The media often compares Facebook to MySpace, but one significant difference between the two Web sites is the level of customization.[59] Another difference is Facebook's requirement that users give their true identity, a demand that MySpace does not make.[60] MySpace allows users to decorate their profiles using HTML and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), while Facebook allows only plain text.[61] Facebook has a number of features with which users may interact. They include the Wall, a space on every user's profile page that allows friends to post messages for the user to see;[62] Pokes, which allows users to send a virtual "poke" to each other (a notification then tells a user that they have been poked);[63] Photos, where users can upload albums and photos;[64] and Status, which allows users to inform their friends of their whereabouts and actions.[65] Depending on privacy settings, anyone who can see a user's profile can also view that user's Wall. In July 2007, Facebook began allowing users to post attachments to the Wall, whereas the Wall was previously limited to textual content only.[62]
On September 6, 2006, a News Feed was announced, which appears on every user's homepage and highlights information including profile changes, upcoming events, and birthdays of the user's friends.[66] This enabled spammers and other users to manipulate these features by creating illegitimate events or posting fake birthdays to attract attention to their profile or cause.[67] Initially, the News Feed caused dissatisfaction among Facebook users; some complained it was too cluttered and full of undesired information, others were concerned that it made it too easy for others to track individual activities (such as relationship status changes, events, and conversations with other users).[68]
In response, Zuckerberg issued an apology for the site's failure to include appropriate customizable privacy features. Since then, users have been able to control what types of information are shared automatically with friends. Users are now able to prevent user-set categories of friends from seeing updates about certain types of activities, including profile changes, Wall posts, and newly added friends.[69]
On February 23, 2010, Facebook was granted a patent[70] on certain aspects of its News Feed. The patent covers News Feeds in which links are provided so that one user can participate in the same activity of another user.[71] The patent may encourage Facebook to pursue action against Web sites that violate its patent, which may potentially include Web sites such as Twitter.[72]
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