Facebook: A different breed of communication

These days, e-mail is used as a traditional way of communicating with colleagues, businesses, friends and random people. It is used to send out personal and formal letters, information, notifications, commercials etc. E-mail as a tool for communication uses the written letter as a metaphor, however it is way faster than a traditional letter since it is digital, and many e-mail providers and software solutions offer instant notifications when an e-mail arrive. You can actually use e-mail to chat with others, but it is not very practical and fast.

On the other side you have real-time chat and instant messaging (IM), also available with duplex video and sound. This is a real conversation going on between two or more people. Once a user sends a message using IM, there is an expectation that some sort of response with text, video or sound can be received from the other person in a very short time-span, as in a “normal” conversation.

Then, along came Facebook and MySpace etc. In Norway, Facebook expanded the range of users from nearly no users to almost 1 million users in less than a year. Facebook has many great features which makes it possible to communicate quite efficiently with people. They have a “wall” where everyone (depending on privacy settings) can write a message. Using Ajax they provide a great user experience in a usable fashion. The users can also send private messages (PM) to each other using the same kind of interaction technique. It is very fast and easy to send a message on the “wall” and a users inbox.

So what makes communication through Facebook different from e-mail and IM. Well, it has to do with the convenience factor. E-mail is considered a slow way to communicate in the digital world, but using e-mail you can send an e-mail and leave your computer. You do not have to wait for an answer, and you are not bound to the conversation. When a user chats with other people using IM, the user is bound to the conversation, more similar to the “real world”, however the binding strength depends on the relationship with the other person. If the person you are chatting with is a colleague or a friend you see frequently online or in the “real world”, it is not expected to carry through a full conversation with a start, middle and end. On the other hand, when you chat with someone that you do not see that often, you feel more committed to carry out a full conversation, and end it properly, which can be annoying when you just want to send a simple message, fast and easy. This is where Facebook comes into the picture.

Facebook makes it possible to send small messages, and could be compared to SMS. It is not expected by anyone that the sender have to make a full conversation, simply because of the limited visual space in the textbox where the message is written. The fact that it is called a message also gives the user a understanding that it is more like communicating with paper notes as a metaphor. You never know for sure that the user is online on the other end and can reply instantly, but you have the feeling it is delivered fast.

This way of communicating is very convenient and efficient, and gives you the possibility to send messages to your friends fast, without any commitment or time-span on the expected reply. Sometimes you do not have to reply at all. I know many people who have almost stopped sending e-mails and chatting using IM with their friends, and now only communicate in the digital world using Facebook.  Therefore, I see Facebook and similar web applications a different breed of communication.