10 Reasons Why You Should Join Facebook

With all of the social networking choices available to a person these days it seem like a crap shoot to choose just one or three sites that make sense for your lifestyle. Being a member myself of "way too many" networking sites I've learned how to navigate through the perils of social networking pretty well and consider myself close to an expert.

If you're looking to use social networking to advance or enhance your career than sites like Linked In, Career Builder, and Monster make sense to utilize. If you want to network with old friends, meet new friends, join clubs, and basically "live" online, then Facebook is the best site to "do it all" and maximize your time's value.

1. Facebook allows you to "find" friends through email and other friends. One of my favorite features of Facebook is that when someone joins the network and they have mutual friends of yours, Facebook posts these friends in the upper right hand corner of your page. It allows you to see their picture and decide if you should add them to your friends. I've found at least 1/3 of my friends this way and have caught up with folks I never dreamed of finding thanks to this feature.

2. Facebook has a "suggest a friend" feature that helps you to synch up other friends of yours with someone you've found on the site. I utilize this one a lot for High School friends and reuniting with old friends from church, elementary school, etc. My Space doesn't have this feature and therefore my friends on that site always stayed pretty stagnant unless someone was specifically looking for me.

3. Facebook has some incredible online games that you play with friends. One of my favorites is a dice game called Farkle. There is also Mafia Wars, Connextion, and others that are a blast. These add ins are simple to download and allow you to compete against other Facebook friends. Scores start over weekly and I must say I'm much more competitive with this than I ever thought I would be. It's a blast to play and when you beat a friend's score, Facebook send them a message that you've annihilated there score.

4. The Ads on Facebook are also a lot different than any other site. They are geared towards my interests, geographical area, and gender. I see ads for Spas, Hair Salons, Scrapbooking Sites, and available jobs all in one area. It's also a breeze to advertise on Facebook for your own business if that's something that makes sense for you. I never thought I'd be open to clicking on advertisements but the way they present them I'm actually interested!

5. "The Wall." Facebook has an area called "The Wall" that allows you to basically get a quick update and write little messages to your friends. Think of it as "online sticky notes" for your buddies. If you're planning to be at the bar with friends you can write on your friends wall about the meet up and others that are friends with your friend can read their wall. It's like a virtual message center without sending an email to everyone.

6. Facebook allows you to let others see as much or as little as your profile as you want. In mine I show my birthday, home town, marital status, and a little blurb about me. You can update it anytime you want and remove pieces as well. For instance if you are married but going through a divorce you might not want your marital status to be showing. If you are tired of girls/guys hitting on you but aren't married you can change your status to "in a relationship" so they back off. The profile information is on the left navigation of your profile page and also shows any networks you're in as well.

7. Friends Birthdays will never be forgotten again with Facebook's birthday application. On the bottom right of the page it shows your friends having a birthday that day and you can be sure to send a quick email or write on their wall a big "Happy Birthday" so they remember that you care and you look like a rock star of a friend.

8. Photo Albums: Facebook makes it easy to upload and share photo albums with the world or just your "friends list" if you prefer. You never have to worry about misplacing your digital photos again and can organize them perfectly in the photo area. You can also instant upload pictures from your cell phone and make a comment.

9. Facebook has a great cell phone application that texts you anytime you get an email or someone comments/writes on your wall. You can also reply directly to them from your cell phone and stay in touch no matter where you are.

10. The "What's On Your Mind" tab. For those of you that have used or heard of Twitter, this tab is like a mini version of "What am I doing right now?" You can update it all throughout the day and it's fun to give a quick mention of what you are doing or thinking and having your friends comment. My Facebook currently says I'm in need of Wedding Proposal ideas for Associated Content. Friends are now emailing my inbox on Facebook to let me know their most romantic proposals and giving me the perfect research for an article.

So as you can see, with the versatility of Facebook there is just no reason not to go online and start your own profile today. Join the revolution and truly find out the fun and resourcefulness behind this social networking icon.