How does a site like Facebook become so big?

I was wondering... facebook is a nice site and all, but... there are so many sites almost similar to facebook that do not become so popular.

I'm assuming Facebook must have had a HUGE advertising budget to launch and promote their site... The problem with this is that I never ever see an ad on the web or on tv/radio about it...

According to some sources the site became huge because of the "invite friends" scripts, but this alone can't be it... At the start of such a site there are no members and it's no fun to hang around on a site with only 100 members or so.

So... how did they market a site like this? Has anyone ever seen any ads? Maybe in the US they run TV ads or something?

 

word of mouth
it has a good name also from the begining its seems to me like one of the classier sites for keeping in touch with people. For some reason it is not spammed and filled with a bunch of perverts like myspace

 

Because of it's concept. They were the first who had that kind of approach (connecting people - college, work place, etc).

 

Well they were not really the first (Myspace were bigger) but they had something that others didn't. There are several considerations and the first is the "critical mass". If you have ever started up a forum, you would appreciate the critical mass issue. Suddenly, after a period of doldrums, a site / blog / forum can become more popular and then it spreads virally.

The other issue is the Unique Selling Point (concepts can be "sold" as well as products). If something offers something that others don't have then it can appear attractive. Think "what's in it for me" - why would I use Facebook as opposed to Myspace?

 

Even though the features make beginner to feel confuse but it really works for connecting people worldwide.New concept differ from myspace,friendster and etc.That bring up facebook and become dominant.

 

day dreaming . . .. . . http://www.playndownload.com/ one day will become a monster

 

I think the people that created Facebook targeted their advertising at universities in the US, then once they had a good userbase they could rely more on viral advertising.

 

Miracle.

 

I have sites www. newsinbusiness.com. How can i make it popular?

 

my site is http://www.playndownload.com/ i wanna make it monster

 

So that's why I like myspace

There was nothing particular facebook did. They just had the right concept in the right span of time. It is similar with dating sites: why some get popular while others only get 100 members or so... It is a great deal of luck. I am sure we could name a lot of interesting and valuable web-projects that failed to hit the big time for no particular reason.


Emh... since when stealing other peoples' threads is OK in DP? I wonder why there are no admins or moders hanging around any more? huh?

 

1. Harvard University, 2. Venture Capital.

 

Maybe because following reasons:

1. Simple domain
2. Fun and Attractive design
3. Great marketing
4. Better than MySpace

 

Could not agree more. For some reason, myspace seems like the trailer park of social networking...

Also, I believe facebook first was a hit among college students, basically by word of mouth. Only then did they open up their doors to all.

 

It established itself in a niche market to start with - the college kids who were a natural for online communication.
After that - well, I've got a lot of geeky friends who got bored of friendster, sick of myspace because of the 'crashiness' and the spamming, but are pretty much sticking with facebook. It allows people to communicate very easily with each other, play games with your friends, share photos and make jokey rude comments about each other - in short, the format is working.

 

There's a law similar to the 80/20 rule that describes this. I can't remember what it's called. But what it has to do with it why some sites/products/services/companies are number 1 in their business and why most of the market wants to deal with them first. Then going down the list from there the amount of people wanting to deal with each following entity becomes less and less. So most people want to be on facebook because everyone else is on facebook.

 

Ofcourse... everyone knows this.
The thread is about step 3... HOW did they market it.

 

I believe you are thinking of the pareto principle which I suppose in this context would suggest that 20 percent of existing facebook users produce 80 percent of future facebook users?

 

It was all to do with the design and features they have. Like image tagging, status etc...

It just caught on.

 

I think what fundamentally contributed to Facebook's explosion was the inclusion of some truly EXCELLENT and unique features that you couldn't find anywhere else. It also did away with the problem that sites like Bebo and Myspace had - crappy ugly customisable profiles.

Word of Mouth certainly had a huge influence on it's growth as well. I only signed up because my friends signed up, and it's that kind of social aspect that really promotes astronomical growth.