Socialising,
the cyber way.
Facebook
and its world
It
is hard to imagine a world in which there were no Facebook friends, where you
did not have a social network that constantly updated you on their status, but
it was there less than a decade ago. Facebook which turned eight on Monday, is
the most used social networking service worldwide. Though there are many other
such sites, the two that preceded Facebook – Friendster and Myspace – still
have a respectableillion, number of
users. Other challengers include Orkut and Google Plus, but Facebook is the
king of the social networking world that enable millions of people to transcend
their geographical limitations and connect with the world of their friends.
And
yes, these friends are real persons, even if you don’t know some of them
physically. With a valuation of over $1 billion, Facebook is the hottest
Internet property right now, even though the company admits that it has not
quite mastered a way to make money out of over 845 million users worldwide, a
majority of them women.
An
extension of the real world, flaws and biases included, Facebook faces many
challenges as it navigates the interface of its transcontinental cyber world
with the rules and demands of nation states and their people. As it celebrates
its eighth birthday, Facebook has shown maturity in dealing with the pet peeves
of its detractors, offensive content, addiction and privacy concerns. Human
interaction is real for their users. People all over the world express
themselves through them, sometimes offensively, far too often in a positive
manner. Sometimes, they misuse the sites for nefarious activities. This is to
be expected.
Human
interaction will remain what it is, even as the way people communicate with
each other changes with technology. Facebook and its sister sites have had a
massive impact on our world, and even as we move from PC to mobile access, they
are showing how necessary it is to remain connected with those who we care
about, even if we can’t write to them or call them.
Source: Editorial in The Tribune, Jalandhar
dated February 7, 2012.
