The "FaceBook" existed in Harvard before facebook.com...in other places, it was called "MeetBook" (check out this reference in a 1997 episode of This American Life http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/66/tr...)...but the way Facebook.com facilitates interactions, even in its early college-only days was a real game changer because of the medium, even though it emulated a function of an existing print product.
The speed, permanence, and visibility of Net communication is very much a different game.
The "FaceBook" existed in Harvard before facebook.com...in other places, it was called "MeetBook" (check out this reference in a 1997 episode of This American Life http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/66/tr...)...but the way Facebook.com facilitates interactions, even in its early college-only days was a real game changer because of the medium, even though it emulated a function of an existing print product.
The speed, permanence, and visibility of Net communication is very much a different game.