145 35 12 Topic A Topic B Topic C

Secondly, PCMagazine, through its latest news did not manage to reach half of CNET's performance, fact that might influence marketers' opinion about its performance. Taking in account its first three topics, I could affirm that an article dedicated to games managed to gather the attention of users, although they did not leave any comment at all. Topic A. Did you backup your data on World backup Day? If not, you should & here's now B. Some of the best tools to help you backup your data on World Backup Day C. 8 Great Games for the Razer Edge

In terms of performance, topic C is the most popular post on PCMagazine's wall at the moment of my research, being liked by 32 users, comparing with the few users giving their likes to the other articles:

Topic C

1 32

Comments Topic B 4 11 Shares Likes

Topic A

1 6 0 2 4 6 8 10

Thirdly, PCWorld attempts to impose its presence on Facebook, but at this moment it can't also reach CNET's performance. The most popular topic managed to gather 40 likes, 12 shares and 5 comments upon Firefox entrance in game world. Topic A. Before the Internet goes bonkers on Monday B. Facebook phone? Probably not. But a Facebook for Android that integrates tighthlz with the OS? That seems likely C. Firefox wants to kick 3D games into gear for your browser

Concisely, topic A and topic C are almost similar as performance, but the last one succeeded to make users leave comment about that issue.

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

40 13 22 2 0 14

40 12 5

Likes Shares Comments Comments Shares

Topic A

Likes Topic B Topic C

All in all, our short quantitative research among technology news sites revealed that on Facebook some brands could be popular or not, depending on users' feedback. The simple Like, Share or Comment buttons are essential for an article, which can generate visibility and implicitly revenue for the technology site or simply die, being considered unsatisfactory. If I were to ask to the question, that was the base of my approach, I could agree that Facebook is indeed the leader of social media in this area of news. The results pointed in the above mentioned charts forced me the prejudice that technology news are naturally loved by their loyal readers or occasional readers on Facebook, in fact it is in the power of the company to incite readers comment and share to their friends, a reasoning understood by all the analyzed brands, willing to encourage a Facebook reading process. Drawing a general conclusion, I can affirm that Facebook managed to become no. 1 among social networks, despite the harsh concurrence, for at least one strong reason: it creates a virtual identity. Living in the most turbulent era of mankind, social networks are a virtual companion, probably the only one which submits to all our desires (chat, getting friends, purchasing, reviewing, watching a video). Besides the emotional touch implied by social networks, let's not forget about the marketing implications: on social networks, mostly on Facebook (due to its friendly infrastructure and the huge popularity), brands tend to invest more and more time, energy and money. The subject of our case study didn't imply financial issues (technology news sites don't sell gadgets, but promotes them instead), but it was focused on the first mentioned criteria: time and energy. As we could notice from the brief analysis focused on the three news technology sites, if somebody/something wants to be 7

popular on the most popular social network, it requires a lot of energy and time to spend giving the proper feedback to any potential visitor. Once a visitor is satisfied, he/she will naturally recommend the brand, the story or the person to family and close friends, as consequence Facebook and its partners rely on the force of interpersonal relationships, after all Mark Zuckerberg's social network is that place where 1 billion people theoretically meet one day in their lives. Ironically or not, Facebook also relies on this effort of creating a communication link: once a brand becomes visible and reliable, it can be easily transformed into a Sponsored Story, generating money for both sides: the brand and the social network, while the user gets a quicker access to it on his/her personal wall. Facebook is a special, sensitive space, our research has just (as I hope) revealed few inherent details inside the leader of social networks.

Appendix: 1. CNET's wall

2. PCMagazine's wall

3. PCWorld's wal

Bibliography

1. Baloun, Karel M. (2006). Inside Facebook. Copyright Karel Baloun, a pdf book available through inquiry on karel@fbbook.com. 2. Carter, Brian; Levy, Justin. (2012). Facebook marketing. New York: Pearson Education.

3. Foregger, Sarah K. (2008). Doctoral thesis Uses and Gratifications of Facebook.com.

Michigan State University.

4. Kelsey, Todd. (2010). Social networking spaces: from Facebook to Twitter and everything in
between. New York: Springer.

5. Lsted, Marcia Amidon. (2011). Social networking: MySpace, Facebook & Twitter. Minnesota: ABDO Publishing Company. 6. Miller, Matthew. (2011). Facebook Companion. Indianapolis: Wiley Publishing. 7. Veer, Vander E. A. (2011). Facebook: The Missing Manual. Sebastopol: O`Reilly Media. 8. Yin, Robert K. (2009). Case Study Research. Design and Methods. Thousand Oaks: Sage
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2. Haydn Shaughnessy, article Facebook`s 1 billion users: Why the sky is still the limit, retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/haydnshaughnessy/2012/10/04/facebooks1-billion-users-why-the-sky-is-still-the-limit/, accesed on March 30, 2013. 3. Christina Warren, article Facebook apps just got more mobile-friendly, retrieved from http://mashable.com/2011/10/10/facebook-platform-mobile/, accesed on March 31, 2013. 4. Jay Green, article Amazon scoops up Goodreads social network, retrieved from http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57576891-93/amazon-scoops-up-goodreadssocial-network/, accesed on March 31, 2013. 5. Sascha Segan, article Smartphone OS Showdown, retrieved from

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2417059,00.asp, accesed on March 31, 2013. 6. Liane Cassavoy, article How to keep work from home employees accountable-without spying, retrieved from http://www.pcworld.com/article/2032004/how-to-keep-workfrom-home-employees-accountable-without-spying.html, accesed on March 31, 2013.

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