-=> Nightfox wrote to All <=-   
      
    Ni> So I'm curious what you all think about why people tend to gravitate   
    Ni> toward one social networking site vs. the others.   
      
   It's a "perfect storm" of several factors.  First, the cleanliness and   
   ease of use of the interface attracts users; second, the site retains   
   and attracts more "because my friends use it"; third, keeping up with   
   technology and coming up with fresh innovative ideas for improvement   
   while listening to users make a site #1.   
      
   In the case of Facebook, they came along at the perfect time to unseat   
   Myspace, with all of Myspace's crap they let their teen users do.  It   
   had gotten to the point where if you didn't have a top gaming   
   computer, the browser just crawled to a stop on many pages.  It was   
   cluttered, noisy with autoplay, and had ugly transitions from page to   
   page.  People used it ONLY because "my friends use it".   
      
   When Facebook first opened to the general public, it brought with it the   
   basic features people wanted: a way to keep friends posted, messaging,   
   and a way to find new friends; and, it did it in the cleanest   
   interface I'd ever seen next to Google's old search.   
      
   I thought for sure Facebook would fail when it was announced they   
   would start doing advertising...but, they've managed to keep even that   
   clean.  So long as advertisements remain unobtrusive and off to the   
   side (at least, I'm assuming they are -- I use AdBlock Plus), then I   
   don't foresee a competitor coming along anytime soon that can unseat   
   them.  I had hopes for the open source federated social platform   
   Diaspora, but until Facebook makes a big stumble, even Google+ (which   
   seems to be slowly gaining) will never be able to match it.   
       
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