Advantages and Disadvantages of Facebook - Literature review Example

Advantages and Disadvantages of Facebook Advantages and Disadvantages of Facebook Social networks, especially Facebook has a wide influence upon the current generation across the world irrespective of young, adult or old people. In fact social networks opened another channel of communication for the current world. One of the major advantages of social networks is its ability to enhance instant communication between different cultures. Previously it was difficult for the people in America or Britain to communicate with people in the Middle East or Asia because of the non-availability of proper communication channels. However, at present, with the introduction of internet related technologies, instant communication across cultures is not a myth, but a fact. According to Shih (2009), “right this moment at least 150000000 people are interacting with friends facebook”(Shih, 2009, p.i). The above figure includes people from different parts of the world. Earlier it was difficult for people under autocratic regimes to get enough information about the external world. Middle East is a region in which majority of the states are under autocratic regimes. In the name of religion, dictators are exploiting the public very much in this region. With the introduction of internet and internet and facebook like social media, people in these countries got more awareness about the depth of the problems they were facing. In many of the Middle Eastern countries, currently public agitation is going on against their administrations. In Egypt and Libya like countries, public agitation is already succeeded in expelling their dictators from power. Face book played an important role in helping the Arab people to conduct revolutions against their leaders. This paper analyses the advantages and disadvantages of facebook in general and the influence of facebook in Arab revolution, focussing Egypt specifically. Advantages & Disadvantages of Facebook Business is one segment which was benefitted immensely because of the introduction of social networks like facebook. Millions of people are talking about the brands and products virtually every moment and therefore business people get huge publicity for their products and brands. In fact facebook provides the easiest and cheapest way of advertising for organizations. Hunt (2009) has argued that “people are on social networks to connect and build relationships. Relationships and connections over time lead to trust, which is the key to form social capital” (Hunt, 2009, p.2). It should be noted that some of the major conflicts across the world are taking place because of the lack of communication between cultures. Facebook helped people of different cultures to know more each other. Cross cultural communication enhanced a lot as result of facebook like social networks. The enhancement of cross cultural communication helped people from oppressed societies to know more about the things happening in the external world. The current revolutions taking place in the Arab world is caused by Facebook like social networks. Youths are the major strength of Facebook. At the same time facebook has the ability to attract people from other distant parts of the world. Many people believe that the face of facebook is changing rapidly because of its ability to attract people from different cultures. When it started, facebook has an American face whereas at present it has a global face. New visitors have changed the face of Facebook from a universal online student’s forum to a universal social networking place for any age groups. Thus people all over the world are currently using facebook as a medium for entertainment and mental relaxation. Along with different types of addictions such as alcohol addiction, drug addiction etc, facebook addiction is also causing big headaches at present. People spend lengthy hours in front of facebook like social networks and they fail to do their other routine jobs like playing, exercising etc. As a result of that obesity related health problems are severe among people who consistently spend long hours in front of the computer or facebook. “Facebook relies on third party Java applications, so that the user is not only entrusting Facebook with her/his login and password but also must trust the third-party applications that provide tools for Facebook users”(Harris, 2009). Privacy and security issuers are a matter of concern for the facebook users. There is no guarantee that the information passed through facebook remains private or secure. Third party application providers are the suppliers of majority of the application in facebook and therefore facebbok cannot ensure the safety of using such applications. Kelleher (2009) has pointed out that “hackers are attracted to social networking sites because they see the potential to commit fraud and launch spam and malware attacks” (Kelleher, 2009). In other words, information passing through facebook can reach in the hands of antisocial elements and the consequences could be severe. For example, “anonymous users bombard victims with offensive messages abuse with the help of stories of soldiers who died in Afghanistan through facebook which resulted in some teenagers committing suicide” (Hough, 2010). Role of Facebook in causing revolutions in the Arab world “Facebook, which according to the Arab Social Media Report has a following of more than 21 million people in the Middle East (with 5 million in Egypt alone)” (David, 2011). The current political agitations and revolutions happening in the Arab world are labelled as facebook revolution by some external observers. They are citing the examples from Egypt and Libya to substantiate their claim. Kretkowski (2007) has pointed out that the open interaction encouraged among the users through Facebook is the major strength and weakness at the same time (Kretkowski 2007). Since it is not necessary to disclose the identity, anybody can send any types of messages through facebook. Westerners used this opportunity very well and they educated the people in Middle East that they are leading a life of slaves under their current regimes. “Social media alone did not facilitate the Arab Revolution, but was a successful catalyst when combined with myriad methods of digital and traditional media”(Hunter, 2011). It is a fact that only a few people in the Arab world have access to internet and social media. In Egypt, only less than 20% of the population have access to internet. However, the limited internet users in Arab countries spread the messages they received from social networks across their country so that even nonusers of internet and social media got inspirations for revolution. For example, “Facebook pages with times and dates of Cairo protests were printed out and disseminated by hand between Egyptians without Internet access” (Hunter, 2011). Digital media like facebook provided free expression opportunities unlike the traditional media. In fact the current agitations in the Arab world started from Tunisia when a young Tunisian committed suicide while protesting against the dictatorship in his country. The information about the sacrifice of that Tunisian spread across the Arab world through social networks like Facebook. In fact Facebook gave more colours to that incident in order to motivate the Arab people against their present totalitarian administrations. Many people though that the protests against this incident may not cross the boundaries of Tunisia. However, Facebook helped Arab world to realise the oppression they are currently facing. After the expulsion of Tunisian President Zine al-Abedine Ben Ali, the Facebook revolutions wave entered other stats in the Middle East. Egypt was the immediate beneficiary. Facebook revolution helped the downfall of Mubarak who dictated Egypt for many decades and looted its resources. When young Egyptian Khaled Said was beaten to death by police in June 2010, online activists began protest groups with Khaled as their "martyr" and online cause celebre. Facebook page "We are all Khaled Said", along with other activist groups such as the April 6 Movement, proved instrumental in the Egyptian uprising (Arab revolt: Social media and people’s revolution, 2011) Even though Egypt was successful in controlling internet media up to certain extent, it failed to control the spreading of messages through social networks. Egyptians used social networks and mobile phones extensively to spread the messages about the unlawful incidents happening in Egypt. Moreover, the contacts with the western world helped the Egyptians and other Arab countries to realise the necessities of a democratic regime for leading a peaceful life. Arab people surprised to see the freedom and liberties enjoyed by the people in the external world when they came in contact with the people in other countries facebook. In short, facebook helped Arab people to realise the depth of the problem they were facing. There are many facebook pages asking support for Arab revolution. All these facebook pages helped Arab revolution in one way or other. Conclusions Facebook like social networks have many advantages and disadvantages. Increased cross cultural communication is the major advantage of facebook. Enhancements in cross cultural communication through facebook like social networks helped Arab world to start agitations against their present totalitarian administrations. Tunisia, Egypt and Libya already succeeded in expelling their dictator leadership whereas in Syria, Bahrain etc, the agitations are on the verge of success. Lack of privacy and security are the major disadvantages of facebook. Moreover facebook addiction may cause health problems to the users. References 1. Arab revolt: Social media and people’s revolution, (2011). Channel 4 News. Friday 25 February 2011Retrieved from http://www.channel4.com/news/arab-revolt-social-media-and-the-peoples-revolution 2. David (2011). Twitter and Facebook in the Arab Revolution. Retrieved from http://www.onlinemediaworkshops.com/blog/twitter-and-facebook-arab-revolution 3. Harris, S. (2009), Security Issues of Social Network Sites, Retrieved from http://cisspblog.logicalsecurity.com/2009/02/16/security-issues-of-social-network-sites/ 4. Hough, A. (2010), Facebook vows new security measures to combat alarming trolling abuse trend, telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/7939721/Facebook-vows-new-security-measures-to-combat-alarming-trolling-abuse-trend.html, 5. Hunt T. (2009). The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business. Publisher: Crown Business (April 21, 2009) 6. Hunter E. (2011). The Arab revolution and social media. Retrieved from http://flipthemedia.com/index.php/2011/02/the-arab-revolution-and-social-media/ 7. Kretkowski, P.D. (2007), Social Network Security Hazards, Retrieved from http://www.itsecurity.com/features/social-network-security-hazards-072507/ 8. Kelleher, D. (2009). 5 Problems with Social Networking in the Workplace, Retrieved from http://www.information-management.com/specialreports/2009_165/social_networking_media-10016208-1.html 9. Shih C. (2009),The Facebook Era: Tapping Online Social Networks to Build Better Products, Reach New Audiences, and Sell More Stuff, Publisher: Prentice Hall; 1 edition (March 22, 2009) Read More