Wow, can you believe that Facebook has only been around for 6 years? Sure there were similar sites before Facebook but I don’t believe that any of its predecessors has had the impact that Facebook has on social networking. Everyone has a Facebook page and after reading Mark Zuckerberg’s blog I believe that Facebook will become a more vital part of our lives for years to come. Mark’s blog describes some of the improvements that Facebook has made within the past year. Their hope is that these changes will encourage more participation from its users and ultimately lead to the world becoming more open and result in people having a better understanding of everything that is going on around them.
Although I believe that Facebook is a great way to keep in contact with old friends, making the leap from being a fun networking site to website that will lead to a better understanding of the world is a stretch to say the least. Will the constant updates from my friends announcing what they are having for lunch or how hammered they are lead to a better understanding of the world? I doubt it.
I actually believe that our increased reliance on social networking sites, such as Facebook, will lead to a decreased understanding of the World around us. I mean, how many times have you seen people so glued to their cell phones or computer screens that they are completely oblivious to what’s going on around them? And don’t even get me started on the effect that it is having on personal relationships and privacy.
I'm guilty of it. However as I dig deeper into my professional career, I am reluctant to post all the times that I am out partying and having fun. It seems like facebook's model is shifting towards LinkedIn and away from Myspace..
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ReplyDeleteShannon, I agree with your opinion on not caring about useless status updates. It's by far the most annoying aspect for me as a social network user. But I think one trend to look out for is "noise reduction" on social media. This means people will start to realize the power broadcasting their thoughts and provide more substantial information or curtail their participation. I've already noticed this based on my experience with followers on Twitter and Facebook. Here's another blog post which discusses this trend - http://blogs.bnet.com/harvard/?p=4326&tag=col1;post-4458
ReplyDeleteSince we've all been discussing Facebook so much, I wanted to delve a little deeper into some possible theories regarding the site. I posit that Facebook may actually lead to health problems like desk butt and chronic sweaty palm since most people operate on warm laptops.
ReplyDeleteI was amazed to learn that some people spend 2-3 hours a day on the site...What if we were all to stop using that time for Facebook and instead go to the gym, or do charity work. We'd all either increase our sex appeal tenfold, or become really helpful people.
It is interesting that facebook makes a lot of Web users "celebrities" because each of your moves will be viewed by all your friends or public. We may be appreciated with being recognized or cared by others but at the same time we also want to keep our personal life away from being exposed to public. It is an interesting contradict!
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