Why is Facebook becoming so popular?

This is the question I've been asking myself for some time now. What are the reasons for enormous and extreme Facebook growth/expansion? Why are 8 new profiles created every second? Why are people intensely using this social network? And most importantly, why is the society extending their (real) lives with engagement in virtual communities?

I'm aware of the fact that offline and online lives can't be separated anymore and are becoming more and more connected and intertwined, so the boundaries between them are practically blurred. But still, what force drives all of us to spend time sitting behind the computer screen rather face-to-face with friends in your favorite bar?

With a little help of Google I found a list of different reasons which could be answers to my questions:

Easy connection with friends. The main reason is probably that people can easily connect with their friends and their loved ones through the site. The news about your friend who is in another continent can easily reach you in just a matter of seconds, and vice versa.

Share photos, videos, events. Another reason why Facebook is so popular is that it is possible for a person to upload an unlimited number of photos, and put them in an album on their profiles. Facebook is a place to brag and boast activities, events and places that one has been to. A person can easily become popular through the unique and weird photos that he or she posts.

It's all about the games and apps. Facebook has a wildly extensive library of addictive games and add-ons that keep people coming back to the site. Many of the social games available reward their players for spending lots of time online to complete game objectives. Many people will spend countless hours on these online games, and periodically check their News Feed to see if anything interesting is happening.

It plays to people's vanity. People like to talk about themselves, especially when they think they have an audience. Many people post many updates every day on how their day is going. Me, myself, and I — in other words the site is all about you (or me rather). People love to talk about themselves and Facebook capitalizes on that to the extreme. You set up a profile featuring… Look at your options — edit my profile, view videos of me, view photos of me, what’s on your mind, and write something about yourself to name a few features. It’s perfect! Even keeps track of the number of friends you currently have to compare with others in the epic quest to have the most Facebook friends.

People are social animals. There will always be a social network available for people to use online. Right now it's Facebook. In two or there years it might be something new or it could still be Facebook. The future is unclear, but what is known is that Facebook has carved its place in history as the preeminent social network at the time of this writing.

Facebook satisfies people’s curiosity. Admit it. You’re a Facebook stalker. Half of your Facebook friends you would never call to chat with, but you don’t mind surfing through their pictures or watching their videos or reading their wall posts. According to the psychologist, the social network keeps users in a neurotic limbo, not knowing whether they should hang on in there just in case they miss out on something good.

In my opinion this are some relevant reasons for Facebook’s popularity but I’m still not fully satisfied – I think there’s something more to it, but I haven’t discovered it yet.

What do you think? Is there something else that attracts millions of people to Facebook?

Sources:

http://www.worthwhile.com/blog/why-is-facebook-so-popular/

http://ezinearticles.com/?Why-is-Facebook-So-Popular?&id=4130894

http://www.knowswhy.com/why-is-facebook-so-popular/