Facebook For The Masses!

22 year old Mark with his ingenious site
(Picture sourced from www.customizedfacebook.com)

Facebook. A name or rather brand synonymous with the uprise in social networking sites working its way into the lives of students worldwide. Starting off with Friendster, famous particularly in the Asian region, Facebook, founded by Mark Zuckerberg soon worked its way up the pecking order in terms of usability, user-friendliness, and applicability.

This article by Nancy Hass of the New York Times underlines the allure Facebook has on today’s generation, particularly those in Colleges and University. It tells of how Kyle Stoneman, a senior at George Washington University and his online buddies devised a ‘mock’ beer party in a retaliation for an earlier apprehension. How Stoneman managed to persuade 40 students to even turn up is due largely to the vast influence and pace information is shared across the online terrain. Walsh (2006) explains it as the interpretation of new meanings and responses by online users whether through words or images. Hass ends the article with a subtle warning on the tenuous harm it may pose on students who without intent may just invite the unwanted attention of cyberstalking.

According to Philips, Facebook has since reach 30 million registered users. Other than generating a wealth of income for the team, Facebook find themselves too embroiled in a controversy that has cast a poor light on its ability to administrate and gauge the extend of the power of themselves. The recent London Underground Protest is a prime example of the after effects where Alexandre Graham, a 26 year old banker organised a seemingly ‘small’ protest before London Mayor Boris Johnson's ban on alcohol on public transport came into force. What Mr.Graham didn’t anticipate is the degenating of the crowd that stayed on till late partying, fighting, getting sick and generally creating havoc that would cause the tax payers dearly in cleaning up costs.

Alexandre Graham and his infamous binge drinking
(Picture Sourced from www.dailymail.co.uk)

I myself have a Facebook account and I personally feel that it’s a great way for friends, university ones especially, to keep up with each other. To be honest, it can get addictive. This goes in hand with what Schriver (1997) says where text and images complement each other so as to catch teh audience's attention and understanding. I have friends who are able to keep in touch with their overseas friends just with a simple click of the mouse. And with the ability to add in applications of your choice for example scrabble, bookshelf, music shelf, Facebook is taking interactivity to a whole new level of experience.

It is simply the case where it is a medium for the users to hold the right to rebel with a cause and to create niche for them in this self contained world. The recent News feed issue where a long line of protests lined up over the issue of invasion of privacy. Groups within Facebook like “Students Against Facebook News Feed (Official Petition to Facebook)” are just one way students are using Facebook, against Facebook. Ironic isn’t it?

With Facebook opening up its doors to anyone who owns an email, there have been debates regarding the distinction and original vision of Facebook to reach out to University students. Zuckerberg pointed out that this site is founded on the goal that undergraduates are able to use Facebook even in the working world. Quite an achievement for a site that was purchased for $200,000

Reference List:

1) Facebook: Opening The Doors Wider, Business Week, Viewed on 11 June 2008 at http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/sep2006/tc20060912_682123.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_technology

2) Facebook Tube Party That Ended In Drunken Riot Was Organised By City Banker, Viewed on 10 June 2008 at
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1023417/Revealed-Tube-binge-drinking-party-organised-City-banker.html

3) Inside The Backlash Against Facebook, Time Online, Viewed on 10 June 2008 at http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1532225,00.html

4) In You Facebook.Com, New York Times, Viewed on 10 June 2008 at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/08/education/edlife/facebooks.html

5) Schriver, KA 1997, 'Dynamics in Document Design: Creating Text For Readers', Wiley Computer Publisher, New York

6) The Guardian, Viewed on 11 june 2008 at http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/jul/25/media.newmedia

7) Walsh, M 2006, 'Textual Shifts: Examining The Reading Process With Print, Visual and Multimodal Text', Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, vol. 29, no. 1, p. 24-37