How awesome would it be if we could keep in contact with old friends and make new ones? We could upload pictures and put statuses about what we are doing, what we are thinking, and who we are with! Well we can. It’s called Social Media. It’s wide known in our society. “Social Media is a technological web-based program, services, and tools.” (Kelly) In this day of age Facebook is a very large and common social media web-site that is frequently used. It has some pros and some cons. Sometimes good ideas can transform into a bad habit. Many believe Facebook is slowly turning into a burden that’s slowly taking over people’s lives.
Facebook has been around since 2004, but it was actually invented in 2003. A group of four, from Harvard had come up with this idea as a project in school. They named it “Facemash.” This site would allow them to compare students’ physical features by their student ID pictures. However, they then ran into some trouble and were facing charges. Once the charges were dropped the boys then came up with the idea “TheFacebook.” In 2004, the name was changed to “Facebook.” (Bellis).
Originally Facebook was only designed for Harvard students. “It was created as an online version of new student directory.” (Kelly) After a month Facebook just kept growing; by 2006 anyone over the age 13 could obtain a profile. Now it is the largest used social media site. Facebook is huge! There are a lot of people who have accounts. Statistics say that “there are around 1.5 billion accounts world-wide.” Statistics also say that “688 million accounts are logged on daily!” (Noyes) These are big numbers! Why do so many people log on to their accounts so much?
There are plenty of pros and cons to Facebook. Yes, the thought of it is a great idea. Facebook gives people the opportunity to stay in contact with friends and family no matter where they are located or even make new friends. Everyone can share pictures of friends and family with others. It also has games to play with the friends on their profile. These are just a few of the positives to Facebook but are totally weighed down with the negatives. Facebook is addictive. Anyone who frequently uses Facebook would say they go back and forth, looking through profiles also known as stalking profiles. They continuously scroll through the news feed even though they do not really care what it has to say. It is like a refrigerator when someone is bored, there is nothing there that was not there before but they just keep looking at it. Social Media is also very intruding. Without us even knowing we all put stuff that should not be told to just anyone. There is no line of privacy. We have our addresses, phone numbers, where we will be in the next hour or so. Facebook can be dangerous in many ways. Someone that a person does not know could come in contact with them outside of the web based world. They now know where a certain person lives and where they are going. Facebook is even dangerous to our futures.
In life, what do we all eventually do for a living? People have to work. Some go towards colleges and some go straight into the job force. Both paths are now being monitored by observing peoples Facebook profiles. For an example, someone applies to a college and as an adolescent they had bad pictures and a bad attitude about life, the college can now see that and possibly deny them an acceptance. Same thing goes for a job. The interviewer can now sees someone cutting down the last company and does not want a chance that bad talking of their company would be out there for others to see and hear; therefore the company denies them the job although they are the perfect match for the