Facebook: Useful Website For People - Research Paper Example

Facebook, one of the most important social networking services, is the visible example for the usability of information technology (IT) on human life. We can say that IT transformed the scenario of human life into new possibilities that human beings were unable achieve ten or fifteen years ago. The influence of Facebook can be evaluated as beyond a website, but as an innovative tool to measure one’s social acceptability and the ability to mingle with the masses without any inhibition or inferiority complex. Also, the usefulness of Facebook extends to other spheres like international brotherhood, an innovative platform to communicate with one’s friends and meet new people, exchange valuable information, spend one’s leisure time in a more useful way, new experiences, view videos and games, and regular updating of one’s relationships. Facebook is an innovative online medium with a lot of opportunities and advantages in different areas of human life, which separates it from the other social networking websites. As pointed out, Facebook is basically a website on the internet which provides social networking service to the users. The social networking service helps one to be connected with one’s friends, relatives, well-wishers and the international community of Internet users. Mark Zuckerberg and his friends (Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes) are the founders of Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg was a student at Harvard and the membership was limited to his private and public circles. Later, this website became more and more acceptable and popular among the student community at Stanford University and its surrounding areas like Ivy League university. We can say that the acceptance and popularity acquired by this website among the student community attracted high school students and later the international community of internet users. Facebook was launched in February 2004, and the ownership is fully vested in Facebook, Inc., a private company. The present popularity of Facebook includes more than 600 million active users. Janell L. Carroll states that “On college campuses, Facebook is the most popular networking site, and the majority of students check their Facebook accounts daily or several times a day” ( 71). We can say that Facebook is becoming more popular among the student community. In addition, Facebook is becoming popular because of the unique social networking services provided by the owners. Jason R. Rich makes clear that “Facebook is designed to allow people to meet and communicate with each other through messaging, e-mailing, and real-time chatting” (48). The name ‘Facebook’ is indebted to the university administrators in the USA, who used to provide books to their students to know each other in a better way. To be specific, Facebook’s aim is to help the users connect with each other and to share valuable information for productive purposes. The common thoughts about Facebook include its usefulness as a social networking website and its disadvantage as spending much time on the internet. Most of the users of Facebook make use of the same innovative tool to create a virtual presence and to share their thoughts and connect with their friends. However, D. E. Wittkower points out that “If Facebook promotes friendship and if friendship is a good thing, why do we so often feel as if we’ve been wasting time when we are facebooking?’’ (120). However, most of the Facebook users may reject this opinion because they consider Facebook as an innovative tool or online medium to create online presence and to connect with friends and relatives. Facebook is considered as a modern website to be connected with the whole world without interruption. Also, Facebook is considered as a forward looking means within the scenario of social networking. Within this context, no one is there to interrupt an individual from accepting friendship from others who share similar interests. If one is interested in social service, Facebook is one of the most creative platforms that one can have. Jesse Rice states that “Facebook provides a safe environment where users can operate “just as they are” with almost no interference from the outside” (84). The common thoughts about Facebook include some disadvantages. For instance, one’s virtual presence hinders one from entering the real world of social service. If one is spending more time on these types of social networking sites, there exists the high possibility for wasting time that can be used for productive purposes. This leads to addiction and less interest in studies. Almost all the Facebook users are aware of the usefulness of this progressive mode of sharing information. However, the non-users (maybe, skeptics) consider Facebook as a waste of time and energy without any purpose. In short, the common thoughts on Facebook are mixed, i.e. about its advantages and disadvantages. As pointed out earlier, it will be difficult to point out all the advantages of Facebook. Some of the most important advantages like finding old friends, meeting new people and exchanging information among members within a group are pointed out below. First of all, it will be an exciting experience for a new person on Facebook to connect with old friends. For instance, after completing someone’s school days, one must not be aware of keeping in touch with his class mates. After a number of years, one will be quite curious to be in touch with his or her classmates and to share his ideas with them. Within this scenario, Facebook is most helpful to find old friends or classmates. Dave Awl makes clear that “By default, Facebook makes your profile visible to people you’ve added as friends, or to anybody who belongs to a network you’ve joined” (24). So, this feature is most helpful to be in touch with more friends. The ‘find friends’ option on Facebook is most assistive for an individual, who is not experienced in the field of social networking. For instance, if someone has a Facebook account, one can make use of the same for finding one’s old friends. The ‘find friends’ option with the features like ‘Hometown’, ‘current city’, ‘High School’ etc can find one’s friends easily. If an individual is determined to find his or her old friends, other friends can help. When one becomes a member on Facebook, one’s friend circle will become broader and might be in contact with others. In short, Facebook plays the role of a medium through which one can find all of one’s old friends. Facebook helps one to be in touch with new friends from every nook and corner of the world. The most interesting and amazing feature of Facebook is the opportunity to meet with new people. One can send friend requests to other members. Jane Bozarth states that “Finally, Facebook is excellent for drawing people into technology and conversations from which they may have been excluded before” (55). From a different angle of view, meeting new people from different cultural backgrounds, gender and educational qualification can broaden one’s exposure. For instance, if an individual from New York make a friendship with another individual from China, that relationship will be helpful for both the individuals to share their cultural features. Also, Facebook will create an atmosphere to become friend with one’s friends’ friends. This is helpful because it broadens one’s mind by accepting new friends from every nook and corner of the world. When one is determined to meet (virtual) new friends, Facebook will help one to choose friends. For instance, Facebook will help one to choose friends from a list, probably from a list, consisting of existing friends’ friends. This is amazing because Facebook does not consider one’s individual talent of verbal communication. An individual’s shyness may hinder him or her from meeting new people and creating relationships. However on Facebook, one can shed one’s shyness and be in touch with the international community of Facebook users. Also, one can express one’s ideas on Facebook and can seek advice/opinion from others. As the whole world is undergoing an information revolution, one cannot keep aloof into one’s own private space because it reduces the scope of individual development. In short, within the context of social networking, Facebook plays the role of an innovative platform/medium to meet new people and to create everlasting relationships. As pointed out earlier, Facebook is a useful platform to exchange information among group members. For instance, one can create closed or open groups on Facebook. This group formation will be helpful in exchanging information among the members of a specific group. This is most helpful because one will be updated day by day on the regular activities within one’s group. For instance, if a group on Facebook is planning a reunion of school mates or college mates, all the group members will be informed at the same time. This will help an individual member to consider himself/herself as an important person among the group members. On the other side, if an individual is interested in sports, information technology, literature or any other subject, that particular individual will try to be in contact with others who share the similar interest. Within this context, Facebook is a creative tool to exchange information. For instance, one can request membership in a specific group or can create a separate group of his or her own. This is highly valuable because exchanging/sharing information broadens one’s general knowledge or experience in a specific field. Within this scenario, the usages of Facebook for educational purposes are noteworthy. Also, the option of a ‘closed group’ given by Facebook helps a group to share information without interference from the outside world. In short, Facebook plays the role of an innovative medium to share/exchange information among group members. Earlier, most youngsters used to spend their leisure time involved in their hobbies like philately, numismatics, chess, sports and games etc. However, now, the internet is the most important medium among the youngsters to spend their leisure time. Forest Lee opines that “Facebook represents the most valuable repository of psychographic, demographic, and behavioral data on the planet” (19). Some may argue that spending time on the Internet decrease the scope of a balanced life. This argument may not be true because social networking sites help the youngsters to be vigilant about the happenings within one’s public property. The deep influence of the internet, especially the social networking sites attract millions of youngsters in around the globe. Within the context of leisure time activities, spending one’s time for a productive purpose is most important but life without pleasure is worthless. So, some of the most important advantages like watching different types of videos, playing games and getting new news from friends are pointed out below. Spending leisure time the activities provided by Facebook is the opportunity to view different types of videos. For instance, a member within a specific group can view videos according to his or her interest. Also, one can upload videos from YouTube or copy and paste the URL of a video on his or her wall. The most interesting thing is that a Facebook member can upload individual videos, which provides the opportunity to share one’s ideas. For instance, if one is interested in campaigning against smoking, one can produce a video about that and can upload it to Facebook. In addition, Facebook provides the opportunity to comment on different types of videos. For instance, if one considers that a specific video is worthy to view; one can select it as ‘like’ or can comment on the same. The opportunity provided by Facebook to view different types of videos can motivate individuals. Todd Kelsey states that “On Facebook, it’s nice to be able to upload a video and share with friends” (319). The Facebook members are from different geographical areas, living conditions, educational qualifications and professions. So, a Facebook member can easily identify his or her friend’s individual interests. This will help to have deeper understanding of individuals and the areas that they are interested in. The role of Facebook as a platform to view different types of videos is quite important because it provides momentary relief to the viewers. Also, the ‘share’ option on Facebook is helpful to share videos with other members. One does not need search for videos on Facebook because the ‘news feed’ option helps to view those videos without any individual effort. In short, Facebook acts the role of an innovative medium to watch different types of videos. Online gaming is one of the most common leisure time activities among the youngsters. When the concept of online gaming is superimposed into the context of social networking sites, one can see that the similar is an important factor that attracts the children towards Facebook. For instance, Farmville is one of the most important games on Facebook which helps one to be with nature, especially farming. Daniel Miller opines that “It seems unlikely that Facebook, or the company that invented Farmville, did so as some kind of charitable initiative” (63). When one is able to produce more vegetables and fruits (say, virtual) on Farmville, one can share the same with friends. This opportunity will create a cohesive feeling and sharing mentality among the members. Also, playing games with a purpose (say, winning) helps one to be focused and to acquire concentration. The habit of playing online games without considering time will lead to laziness and ill health. So, one must be cautious about the disadvantages of online gaming and must be aware of its advantages in one’s life. If an individual is aware of his or her responsibilities, gaming will not cause any trouble in life because it is an innovative tool to spend leisure time. The opportunity provided by Facebook within the field of online gaming is noteworthy because it forces the users to think about the importance of successful in life. One of the most important factors behind the success of social networking sites is the opportunity provided to have new news from friends. For instance, if a Facebook member needs to say something to his friends or relatives, he or she can paste the same on the ‘wall’. This helps the member to communicate with hundreds of members with ease. Also, the ‘news feed’ option on Facebook helps one to get new news from friends. In real life, it is difficult to maintain hundreds of friends within an individual’s private or public property. However, virtual life (say, life on Facebook) helps one to maintain hundreds of friends without much effort. On Facebook, one can have all the information about one’s friends’ activities. For instance, when a Facebook member’s friend uploaded a new video, or commented on a video, it will visible in the ‘news feed’ section. This will be helpful to get new news from friends. Michael Miller makes clear that “To me, facebook is all about connecting with past and current friends; it’s less about looking up general information that you can find elsewhere” (220). The option provided by Facebook on ‘news feeds’ like ‘comment’ is helpful to follow the news made available by one’s friends. In short, Facebook acts the role of an innovative medium to get connected with one’s friends and to get new news from friends. Facebook is a useful social networking website because it acts the role of an innovative mode of communication in the modern world. The evaluation based on the usefulness of Facebook in different areas of human life proves that it is most advantageous for an individual who is living in a digitally revolutionized world. Also, social networking websites are helpful in minimizing the gap of a digital divide and hatred towards IT. To be specific, Facebook’s concept of communicating with friends and relatives without considering time and space is significant. In short, the initiative undertaken by Facebook by creating a virtual world with freedom to think and express one’s ideas is most important. References Awl, Dave. Facebook Me!: A Guide to Having Fun with Your Friends and Promoting Your Projects on Facebook. Berkeley, CA: Peachpit Press, 2009. Print. Bozarth, Jane. Social Media for Trainers: Techniques for Enhancing and Extending Learning. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, 2010. Print. Carroll, Janell L. Sexuality Now: Embracing Diversity. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning, 2009. Print. Kelsey, Todd. Social Networking Spaces: From Facebook to Twitter and Everything In Between. New York: NY: Apress, 2010. Print. Lee, Forest. Someones Watching You!: From Micropchips in Your Underwear to Satellites Monitoring Your Every Move, Find Out Whos Tracking You and What You Can Do about It. Avon, MA: Adams Media, 2011. Print. Miller, Michael. Facebook for Grown-Ups. USA: Que Publishing, 2010. Print. Miller, Daniel. Tales from Facebook. Malden, MA: Polity, 2011. Print. Rich, Jason R. Blogging for Fame and Fortune. Canada: Entrepreneur Press, 2009. Print. Rice, Jesse. The Church of Facebook: How the Hyperconnected Are Redefining Community. Colorado Springs, CO: David C Cook, 2009. Print. Wittkower, D. E. Facebook and Philosophy: Whats on Your Mind?. Chicago, Illinois: Open Court Publishing, 2010. Print. Read More