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Nodnarb · 07:40 PM

Just watching tv, saw (what I think is) a new iPhone commercial. It was pretty cool. I'm guessing it's new since it's not on apple's site, but it said (and I'm recalling from memory here, so not sure word for word):

[phone playing around with the facebook iPhone webapp]

"If you love facebook so much... that you check it everytime you're near your computer. Imagine how much fun it would be to check it everytime you're... well, nowhere near a computer... right on your phone" [then it rings, and ends in the familiar iPhone commercial way].

Pretty sweet commercial, first time Apple's used something other than their 100% in house stuff... they're getting ready for the SDK!

MacinTommy · Feb 5, 2008, 07:29 PM

Beautiful.. Facebook is way to addicting.

SSharon · Feb 5, 2008, 09:25 PM

Maybe facebook paid for half the ad. They also have one where they go to the kelly blue book site in safari.

Jawbone54 · Feb 6, 2008, 09:54 AM

I haven't found Facebook to be as addictive as other people think it is, but maybe I've just not tapped into it.

OwlBoy · Feb 6, 2008, 12:17 PM

Great example of a useful web-app.

-Owl

Big Mac · 12:55 PM

Originally Posted by Jawbone54

I haven't found Facebook to be as addictive as other people think it is, but maybe I've just not tapped into it.

I didn't get it either. I was completely social networking free until recently, I think in part because I missed its infection of college campuses by a couple of years, and I didn't understand what the big deal was. However, if you're in a situation where you're meeting a bunch of new people, as in a group of strangers who become friends while on trip to a foreign country, then you really start to get the appeal of Facebook. The fun of building your personal profile, the friend system with its personalized news feed, various modes of collaboration in the form of apps and causes, of course the photo album linking and tagging, the public wall system for quick shout outs and the convenience of internal messaging really make Facebook dynamically addictive and, well, fun. But if you only have a few friends on your list you won't see much to it. I wanted no part of it until everyone convinced me I needed to get on. Now I'm checking at least a couple of times a day. I really think social networking is immensely popular because it fulfills desires that the Internet failed to deliver on in years previous. Web sites, even personal ones like blogs, are too remote and detached from the person. Your page on myspace or facebook represents in a very real way a live virtual link between people in a much more personal, intimate fashion than anything else short of telephony or video conferencing. It's not for everyone, and it's definitely no substitute for living a real life, but it's immensely popular for valid reasons.

- - e r i k - - · Feb 6, 2008, 03:43 PM

Link for the lazy:
Apple - iPhone - TV Ads - Facebook

Nodnarb · Feb 6, 2008, 04:07 PM

Yeah sorry about the link... They weren't up last night when I posted, and as you can see for my other thread, for some reason apple.com and anything that relates to it won't load on my computer. I still haven't seen the 2nd commercial about the cars or something.

nonhuman · Feb 6, 2008, 04:31 PM

Originally Posted by Jawbone54

I haven't found Facebook to be as addictive as other people think it is, but maybe I've just not tapped into it.

Yeah, I've had a Facebook account for a couple years, but never really used it. However as soon as they released the Scrabulous app which made it a lot easier to play Scrabulous with various friends I started spending a lot more time on Facebook. I still don't really get what's so appealing about the basic Facebook feature set, but it is pretty good for facilitating certain activities.

- - e r i k - - · Feb 6, 2008, 08:33 PM

Originally Posted by nonhuman

but it is pretty good for facilitating certain activities.

like sex...

Just sayin'…

macintologist · Feb 6, 2008, 09:18 PM

Originally Posted by nonhuman

Yeah, I've had a Facebook account for a couple years, but never really used it. However as soon as they released the Scrabulous app which made it a lot easier to play Scrabulous with various friends I started spending a lot more time on Facebook. I still don't really get what's so appealing about the basic Facebook feature set, but it is pretty good for facilitating certain activities.

Facebook is great if you're in college, because you have all your college friends on it, as well as your friends from back home.

nonhuman · Feb 7, 2008, 07:30 AM

Originally Posted by macintologist

Facebook is great if you're in college, because you have all your college friends on it, as well as your friends from back home.

Perhaps, but I had no use for it in college, AIM and email took care of those needs quite well.

Although come to think of it, when did Facebook come out? I'm not sure it was even available for my whole time in college.

MacinTommy · Feb 7, 2008, 07:42 AM

Feb 04' but only for Harvard at first. Facebook history

MacinTommy · Feb 7, 2008, 07:42 AM

BTW.. look at the pic to the right.

nonhuman · Feb 7, 2008, 07:43 AM

Oh, well that explains it. Apparently it was never even an option for me while I was in college.

ghporter · Feb 7, 2008, 07:46 AM

I am both MySpace and Facebook free. I remember the buzz for Facebook getting started in '05-then it was pretty much "your university" based. Today it feels like an oversubscribed party instead of anything useful. Frankly I would never want to be so tied up with anything that I'd want to check online frequently just to see what's being said. I do enough of that here.

MacinTommy · Feb 7, 2008, 07:49 AM

Originally Posted by ghporter

I am both MySpace and Facebook free. I remember the buzz for Facebook getting started in '05-then it was pretty much "your university" based. Today it feels like an oversubscribed party instead of anything useful. Frankly I would never want to be so tied up with anything that I'd want to check online frequently just to see what's being said. I do enough of that here.

I'm Myspace free. I can't stand it. Too many ads and spam. But on the other hand Facebook is extremely useful to me. I've kept in touch with people that I haven't seen in years and it is just a great way to become/stay friends with people.

ghporter · Feb 7, 2008, 08:09 AM

I may get into some sort of connection thing as my classmates and I go our separate ways when we head out of school, but only for the "stay in contact" functionality. I'm awful at that, even with family that's not nearby, and anything that can help with that will be useful. But Facebook seems to be so much more than that, and I don't know whether it's something that I can use "partially" if you take my meaning. With all this "writing on the walls" and "who visited whom", "who is your friend" and so on, I get really confused... If it's usable as something like a personal web page with email, that's great. If you have to do a whole lot more, then it's not so great.

Big Mac · Feb 7, 2008, 09:27 AM

Originally Posted by ghporter

I am both MySpace and Facebook free. I remember the buzz for Facebook getting started in '05-then it was pretty much "your university" based. Today it feels like an oversubscribed party instead of anything useful. Frankly I would never want to be so tied up with anything that I'd want to check online frequently just to see what's being said. I do enough of that here.

It's not that you're checking to see what's being said so much as you're checking to see what your friends are up to. And it gets to be fun. Trust me, I was as anti social networking as anyone until I was convinced to get on Facebook.

nonhuman · Feb 7, 2008, 09:38 AM

Seeing as there's only 17 people in the MacNN Facebook group, I wouldn't expect that it's all that popular around here.