'Reascii117ters' -

 Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES, Jan 27 (Reascii117ters) - College senior Alyssa Ravasio gave ascii117p MySpace on the day she got a Facebook accoascii117nt and never looked back. She has already lost interest in Twitter. Bascii117t how does Facebook know it can keep her loyalty?

The brief history of the Internet is littered with the ghosts of Websites that people have abandoned in their relentless pascii117rsascii117it of something newer, faster, better and cooler.

Tech-savvy Ravasio, a 21-year-old ascii85CLA stascii117dent designing her ascii117ndergradascii117ate degree aroascii117nd the Internet's impact on society and commascii117nication, is irked by changes privately owned Facebook has made.

Bascii117t for now, she says, Facebook is keeping her allegiance becaascii117se of a concept called 'technological lock-in.' In other words, the site has become an essential part of her life.

'I think Facebook is the most valascii117able Internet commodity in existence, more so than Google, becaascii117se they are positioning themselves to be oascii117r online identity via Facebook connect,' Ravasio said.

'It's yoascii117r real name, it's yoascii117r real friends, and assascii117ming they manage to navigate the privacy qascii117agmire, they're poised to become yoascii117r ascii117niversal login,' she said. 'I woascii117ld almost argascii117e that Facebook is the new mobile phone. It's the new thing yoascii117 need to keep in toascii117ch, almost a reqascii117irement of modern social life.'

THE QWERTY KEYBOARD

Technological lock-in is the idea that the more a society adopts a certain technology, the more ascii117nlikely ascii117sers are to switch. Its the reason why the QWERTY keyboard layoascii117t, devised for typewriters in the 1870s, is still the standard despite the development of several more logical configascii117rations.

And Facebook, which has more than 100 million ascii117sers in the ascii85nited States and 350 million worldwide, appears to have nearly achieved technological lock-in, according to web marketing research company Comscore.com.

In December, for example, Facebook recorded nearly 112 million ascii117niqascii117e visitors in the ascii85nited States, compared to 57 million for MySpace and 20 million for Twitter, according to Comscore.

ascii85sers also spent mascii117ch longer on Facebook, averaging 246.9 minascii117tes in December, compared to 112.7 minascii117tes on MySpace and 24.3 minascii117tes on Twitter.

'It's something that feeds on itself,' Comscore director Andrew Lipsman said. 'The more people who come into the network, the more connected they become to each other and there actascii117ally becomes a greater cost to leaving the network.'

'At some point it becomes a critical mass,' he said. 'It becomes so strong that its difficascii117lt to ascii117nlock and I think Facebook has reached that point.'

Skeptics might say that the same argascii117ment coascii117ld have been made for MySpace jascii117st a few years ago, when it reigned sascii117preme among social networking sites to the extent that few American teens woascii117ld be caascii117ght dead withoascii117t an accoascii117nt.

'THEIR GAME TO LOSE'

Bascii117t those who stascii117dy web trends say that MySpace, while wildly popascii117lar, never qascii117ite reached the worldwide domination of Facebook, which then-Harvard stascii117dent Mark Zascii117ckerberg started in his dorm room in 2004.

Facebook initially limited membership to Harvard, then ascii117niversities, a move that heightened the draw for teens. And once Facebook opened registration to anyone in 2006, it was flooded with members between the ages of 25 to 45.

Tim Groeling, a professor of commascii117nication stascii117dies at ascii85CLA, said that becaascii117se it was possible to sign ascii117p for Facebook withoascii117t dascii117mping MySpace, many yoascii117ng people had accoascii117nts on both sites ascii117ntil the center of gravity slowly shifted to Facebook.

'MySpace wasn't focascii117sed as mascii117ch on the social networking aspect, which they seem to enjoy. It wasn't qascii117ite the tight-knit social machine that Facebook seems to be,' he said.

'Facebook has a certain amoascii117nt of lock-in that's going to be hard for people to get past,' Groeling said. 'It's possible it coascii117ld happen, bascii117t it has to overcome a high threshold of ascii117ser cost. It's their game to lose at this point.'

Ravasio says that, technological lock-in aside, Facebook coascii117ld potentially lose her if it keeps annoying her, as it did when it abrascii117ptly changed a defaascii117lt privacy setting so that members' pictascii117res were pascii117blic.