Earlier this week, I ran a poll on what people like to do on Facebook. It’s part of my research on online communities and what makes them so attractive to people. This poll asked the question: “What do you do the most [on Facebook]?” Voters could choose more than one activity, or add their own. The poll received 45 unique visitors and 84 votes. My visitor base was mainly adults with some technical savvy.

Here are the results:

The Top Three
The majority of visitors enjoy doing these three things:

1. Post about my status (15%)
2. Read my friends’ status updates, quizzes and links (14%)
3. Comment on friends’ posts (14%)

The Rest of the Top Eight
These activities are less important to Facebook fans, but still popular:

1. Write on friends’ walls (11%)
2. Upload and tag photos (10%)
3. Post links to videos, articles, etc. (9%)
4. View Facebook on my mobile device (7%)
5. Take quizzes (5%)

Not So Great, Actually
These six activities got low scores:

1. Play games (3%)
2. Get and send emails (2%)
3. Network with people in related industries (2%)
4. Customize my profile with Facebook apps (1%)
5. Add as many friends as I can (1%)
6. Send virtual pets and gifts (1%)

Who Even Does That?
These activities received zero votes:

• Market my products/services
• Invite friends to events

Write-in Votes
The write-in votes were interesting and entertaining:

• “Look at other people’s photos, see about events friends are attending that I mig” (and then he ran out space – sorry!)
• “Look at other people’s pictures” (I wish I had used this on the poll.)
• “Utilize the community to concoct a nefarious plan to take over the world” (Ahahaha.)

What do you think? Should I create similar polls on MySpace and Twitter? Did I leave any important activities out?

It’s not too late to vote, if you’d still like to ad your two cents. Thanks!

I’ve been a member of Facebook since it was thefacebook.com back in 2004. I have a modest number of friends (67). I’ve enjoyed all kinds of activity in Facebook, from exchanging mystery virtual Easter eggs to posting “haha” to a friend’s goofy mobile phone photo upload. I’m becoming interested in just how marvelously complex Facebook is. I know there must be hundreds of Facebook apps I’ve never heard of. I’ve even bought a book on how those apps get coded.

I know what I like to do most on Facebook. My favorite thing to do is read through what everyone else has been up to (and posted links to) lately, making comments as I go.

I’d like to know what your favorite things to do on Facebook are. Go ahead and click a few options if you do a bunch of stuff regularly. Add any you don’t see on this lengthy list.

Better yet, tell me a little about yourself and why you like Facebook, in the Comments section below. Thanks!