Facebook - a new form of persuasion...in the hands of PC Plod ?

Coincident with noting that the Greater Manchester Police have introduced their own Facebook Application..Saturday, April 19, 2008 Sign up to Plod's Face Book the BBC have published this fascinating article .

Learning what makes Facebook tick
By Maggie Shiels Technology reporter, BBC News, in San Francisco

A group of students at Stanford University in the heart of Silicon Valley have turned their attention towards a unique course that blends popular culture with the more time-worn principles of psychology.

The Psychology of Facebook is the brainchild of Professor B J Fogg, a pioneering persuasion psychologist who founded the Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford.

He says: "When Facebook came along I was one of the developers at the launch and what struck me was how there was this new form of persuasion. This mass interpersonal persuasion."

Professor Fogg says the pivotal moment came when he watched an application on the site go from "literally zero to more than a million users in a week".

He recalls that it was to do with music sharing and buying tickets and that that was when he had his "oh my gosh moment". It was quickly followed by a light bulb moment.

Straightforward tools

While luck might have played its part in turning Facebook into a major force in social networking, the entrepreneurs attending this course are looking for straightforward tools to help their businesses hit the jackpot. Read on

Talk of persuasion and jackpots does make one stop and wonder what GMP's goal or ..er..jackpot is.