Top 10 best and worst things about Facebook

Facebook passed the 500 million user mark, this week, according to the company. Well, if truth be told, the official message from the Facebook PR department was that the site had reached 500 users, but we figured that was a typo.

Facebook is currently the top dog in the social networking arena and it looks to have achieved the critical mass that sites like Friendster, MySpace and the rest couldn't quite manage.

I suspect Facebook will one day be supplanted (more of that later), but it's certainly the flavour for the month and we thought we'd look at the pros and cons of the site.

Both Shaun and I are Facebook users, so to speak, but neither of us are particularly happy about being so. Sure it's useful, but there's also something slightly sinister about the reach of the site.

It's staggering to think that more than one in 14 people on the planet now have a Facebook page, if the figures are correct. The benefits of Facebook are also large, so we leave it to you to decide.

THE BEST

Honourable mention: Developer opportunities
Shaun Nichols: When the Facebook developer APIs were first released I have to admit I was a bit sceptical. But the success of Facebook applications cannot be questioned.

The company has turned its user base into a market for social gaming and web-based applications, and small developers are suddenly given the chance to expose their products to hundreds of millions of users. Companies such as Zynga have pretty much based their business model on Facebook games.

Developers are able to capitalise on user traffic through advertising and in-game micro-transactions, while Facebook itself gets to cash in on the extended time users spend on the site.

There are more than a few concerns with the developer platform, and we'll get to that later. But, all in all, the Facebook platform has been a good thing for developers.

Iain Thomson: Opening up the APIs is one of the smartest moves Facebook ever made. This is not to say that the move hasn't had its problems.

Some of my friends are far too keen on inviting me to join them in the latest fad, but a simple mouse stroke solves that issue. In the meantime, developers are making serious money.

There is no single company out there that can provide the breadth of skill and drive that's available in the developer community. To paraphrase Mao's Little Red Book, the smart person builds windmills - not windbreaks - in front of an irresistible force.

5. Social gaming
Shaun Nichols: Bosses everywhere are going to object to this one, but anyone who has got into a Facebook game will agree that they are among the cooler features of the service.

What I find most impressive about Facebook games is that they don't appeal to the hard-core gaming types who demand 3D graphics and 40-hour storylines, but rather the casual users who otherwise don't spend money on computer games. The 'Solitaire' crowd, if you will.

As most marketing types will tell you, the casual gaming crowd is among the fastest growing markets in the games world, and Facebook has a direct pipeline into them.

Iain Thomson: I'd have to differ with you there, Shaun. I suspect there are gamers on Facebook who make your average Dungeons and Dragons player or online clan member look like an unmotivated amateur thanks to the subtlety of the marketing of these games.

Sure, it starts out with a quick game of Scrabulous or a the odd quiz, but games designers today are very skilled at getting into people's heads. I suspect many gamers are going to end up with a monkey on their backs.

Take Farmville, for example. Vast amounts of money are being spent on this game, and I've met one established IT executive (who shall remain nameless) who admitted to rescheduling a meeting so that she could get her crops in without them withering.

I've sampled the game and have to say it makes me worry. For example, you can buy a puppy, but it dies if you don't feed it. The food costs real money, so this seems to be the digital equivalent of 'Pay me or the puppy gets it.'

4. Photo sharing
Iain Thomson: Facebook isn't the first site to do photo sharing, but we added it because the holiday photo experience can be scarring for us all.

There's a certain kind of person who considers no holiday worthwhile unless they have chronicled every view, and then forced everyone else to look at it. First it was Super 8 and projectors, then cheap colour prints and now digital cameras.

At a recent Orbital gig I saw several people spending the entire party getting the best shots with their mobile phones rather than glorifying in Dr Who. I can't pretend to understand the syndrome, but at least Facebook provides insulation against such people.

As someone who, two weeks ago, had to sit through an hour of the collected photos on a parent's camera, I can say with hand on heart that sticking the images on Facebook is a far more civilised option than the alternatives.

Shaun Nichols: One of the truly great benefits of social networking sites is that they have done away with the photo email attachment.

It used to be that novice users would pack a few dozen megabytes worth of images into an email message and clog up your inbox. If they were really savvy, they would upload into a Photobucket or Flikr album and provide a link.

Facebook makes the photo sharing experience much more passive. You can upload a ton of photos at once, and people can easily browse those pictures for the ones they want or just ignore them altogether. Additionally, you can send photos out to multiple people by tagging them in the image.

For those with family members who love to take dozens of photos at any event, this is a very useful system.

3. Information flows
Shaun Nichols: One of the big criticisms of the internet is that it has created a sort of noise cloud where everyone shares their thoughts and nobody gets heard. One of the things Facebook does well is manage that into somewhat coherent streams.

Through the status updates along with the option to block of certain users and applications, users are able to manage news feeds and stay up to date on the lives and goings-on of friends.

Things such as birthdays, break-ups and other events that you may not always be aware of with people who aren't close friends get served up through Facebook and can often help you better connect with friends or avoid awkward social situations.

Yes, they are things that in the pre-internet days you figured out by actually calling people and talking to them, but it's better than just getting an email every couple of months.

Iain Thomson: I agree with you up to a point, Shaun. Facebook keeps one's finger on the pulse, so to speak, and more people I know get birthday greetings these days.

We're already seeing some very interesting research into the positive and negative information streams flowing through social networking sites, and Facebook will be at the epicentre of these trends. Something big going live on Facebook, with enough traction in terms of traffic, can make headlines these days.

Such information flows are valuable, but should be treated with caution. Social marketers are already getting in on the game and this trend will grow.

2. Long-distance communications
Iain Thomson: Shaun's probably a bit young to remember the days when an international call had to be booked, or later just cost an arm, a leg and a considerable portion of your torso. Even now things are still overpriced.

Applications like Facebook are a great way to avoid these charges and keep in contact. As an expat in the US this is much appreciated. I can have conversations with friends several times a day free of charge and, while you have been able to do this on IRC or instant messaging for some time, the vast membership of Facebook makes it very easy indeed.

However, this comes at a more subtle and slightly unsettling price. A good friend found out via his son's Facebook account that his daughter, while apparently doing volunteer work in Vietnam and sending back dutifully dull emails, had managed to get her belly pierced, snog (and more) her team leader and barely avoided a serious moped accident. Very occasionally ignorance is bliss.

Shaun Nichols: I must admit, I entered the corporate world after VoIP had made international calling more practical over the web and land-line international calls something of a novelty.

Still, I see the advantage of Facebook for long-distance communications. Instant messaging platforms are hit or miss in that the person has to be at their computer and logged into the application, while email for the most part has a level of formality that exceeds normal communication.

Facebook does a nice job of bridging a gap in casual conversations over considerable distances.

1. Finding long-lost friends
Shaun Nichols: A bit earlier in the list I took a shot at the way Facebook replaces phone relationships with casual friends that existed in past decades. But it also helps to keep relationships going with people with whom you would have otherwise fallen out of touch.

Pretty much everyone with a Facebook account has at least one or two friends who were met through university or a past job and who otherwise would have disappeared completely.

Sometimes those connections remain nothing more than casual friendships, sometimes they become valuable networking opportunities that lead to advantages such as job opportunities or the chance to connect with other good friends who have fallen out of touch.

Either way, at its core this is the most valuable feature of Facebook and the heart of the social networking concept.

Iain Thomson: This is a major benefit of Facebook, but a bitter-sweet one in some ways. Thanks to the site I've met up with friends from my school years, previous jobs and those whom I never would have expected to see again, and it's been a lot of fun reconnecting.

Of course, it's not all hugs and puppies. More than a few of us have been contacted by people we'd really prefer to forget if truth be told. There's a very real moral quandary in ignoring someone who's made an effort to get in contact. After all, what if they really have changed or, even worse, haven't?

Despite the downsides, however, I believe there's a real gain in so many people staying in contact. It'll help us see how people, and societies, evolve and change and hopefully lead to a better understanding of human nature.

THE WORST

Honourable mention: Mark Zuckerberg
Iain Thomson: OK, this one caused a lot of contention in our traditional Top 10 lunch at Morty's. Shaun will put his 10 cents in later, but I felt a rant coming on.

There's something about Facebook chief executive mark Zuckerberg that really winds me up the wrong way. Yes, he's created something very important (although how much of Facebook was his idea is in question) and he's nurtured the company very skilfully. If he could just be a little less of a jerk about the whole thing it would be nice.

Once the mainstream media caught on to the Facebook phenomenon you couldn't pass a magazine stand without seeing Zuckerberg's face looking like the cat that's eaten the entire dairy farm.

Now you could argue, and you'd be right, that he has every reason to be smug, but that didn't stop me thinking about the benefits of a sandblaster, seven ounces of honey and some very hungry ants.

Shaun Nichols: I didn't quite agree with this one, as Iain indicated. Mark Zuckerberg may not be the sort of guy you would entrust with your life savings, but as a whole his qualities - both good and bad - are in line with other technology CEOs.

So he's possibly not always ethical in his business dealings, and has been accused of making boatloads from intellectual property that may not have been his to use, but then again that's pretty much how Bill Gates created MS-DOS.

Sure, Zuckerberg's a bit socially awkward and difficult to deal with in person, but so is Apple chief Steve Jobs. Sure he's occasionally a bit evangelical, but you've heard Bruce Schneier when he's pissed off at something.

So yes, Zuckerberg has certain qualities that turn people off, but he's hardly alone. In fact, some would say that these sort of personality traits are what made Jobs, Gates, Zuckerberg and others successful technology entrepreneurs.

5. Security
Iain Thomson: We’ve seen the first stages of malware writers beginning to exploit the potential of Facebook but I fear we will see a growing wave of attacks on the site.

Given the amount of valuable data stored on the site, Facebook is an irresistible target to online criminals and sooner or later we're going to see a major information breach.

Facebook is a goldmine for the smart identity thief as well as the casual amateur, and the problem is only to get worse.

The company is investing heavily in security protection; from a corporate standpoint it would be suicidal not to. But, as computing history has shown us time and again, enterprise security technology will never be able to keep up with the attempts of determined malware specialists - there are just too many cracks to paper over. The only security is avoiding being low-hanging fruit.

Shaun Nichols: The big security risk of Facebook comes from the familiarity of a service that is still evolving. Users believe that, when they follow a link or click on an image, they are always accessing a trusted site or item that Facebook itself or their own friends have personally provided.

Some shady developers are taking advantage of this and hiding certain links or confirmation dialogues that can cause users to unwittingly 'like' items or approve applications that can then spam their friends and contacts.

As Facebook expands its reach and capabilities, the site needs to be sure to inform users of new risks and help shape behaviour to keep everyone secure.

4. Affiliate programmes
Shaun Nichols: This is an issue that is not unique to Facebook. One of the problems with web-based services is that, by their nature, they give their product away for free.

Advertising only brings in so much, and companies have to find other ways to make money. Sometimes that means opening up affiliate programmes, and sometimes those affiliates use less than honest methods.

Facebook started up new revenue streams to itself and developers when it opened up its platform. Unfortunately, the company also opened up users to a host of new security risks.

Third-party developers are for the most part honest people, but some have used less than honest means to get users to hand over data and follow their links. Attacks such as click-jacking are growing more common on Facebook, and it's all due to the third-party developer system.

Iain Thomson: Shaun has it right here. The benefits of opening up platforms outweigh the risks - usually.

It's a problem of familiarity breeding complacency. People get far too used to clicking OK when an application asks for access to personal data. Facebook has been better than Microsoft at getting more informative warning pages, but the effect is still the same.

We're going to see more and more cases of affiliate programmes stretching the boundaries of legality in the ways they use data. Caveat emptor.

3. Over sharing
Iain Thomson: It's a sign of the newbie in computing that they show off like a schoolkid on spring break, and Facebook has more than a few newbies online.

There are things we really don't want to know about our friends. I'm sure almost everyone reading this will either have confessed, or heard a friend admit (usually under the influence of alcohol or other intoxicants), something that should really be kept private. Sadly Facebook has generated so many of these instances there's even a web site chronicling them.

There's also the issue of the balance between your online presence and the real world. I have a worrying suspicion that future generations who have never grown up without social networking and the internet will consider it quaint that such a distinction is made, and will take online personas more seriously than real world relationships. Will bragging or obfuscating online be the new norm? I wonder.

Shaun Nichols: I have more than a few friends who will post photos of their children on an almost daily basis, and one wonders what those children will think once they start to grow up and realise that nearly every detail of their childhood has been chronicled online for all of the world to see.

Everyone who has a Facebook account needs to take a few minutes and check on the information they are making public. In some cases users will unknowingly provide all the details that would allow unsavoury characters to get the information needed to track a person and know where they are and when they are there.

We're already in the era where people can lose their jobs and destroy their marriages over Facebook content. As the site further opens up and more users join, the risk is only going to increase.

2. Time wasting
Shaun Nichols: As The IT Crowd points out so well, Facebook can take up minutes and even hours of your day without you ever realising. Those games that are fun to pick up on the spur of the moment can turn into full blown online addictions that cut into time otherwise spent doing something productive.

Really it's nothing new. Role-play games have long been a time sink, as have arcade titles and even bundled games such as Minesweeper. What makes Facebook titles particularly dangerous, however, is that they run within the browser and on top of a platform that you would otherwise visit only for a short time.

For example, maybe you get an alert that a friend left you a message, or shared a video file. So you go and check it, but on the way out you notice that your Farmville crops need harvesting, then after that you see that one of your friends is playing Texas Hold 'Em and you'll be damned if Steve is going to get the best of you at poker again.

Before you know it your deadline is five minutes away and your boss wants to know precisely why you've yet to file that article you said you started on two hours ago. Not that we've had any sort of personal experience with that sort of thing.

Iain Thomson: As Shaun alludes to, the fact that he is able to write this feature instead of having his fingers broken some time ago is a tribute to his undoubted skills as a wordsmith and a charming and plausible nature. But he does make a valid point: Facebook is a huge temptation for timewasting.

Many companies would like to ban social networking sites like Facebook because they fear it takes productive time from their employees. On one level they are right, but on a more fundamental level this is a false economy.

Economic fundamentalists would like you to believe that any time at work not actually working is theft, but human minds don't work like that. We need rest periods to encourage inspiration.

That said, this can be taken too far, and anyone who prioritises social networking over the real world needs a serious talking to.

1. Privacy
Iain Thomson: When we were coming up with this list the easiest pick was the top worst thing about Facebook - privacy.

As a case in point I got the new HTC Evo the other month, which comes with Facebook integration. As I synced with my account I suddenly found I had a lot of mobile phone numbers in my address books.

To my mind, a mobile number is a private thing and there are people I've befriended on the site from whom I wouldn't dream of asking for such data.

Users who put that level of personal data on the site are playing with fire. Supposing one of your friends joins a cultish group like the Scientologists and decides to spread the word. You've just handed them a level of personal data that would cost a fortune in private investigation fees in olden days.

If you actually read the terms and conditions of Facebook you have very few rights over your personal data on the site, and you have to trust that Facebook management don't abuse their position and sell it on to third parties. If that practice became widespread I can see it as the one thing that takes Facebook down, as people will flee in droves.

Shaun Nichols: In my mind, most of Facebook's privacy issues are due to the growth of the site.

Facebook is in a situation where the amount of money it makes is directly related to what sort of customer data it hands over. Given the amount of money invested in the site, there is a lot of pressure on the company to turn a profit.

On top of that, you have many users who have set their privacy restrictions based on the previous versions of the site and the past policies. Suddenly information that in the past was limited to a few people is now accessible to anyone involved with a certain application.

Privacy in Facebook is a fluid concept, and thus far neither the company nor its users have made enough of an effort to keep up with those changes.