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It is time to write some about facebook - the fastest growing social networking site right now. I have been using it for several weeks now that many of my friends in sweden has started using it. It started out as a networking site for college students but has opened up for anyone lately. In August it had some 19 million unique visitors compared to the 60 million accessing myspace. [according to this article] So why is facebook such a success? I have been using it for some weeks now and here is some reasons I see. [1. it really looks good] So what is the secret behind facebooks success? Compared to myspace it is really good looking. But myspace may be one of the worst looking web apps there is out there. [2. anyone can extend it] Ok - maybe not anyone but anyone with some skill in HTML can extend it which has resulted in a multitude of good, not-so-good and really bad applications for the platform. With this kind of extensibility it really is a platform. Some might call it a framework. Read more in the developer wiki. The business counterpart of facebook - LinkedIn - announced in June that they will release an API as well. This is surely made to counter facebook. [3. it is addictive] As ypulse notices there are concerns about possible negative effects on productivity. But new things are addictive for a while and then it turns out if they are useful. If so people continue to use them because they are needed - if not - they die. [4. anyone can extend it revisited] Another cool thing with the extensibility is that existing social networking sites like del.icio.us, ilike, last.fm, flickr, flixster and so on are adding facebook integration. This may be the biggest reason of the success of facebook - you can use it as it is and you can access and alter your 3 other favorite social networking sites. And your friend can see your web presence in one place.