The BBC was once an unassailable force in British media - it had values to be emulated, resources to be envied, and viewing and listening figures of which other media could only stand by in awe. Now its judgment, or at least that of its presenters, stands in question, its resources are shrunk and thinly spread, and even its vast website has been overtaken in terms of popularity by social networking website Facebook. And while BBC.co.uk will remain many net users' homepage for some time to come, the story of Facebook is quite simply one of enormous, unparalleled growth. Where Google, the most popular website in Britain, is a gateway to other parts of the web, Facebook has become a destination in itself, and its popularity is only continuing to grow. Its 18.4 million unique users in September alone are now part of a story that began just four years ago; some argue that Facebook was even pivotal in this year's US presidential race.So what has Facebook done that means it continues to power ahead, where other social networks such as MySpace have begun to slip away? And has anything really gone wrong for the BBC? The Corporation argues that the success of its website, like that of its programmes on radio and TV, should not be measured in terms of ratings; the awkward thing is that a strategy that involves trying to offer something for every licence-fee payer should necessarily involve getting huge viewing figures, while also threatening to squeeze out commercial services.
( www.telegraph.co.uk )
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