Well there's no explanation necessary here, is there?
Facebook is actually quite a bit older than you'd imagine, becoming an incorporated company in 2004, and being founded by Mark Zuckerberg. Originally Facebook was only open to students of Harvard university, and mirroring its popularity today, half the undergraduate population were registered within the first month. So how has Facebook gone from such a small, localised scale to operating on the vast, global scale it does today?
Becoming gradually more and more open, first to other Ivy League institutions and then to employees of Apple inc. and Microsoft, shares in Facebook were bought by Microsoft in 2007. This was arguably the point at which its growth began to accelerate rapidly, and also when it was opened to anybody aged over 13. From this point onwards, it became a phenomenon among teenagers, and was the point Facebook went from being a form of recreation to a global commercial enterprise.
Facebook has changed the lives of many forever, particularly university students, although do the positives outweigh the negatives? It's fun, and useful for seeing what your friends are up to and where they are. But it's also a time waster and the most popular form of procrastination. Most do not think about the implications of what they post on Facebook, indeed people losing their jobs through regretful posts have become all too common. There is also the huge issue of young people using Facebook, who are often lulled into a false sense of security by the privacy settings, which still don't make Facebook as private as it may seem.
In short, Facebook has definitely had a positive effect on our social lives, but on other aspects? If you ask me, it's caused nothing but trouble.
I personally believe that Facebook has almost equal benefits as it does problems. Facebook does have many useful functions. It enables people to interact with ease in large groups therefore allowing the ability to organise socialising in a non-virtual manner. Therefore, although people often complain about the use of such networking sites leading to a decrease in face to face interaction, it can also promote such interactions. Not only this but it creates a way of staying in contact with a large range of people but for the most part, with minimal effort. It also provides a means of organisation. I think it is pretty safe to say that most students will have facebook groups as our Hacking the Book group do, in which to work on a project and other group activities. However, I have to agree that Facebook's main application it seems is as a form of procrastination and a glorified means of nosing at people lives (or the way they would like to present their lives).
ReplyDeleteHowever, it does create a whole range of problems. Facebook also provides a platform for cyber bullying and general nasty behaviour. Whether it is through pointed statuses or horrible photo comments, Facebook can provide people with a great deal of upset. Facebook also is a means of venting to the world, which often results in the negative consequences of job loss amongst other issues. Therefore, people feel they can write whatever they wish under this ideal of 'only friends' having the access to their profiles, however it seems these days as soon as something is put online it is open to the world whether you like it or not.
Therefore I believe Facebook is something that is very useful and whether we like it or not we have all been drawn in. However, it seems like all social networks, it is something that people should use with caution.