The Phenomenon called Facebook

Peter Ki *

One of the most ubiquitous phenomena online today is Facebook. If Google is to search engines, Facebook is to online social networking. According to Facebook's press release, more than 500 million people are active users, with 50% of them logging on to the site any given day. People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook.

C. Mahalingam of the Hindu writes that if Facebook were a country, it would be the world's fourth largest, between the US and Indonesia. More than 1 billion pictures are uploaded on Facebook every month. Believe it or not, court notices and summons sent through Facebook are legal and binding in Australia!

With the rise in popularity of Facebook, its founder Mark Zuckerberg has also come into sharp focus. A new movie "The Social Network", based on Zuckerberg, is drawing a lot of attention.

Unfortunately, his recent announcement of donating $100 million to the Newark (the largest city of New Jersey state of the US) school system is being viewed with scepticism. The timing of the donation that coincides with the release of the movie, they say, is to deflect attention from the unflattering portrayal of Facebook's creator.

Facebook is a reflection of the current trends in social activity especially among the youth. We are increasing turning in to ourselves, oblivious of those around us. Technological advancements in devices such as iPod and mobiles are getting us more and more connected to ourselves (and people at the other end of the line), and, in the process, shutting us out from those around us. Facebook does almost the same; it is keeping us hooked to the screen, whether at work or at home.

Hanging out, which used to involve real people, is today happening online. As we log on to Facebook, one of our first impulses is to check out how many of our friends are online. On seeing some familiar faces, we are set for hanging out—virtually, of course. Even when are out in the real world, the topic invariably veers towards what's happening online, on Facebook. In a sense, we are being overwhelmed by this virtual social network!

Facebook allows us to indulge in our narcissistic impulses: posting photos of events we attended, placed we visited; keying in thoughts that are going on in our minds at that point of time; attracting attention in one form or another; and showing off the number of friends we have online. Facebook's official statistics reveal that an average user has 130 friends.

This, while being quite reassuring, can also foster a false sense of camaraderie. Most of these friends are people we know nothing about in real life!

Trivialities are galore. A Facebook user myself, I have noticed that some of the most trivial "Wall Postings" elicit the most number of comments. Serious "Wall Postings" die out with only few follow-up comments.

Issues, real and imagined, get highlighted. It is true that some of the issues being discussed are of significance. But then again, the question is whether people who sign on to the issues online are really committed. Would they take action, if called to? The answer is "No". They must still be backed up by traditional methods of mobilisation.

Facebook is good for highlighting issues, but getting people to act must still involve other forms of mobilisation.

Information overload is a serious problem. Because of the huge volume of information trafficked, useful information gets buried under the hubris of trivialities. So, unless, we become more discerning, the chances of us being lost in the labyrinth of information exist.

These drawbacks notwithstanding, the phenomenon of Facebook cannot be ignored. The number of users will continue to grow. So, it is important that we act smart and remain vigilant as we engage with this revolutionary online social network. The temptation to divulge information (more than is necessary) about ourselves and others must be resisted at all cost.

We have no idea in whose hands they will fall into. Care should be taken while accepting links sent by friends (or in friends' names), for they could turn out to be malicious computer viruses. More importantly, hanging out on Facebook should not be a substitute for hanging out in real life with fellow human beings. Offline friendship trumps online friendship any day!