Facebook, a cultural phenomenon that has spread like wildfire, now hosts 600 million users (active in January 2011). Not only is the amount of users impressive, but the company is valued at $40+ billion, with $2 billion of revenue in 2010 alone! For Facebook to be worth that much, there much be more than just the value to the user. Facebook is like Google, because it can sell advertisement to market to a large group of people. Facebook has the upper hand, however, because companies can use users personal data to taylor marketing campaigns to their target audience.
Beyond Facebook’s obvious monetary power, the social networking site has changed social interactions drastically. When cell phones came out, many people saw that as a big change in social interaction. Now looking at Facebook, physical social networks have been digitized within this website. People’s Facebook profiles become their “social hub” and representation of themselves.
I personally find Facebook useful and scary. Feeling like a FBI agent, users can search details about random people or keep tabs on friends and family. It is also scary because if Facebook were to become “hacked,” all of our personal data could be shared with spammers from all over the world, and 600 million people would be exposed to risks like identity theft or worse.
I have personally gone through stages of rejecting Facebook by deleting my account, but always found myself “needing” to use it. In such a short span of time a simple site has become so vital to the social interactions of a whole generation.
I completely agree with your last argument, and have had those same feelings about Facebook. There are several times when I have wanted to delete it, but still "needing" to have it to preserve my social life. Based on this feeling, I wonder if more people are starting to conform to Twitter, as I know most of my friends have created accounts recently.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say that I am addicted to Facebook. But I certainly use it as a method of procrastinating. I find myself logging back in minutes after I logged out only to read the same statuses and look at the same pictures over and over again.
ReplyDeleteWe have something like Facebook and my friends are like so obsessed! As for me, I didn't really like to use this kind of social tool! But I have to follow my friends to see what they did recently. So.. it is really hard to delete the account as you did! Also, sth like twitter is getting popular among us, it is not good for lots of people to fix eyes on the phone and computer to update status~~~
ReplyDeleteI second John in saying that I completely agree with your argument about facebook. While I've never gone as far as deleting my account, I feel like I'm addicted to it. Im not a big fan of photos because I can never take a good picture, but i feel like its become essential to being social. So many events anymore (grad parties, frat parties, etc.) are coordinated through facebook and if you don't have an account, you might find yourself left out.
ReplyDeleteI have a facebook and use it all the time, however I hate it. I think its so easy for facebook to ruin your life and relationships you have with people. I cant wait for the day where I can get rid of it for good.
ReplyDeleteI have a facebook and I catch myself getting on it to procrastinate and I agree that it can interfere with peoples relationships. I personally have never experienced a time where facebook has affected my relationships, but I have seen many people not be friends anymore because of something on facebook. I think sometimes things on facebook get taken out of context which causes so many problems.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of facebook and of course am an addicted user like everyone else, but its scary to think about just how much personal information we trust in the hands of complete strangers. Facebook is a business and they technically own any information you put online, that's why they have targeted ads on the banners that appeal to certain keywords in your page. It's a great business model and I just hope one day I'm smart enough to create the next internet "drug" because Mr. Zuckerberg is definitely making a lot of serious cash. Its so addicting I've noticed a handful of my floor mates disabling their accounts for finals week so they are not tempted to procrastinate studying.
ReplyDeleteI think it is weird that Facebook has become such a power house that it has become a part of everyday life for many people and you do find yourself thinking you "need" to go on. You feel out of the loop and left behind if you can't check out friends pictures and talk to people who go to different schools. I'm sure other people like me have found the checking Facebook has become such a habit that when I go on the computer I automatically login to Facebook before pulling up anything else.
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