Status updates. I LOVE these! And I know that this is not a concept known only to Facebook users but I think it's the way it's broadcast on Facebook that makes it so key to the whole Facebook experience. On your Facebook homepage you've got a sort of news feed of all your friends and one of the feeds is on the status updates your friends have published. Basically, it's a clarified little nugget of your friends' day or current experience. It could be anything from what they're doing, what they're thinking, a quote they love, a song lyric that's stuck in their heads... anything at all. The magic of the status update lies in the fact that Facebook users are so tuned into what everyone's status says that people really put effort, most days, into clarifying the message they broadcast in order to say just the right thing because we know people really will be reading it. And I love this new feature on Facebook where you can comment directly on a status message, oftentimes sparking a hilarious or interesting little thread of discussion.

The news feed on your friends is actually interesting and useful. It's like a running commentary on major changes to people's profiles or new comments on a picture or a post that you've commented on in the past. I know that other sites have news feeds on what updates people have made to their pages but, again, Facebook's useful format makes it so much easier to take part in the discussion. You can comment directly from your own homepage on any thread that is posted on your news feed. No need to go hopping around to other people's sites just to post your comment. You can post your comment as well as read all the other comments right there on your news feed. An added bonus, if the thread gets pretty long, Facebook just minimizes it so it doesn't take up your whole page but you can still just click to read more and it will open them all up without even a hiccup. On Facebook it's so easy to be a caped crusader for whatever your favorite cause might be! I can guarantee that, whatever your favorite charity or cause, there is a Facebook group you can join for it. Through that group, you can raise awareness among all your friends, circulate petitions, make and ask for contributions, organize walk-a-thons or bake-offs or ...well, you get the picture. Any of the usual activities one can do in the name of charity, it can and is done through Facebook now!

One more thing that I find really awesome about Facebook: In a time where we can hardly open our eyes in the morning without being bombarded by advertisements, Facebook is a world in which, yes, there is advertising, but it's so quiet. It's all in the same font as everything else, things don't blink or make noise or dance or glide across my vision. It also seems to use the technology that Google likes so much; where the advertising shown is based on your personal likes and dislikes gleaned from the content you're viewing. So the advertising might actually interest me rather than just annoy me like some buzzing insect I must ignore. Now that's advertising I can live with and might actually use!

So, after all that, go ahead and give Facebook a try! You know you want to! I wouldn't be surprised if your other profiles, from sites that shall remain nameless, start gathering a few dust bunnies like mine have.