The Advantages and Disadvantages of Facebook - Essay Example

and Section # of Introduction: Facebook is famously known as one of the most popular social networking sites of all time. Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004 and has become a phenomena ever since. Facebook today has more than 300 million active user and according to a survey, around 50% of them log onto Facebook on a daily basis. One of the plus points about Facebook is that it is easy to use and is also a popular platform when it comes to sharing photographs or other announcements. There are over 2 million pictures uploads and 14 million video uploads per month. Apart from that, Facebook mobile has also become extremely popular with over 65 million active users on Facebook mobile. But like everything else, Facebook has its advantages and disadvantages. Facebook is social software which is the reason why people, especially high school and university students, are attracted to it. These students have found a way to interact and communicate with each other explicitly. They talk to each other about things which are concerned with their lives, university and interests etc. Advantages: Advertisement on Facebook: Facebook is a great medium of advertising online. It is an well-organized and effective means of publicity and promotion since it doesn’t cost much and gets to the entire world. Any business would want to reach out and advertise its products to such a large number o people. These advertisements open up a lot of opportunities and possibilities for businesses without costing much. Social Networking: Social networking sites like Facebook are very helpful when it comes to tracking down lost friends and relatives. Apart from that, it also entertains certain groups and causes which allow many people to come together with common love and interests helping them in breaking the border barrier and become friends with each other. Clients as well as users can make these groups and pages and create discussion topics. Beneficial for young entrepreneurs: Facebook has also allowed young entrepreneurs to advertise and start their businesses online. It is almost like opening up a website for products only much easier and convenient. By taking orders online on Facebook, it has helped these student entrepreneurs to run their businesses with efficiency. Image sharing: Photo sharing is one of Facebook’s supreme strengths; this feature of sharing photos with friends came out as a great advantage to Facebook as well as its users. Its is a very easy process and can be done through Facebook mobile as well. The Facebook user can sort it into albums and restrict the view to whoever they want to, making privacy of those photos possible. This was one of the reasons why Facebook gained its popularity over sites like Orkut. This feature also allows users and friends to comment on photos and start conversations. Sharing of ideas and practices: However, one of the main advantages that Facebook has is the fact that people can share their thoughts to their friends, family and public online. It was because of Facebook that the Egyptian protest turned into a revolution. It started off by a simple status update by a woman and later it turned into a popular uprising of people demanding their president to step off. The platform of Facebook allowed them to share ideas and thoughts amongst each other which later helped them in toppling their own government which they disliked. Disadvantages: Researchers from the University of Guelph found out that people who use Facebook have an increased level jealousy in them, especially amongst couples. Lovers usually get jealous and suspicious when their partners talk to other people and get addicted to the site. One very important concern regarding Facebook is the health issue that comes with it. Staring at a computer screen for hours only ends up weakening the eye sight. The only way Facebook can be accessible is either through a computer of through e mobile phone and hence, if you stare at a screen too much then the eye sight will only get more worse than it was before. Another health issue that is associated with Facebook is the rise in the number of children who suffer from rickets according to an article in the British Medical Journal. Rickets is a disease which is caused by a chronic deficiency in Vitamin D. This Vitamin D can only be gained from natural sunlight and according to researchers, since children sit for long periods in front of their computer screens; it deprives them of natural sunlight and hence ends up making them sick. When they get addicted to Facebook, they also start to miss out on all the fun that can be achieved from playing outdoors. Too much of Facebook usage also deprives the user of spending time with family and friends physically. Instead of talking and interacting with friends and family face to face, people resort to talking to them online on Facebook. This makes an individual less confident and anti-social and hence leading to a social anxiety disorder. This sort of a disorder can end up leading a person into deep depression since they will be spending less time with real live people. This is said to be one of the biggest disadvantage of Facebook. A very annoying disadvantage of Facebook is that it has too many applications which can turn out to be useless after first use. A lot of time is also wasted on ignoring request from people regarding games and applications that are of no use to the user. There is another feature of public viewing of wall post and pictures which raises a very important disadvantage of Facebook i.e. the privacy settings. The Facebook privacy settings have gone through many changes ever since its birth but even now it is a matter of great concern for many users. The fact that hiring companies, police and universities have access to personal information makes many users question the authenticity of the privacy settings set by Facebook. Many users also end up deactivating their Facebook accounts because they feel that their data and information is not safe. On Facebook, there is always a chance of important information to get into the wrong hands. Just recently, hackers hacked into Facebook and started posting videos with explicit content on people’s profiles. They also gained access to personal and private photos of the founder of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg and posted them online. That problem is solved now but many users are now thinking whether their own personal data is safe or not. Another insignificant but important disadvantage is the fact that users start feeling unattractive and hence they stop uploading photos online. Inferiority complex about looking ugly and fat ends up depressing them and hence they start avoiding taking or uploading pictures. Conclusion: The advantages of Facebook definitely outdo the disadvantages. But again, it is up to the person to decide whether something is good or bad for them. Many people call Facebook as a “waste of time” whereas on the other hand it lets people to study from each other and create new relationships that may last a long time. This phenomenon of Facebook can also be seen as an “online drug” because of its addictive nature. It can also be considered as a good and entertaining past time which allows us to interact with each other and exchange ideas and thoughts. The reason why Facebook succeeded to such an extent was because of the advantages that it had to offer over other social networking sites. But everyone has a different opinion and a take to Facebook and so they either use it to their own benefit or they don’t. It is entirely up to them to decide. Works Cited Smith, C. “Egypt’s Facebook revolution: Wael Ghonim Thanks the social Network.” Huffington Post. (5th December, 2011) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/11/egypt-facebook-revolution-wael-ghonim_n_822078.html Sengupta, S. “F.T.C settles privacy issues at Facebook.” The New York Times. (29th November, 2011) http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/30/technology/facebook-agrees-to-ftc-settlement-on-privacy.html Social Times/Summers, A. “A teen speaks: The pros and cons of Facebook.” Date accessed: 9th December 2011 http://socialtimes.com/a-teen-speaks-the-pros-and-cons-of-facebook_b58642 Tech Crunch/Schonfeld, E. “The pros and cons of Faceboon comments.” Date accessed: 9th December, 2011 http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/01/pros-cons-facebook-comments/ Read More