Facebook ''wants to be seen as a social utility''

Facebook may be considered an online social network on a par with sites such as Bebo and MySpace, but it would much rather be considered a "social utility".

That is the opinion of Rachel Hawkes, co-founder and editor of Social Media Portal, who has asserted that Facebook is aiming to help people reach out to people they already know in a more effective manner.

Ms Hawkes said that it would preferably help users achieve this, rather than help them to find new groups to join or make new friends.

She noted that this is why the site has launched Facebook Chat, which she described as a "natural progression for Facebook".

"Facebook likes to be seen as a social utility, rather than a network - what this means is that their aim is to help people connect and communicate more efficiently with the people they already know, as opposed to locating new friends and social groups based around a particular interest area (or similar)," she explained.

"Facebook Chat is an addition to the service that will help existing users - if it´s of interest to them - to communicate more effectively."

According to Nielsen Online´s press alert, Facebook experienced its first ever drop in unique UK users in the period from December 2007 to January 2008, falling from 8.9 million to 8.5 million.

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