COM125 Wk 1

Week 2

We all know the social networking site - Facebook. And we all know how it took over sites like My Space and Friendster. But what really drives this need to be socially connected? Quoting from the Facebook movie, "The Social Network", are we all really just Farm Animals?

Facebook is so widespread and pervasive that, quoting, “Bosnia. They don't have roads, but they have Facebook”. It is also interesting that the most popular social networking site was created by a (as the movie depicted) socially inept drunk teenager. The beginnings of Facebook was Facemash and operated on the basis of Facebook was the same old college scheme which was to ‘hook up’. It strucks me how recent Facebook was created and we are experiencing firsthand the changes and effects of this new ‘technology’ that has entirely changed the way we view our world, Marshall McLuhan’s Global Village (A communication theory in COM101).

The question that bothers me is the purpose of Facebook (or twitter); other than for sharing information and ‘keeping in touch’, I believe, lies a desperate need for acceptance and identity. We find out who people are even before we meet them personally. We put selected parts or all our lives up online to create interest in others or be ‘liked’. We are now our own celebrities. We find comfort in strangers and in the phrase, ‘misery finds company’. I feel we are on the verge of decadence. However, I find myself unable to delete my Facebook, its almost mystical. Twitter is also another social networking arm, fantastic for business and hearing the first-hand news (including the latest breakups/gossips) but do you really want your conversation broadcasted to the world? But then again, who really wants to listen to you.

As the old saying goes, careful what you upload. Privacy laws are already being fought. Ryan giggs found himself in a hot mess on Twitter. Can anything really be private?