Loving and hating Facebook
The popularity of Facebook™ has skyrocketed since its launch in February 2004. As of July 2010, the social networking behemoth had more than 500 million active users. People use the media platform to connect with old classmates, current friends and coworkers and to "like" businesses, artists and authors they admire. Users can also message one another, post details about their lives on their walls and the walls of others, as well as purchase ads and create entire e-commerce businesses using Facebook small-business tools.
The case for hating Facebook
The Internet abounds with the reasons people say they hate Facebook. Some people dislike the social networking service due to ads and privacy violations, but others insist it goes deeper. Some users who once loved the site, or currently have a love-hate relationship with it, say they despise the constant and unnecessary updates to friends' emotional statuses or the crush of emotions that occurs when an ex- changes his or her relationship status. These rather shallow reasons barely scratch the surface.
A false sense of social connection
People may feel like they're truly connected while spending hours exchanging messages with their 200+ Facebook friends, but are they really? When people use Facebook to stay on top of their friends' activities online, whom they regularly interact with in other ways, Facebook may affect these relationships positively. But the virtual relationships created and built on Facebook may not stand the test of an in-person meeting.
An effective, yet sneaky time waster
People tend to get on Facebook during an office lunch break or between classes, planning to disconnect when the break is over or before the next class starts. However, users get caught up in the snippet messaging and status updating, relinquishing what could have been a productive day for largely non-productive cyber connecting.
Insidious career-crushing powers
People regularly post comments and status updates that, while innocuous in their personal lives, may push their professional lives down the road to perdition. Political rants, compromising photos and bitter soliloquies about a past employer can all come up in a search performed by a current or potential employer.
The Facebook social media platform is friendly across a wide variety of generations. People of all experiences, social conditions and eras have found their way to Facebook. This bothers some, but others just let Grandma and Aunt Sybil read all the dirty laundry.
The case for loving Facebook
Face it. The networking site has got to have something to love with hundreds of million of active users. Some of the very things people hate about Facebook can also, under certain circumstances, become reasons to love it. The time-wasting effect of Facebook might make life more bearable between jobs, semesters or boyfriends.
Business
With 500 million users, Facebook is good for business. Small businesses can use the power of social networking to build brand awareness and stay connected to their target market. Traditional methods of marketing products usually eclipse the budget of small-business owners.
Live chat
The live chat feature allows friends to chat as they would using any other chat platform, but with more control. Chatters can still view status messages from other friends while only connecting with some.
Family matters
Modern families are spread all over the U.S. and the world. Facebook provides a virtually cost-free vehicle to connect with family members, both near and far. Cousin Lee is in New Zealand? Brother Andrew went on a college trip to Hungary that turned permanent? Connect through Facebook and keep the family together.
Photos
A picture truly is worth a thousand words (or status updates). Pictures can make people laugh, cry or feel nearly any other human emotion. Seeing old photos of elementary schoolmates or high school sweethearts stirs up nostalgia and fond memories.
Facebook is a trademark of Facebook Inc.
