Facebook’s single largest source of growth is the company’s import contact which has since become a standard tool for growth among large internet startups. Today, the company gave their Friend Finder service and contact import tool a large homepage promotion. As soon as users log in to the site they see the promotion at the top of the page until they close out the notification.
So why would Facebook post such a large promotion? The most likely reason is that Facebook is looking to give their viral user growth a little kick. While most third-party analytics services have showed continued growth for Facebook (including it’s rise to the number one spot in the U.S. for three days over the holidays), Facebook will need to keep digging to find the growth that should catapult the site to Google’s reach.
While the Facebook Friend Finder has come under fire recently for privacy issues, it’s core to Facebook’s ongoing growth. For those users who have been on the site for years, it makes sense to occasionally use the tool to find new friends that have joined recently. The Friend Finder also includes recommendations of friends that users may wish to friend.
While there’s no easy way to track how effective Facebook’s homepage promotion of the friend finder will be at driving growth, the company is known for heavily optimizing promotions for maximum impact. If the company has this promotion displayed to over 175 million users today, you can expect there to be millions of new users registered.
Facebook does it again! Despite the fact that I am not searchable by anyone but friends on Facebook, people can find me via the Friend Connect contact import. This totally explains the influx of friend requests I've received today. WTF Facebook? You really find a new way every week to piss me off.
Comment by Erik — January 13, 2010 @ 12:10 pm
I Don't know why i did not like face book but after reading this great article now I am a member of facebook.
Thanks
Comment by freelancers — January 27, 2010 @ 8:14 am
I've long made a point not to expose personally identifiable information to the Internet. But after avoiding Facebook for years, I decided to stop being such a hermit and join. Imagine my surprise when Facebook accurately suggested about a dozen friends from different circles of my life. How was Facebook able to do that for someone like me?
The most likely explanation is that Facebook stores and repurposes information that users upload via Friend Finder. Facebook already had my contact info; they were simply waiting for me to join the party.
What a powerfully devious thing to do….
Comment by L_Sid — March 30, 2010 @ 4:41 pm
add me up in facebo0k.. i want to have many friends.. thx alot..
Comment by thim — March 31, 2010 @ 7:38 am
[...] lawsuit filed against Facebook over its use of members’ names and pictures to promote its friend finder feature suffered the same fate as its pre-amendment predecessor: dismissed by a federal judge in [...]
Pingback by Facebook Friend Finder Class Action Suit Dismissed — October 28, 2011 @ 2:50 pm
I love my book
Comment by Sumit yash — October 29, 2011 @ 1:00 am