It's been about a year since I started using Facebook actively (I had the account for much longer, but just never used it). I forced myself to get used to the interface because I was studying the environment as we researched widgets for work. In a short period of time, however, I had many of my friends connected and the status updates and notifications really kept everyone in the loop. When I first started using it, Facebook felt awkward to use. Now I'm pretty comfortable with it and made it part of my daily life.
Staying Connected
When I look at my friends list, I think about how I'm a lot more in touch with people I used to not know as well. It's all thanks to the status updates and notifications. They're so inviting and the more my friends use it, the more chance we find things in common and spark conversations. Over the past year, I found myself getting closer to friends and family on Facebook. Those who weren't fell more out of the loop. I also cut down on mass emailing and just posted items and notes instead. I noticed a better response too. I'm still working on getting a few more close friends in!
"Apps" and Widgets
The apps are mostly time-wasters, but still good for interacting with friends and strangers. When I first started using Facebook, I only installed apps based on what I saw in my friends' profiles. I played with many of them for a certain period then uninstalled them after I got bored. The successful ones that got me addicted were the ones that had some sort of reward or challenge each day. They also had to add updates/upgrades every so often to avoid monotony. The ones I stuck with were... (fluff)Friends, Pet Dragons, Greenpatch, Chicago Bulls and Yankees Faithful. (fluff)Friends and Pet Dragons have a lot of interactivity and updates. They're both very much like RPGs. (fluff)Friends also has a great user community. I use Chicago Bulls & Yankees Faithful based on sports season. And Greenpatch is just addicting because of the "earning money" aspect. I am trying to bring myself to uninstall that one though because it takes up a good 10 minutes each day!
Groups & Pages
I also found the groups and pages to be very useful compared to other social networking sites. They had no spam and every post was relevant. There's also a group or page for just about every subject you can think of. I don't visit these a whole lot though... maybe once a month or so, but it's always interesting to post a comment and get feedback from strangers with the same interests.
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