THE Social Network

Having just seen the movie Social Network over the weekend, I think this is a great time to express my feelings towards this phenomenon. While I do love Facebook, there are times where I can hate it. I am not a huge Facebooker, but do use the site to keep in touch with friends and people who I do not see too often. It is great for communication but I feel that some people take advantage of Facebook as they feel the need to post things that are of little importance. It is also crazy to see how people react towards things seen posted on Facebook. I have witnessed huge fights break out between boyfriends and girlfriends simply because of a picture or comment posted to the public. It seems that there is a lack of privacy, making things that would not be read or "heard" blatantly viewed by everyone. This is important to understand when displaying information or tagging yourself in a picture in the real world. The wrong person may see a photo of you at a party, not only now, but in the future. I remember when we were applying to colleges, my college advisor forced us to "clean up" our pages, making sure there was no evidence of bad behavior in order to prevent any negative judgment being passed on us. It is very important to understand that as much as you think your page or pictures are private, this information can still be found if one wants to see it. People post much more information on their pages than they would initially tell you in person. Studies have shown that people are much more open to disclose their personal information on a site such as Facebook, then to simply meeting a person for the first time. This is very interesting and I find it kind of sad to see that this is what our society is coming to. People would rather talk through a computer than actually speak with a person face to face. As time goes on, Facebook continues to grow, Zuckerberg gets richer, and people continue the addiction.

FaceAddiction

It's weird to think about but it was around five years ago, when I first made my Facebook profile. In those past five years a lot has changed. Facebook has made drastic changes to keep things new, interesting and more convenient/efficient. Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook has started a craze that has shaped social networking, and communication forever. Although there have been other social networking websites before Facebook like Myspace or Friendster, Mark Zuckerberg perfected the idea of a free social networking website and made Facebook the most popular social networking service in the world.

I frequently use Facebook throughout my day, for many different reasons. I check to see if anyone has messaged me, friended me or wrote on my wall. Facebook has become one of my main ways of communication. If I ever need to ask a question to a friend about anything, even homework surprisingly enough, I can almost guarantee that my friend will get back to me later that day because it is fair to assume that almost everyone checks their Facebooks' during the day. Facebook can be used for other resources as well. I can post a picture of myself, that I think makes me look good and portray my image as almost better version of myself through my Facebook. Facebook allows the user to put up all the good qualities about themselves without sharing the flaws or other embarrassing details about themselves. Facebook allows people to delete things that are on their profiles so that cyber bullying and embarrassing posts do not have to be shown to all of your viewers. Creating this new and better virtual persona also comes in handy when getting in touch with an old friend that you haven't seen in years.

Thanks to Facebook I am able to not only talk and communicate with old friends and relatives, but I can also check in and see what they are doing and what they look like. Facebook has made stocking easy and acceptable. I can communicate with a girl that I am attracted to through Facebook and start a relationship because of this useful tool. Facebook came up with the idea of a chat room. It's very similar to that of AIM or Ichat, except I just have to be friends with this person on Facebook and I don't have to worry about their AIM or Ichat adress. Whether you disagree with this new style of building or starting relationships, it has become part of the new world and although it replaces traditional ways of starting relationships, we have to realize that times are changing and just like our profile pictures, our relationships and ideas will change as well. In summation, Facebook is a very important source for information, and communication. Facebook is the best form of social networking in todays society.