To the "I don't get it" posters
@Robert Harrison: You obviously haven't used Facebook at all, otherwise you'd realise your post is quite incorrect. Sadly you can't understand something if you haven't used it!
Think of Facebook as a sort of RSS Feed of what your friends are up to. I find it very hard to believe that of your friends/family that some of them don't have a Facebook account. Facebook is a good, spam and hassle free way to interact with them.
You all happily post your opinions to The Register, yet think Facebook is some terrible thing. It's hypocritical in my opinion. Facebook is just another way for people to post their opinions (albeit on more personal matters) about things.
The Reg asks for personal information (Where you work, purchasing power) etc when you sign up, why aren't you all posting about how you "Don't get it" for The Reg? Because you enjoy it reading/contributing to it? In the same way that everyone who Facebook enjoys reading and contributing to Facebook?
I am old (31), wary of all things Web2.0 etc. But I use Facebook. I check it say once/twice a week to see what people have been up to, occasionally add a comment to a friends photo etc.
Why is the appeal of being able to do that so hard to understand? Yes, these are real, actual friends of mine. Thus why I only have about 15 people listed as my friend in Facebook.
There's a lot of crap on Facebook, don't get me wrong. The stupid "apps" that people add are dumb and annoying and Beacon was plain and simple a stupid thing.
But you can easily control what information Facebook has about you by not giving it any. It has my email address and a few other details. That's all.
People are so happy to post about the extremes of Social Networking such as those people who seem to live to acquire as many virtual friends as possible, but for the majority of people, it's a fun easy way to stay in contact with their friends. Someone explain to me why "they don't get" that? Do you also not talk to your friends on the phone?
The concept of Facebook is a great one, I challenge anyone to tell me why it isn't. Sure, Facebook itself isn't brilliant (see Beacons, being unable to delete your account, targeted ads etc) but the fundamental concept, which is what draws people to it, is solid.
And fun.