"I said, 'I want to learn more about this,' and I thought the best way was to teach a class and look at how persuasion happens. … What we learn here isn't just relevant to Facebook. The psychology that drives Facebook relates to other online success stories, including those blockbusters yet to be invented."
–—Stanford professor BJ Fogg, who teaches Psychology of Facebook
"Who wants a question mark in place of their face and what questions does that raise about you? Like, why are you on Facebook? And so basically Facebook sets up an environment where your friends do the persuading to get you to post a picture."
–—Psychology of Facebook student Richard Barton
"I was too lazy to rotate my (Facebook profile) picture and then I had the idea that if I left it [sideways] you would think I was cool and good looking."
–—Anonymous student, in response to what personal qualities a profile picture should convey
Source: BBC News
This article appears in Apr 30 – May 6, 2008.