Social networking has been something I've been watching, but up until recently never gave it much credit. Facebook has changed things for me a bit. Ever since they made it possible for other sites to integrate into their own site into facebook, I've become much more interested. These are called "applications". I've found it to be closer to what I've wanted a social network site to be, a hub of what I'm doing around the web that can be accessed by friends.

Here are some of the features that keep me coming back to facebook:

• status: This gives me a quick glimpse into what is going on in the lives of my friends.
• privacy: This helps me control who can see what. Some information I don't mind being available to anyone, but some I want to hold close. Facebook makes that possible.
• blog integration: facebook goes out and grabs my blog entries and pulls them in.
• last.fm integration: I use a service called last.fm to share my music listening habits with the world, and enjoy seeing what other friends are listening to.
• books & movies apps: I enjoy sharing reviews and ratings of the books and movies I've seen/read or looking to see what friends have read so that I can see what they like that I might also like.
• news feed: The news feed in facebook is what brings it all together. I can customize what information about what friends I see, bringing this information to me instead of making me go hunting. Isn't that what computers are for?
• email updates: This is perhaps the one that keeps me coming back most often. I come back because I get an email telling me something changed. (Which is also customizable so I only get the emails I want.)

I'm still thinking about what I think of the groups and photos apps. The groups particularly seems to be used only lightly by me. It has potential, but the greatest benefit I've found so far is finding people I've not seen in awhile or who have similar interests and are nearby. For this purpose it seems to be overly featured.

Anyway, if you're on facebook, look Rachel and I up. We've become regular users.