Are You On Facebook?

Are You on Facebook?

First there were telephones, cell phones, caller ID, cordless phones, pagers, two-way pagers, flip phones, palms/Blackberrys, plasma TVs, YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, now Twitter. As you can see, the ways of communication have changed. We spend more time texting and Facebooking than we do talking. Everything can be done on what we call the "world wide web". You can upload pictures and videos, you can instant message, you can email, and you can tell us every move you make through Twitter.

Seeing that things have changed and will continue to change; why is it so hard for us to accept the change and move forward? I didn't say you had to participate in the change, but don't condemn those who decide to participate.

I pick up my BlackBerry after a long needed nap, and the first thing I do is check my Facebook page. Amazingly when I bought my BlackBerry, while probing the menu I noticed the icon "Social Networking"; I clicked on it seeing Facebook as one of the icons.

Not hearing about Facebook, until about two years ago, I was surprised to know that it had been around since 2006. Currently a user on MySpace, I rarely visited the site after joining Facebook. 

I find myself logging on to Facebook through my BlackBerry at least every hour. Although I only talk to a few of my friends on Facebook, few meaning about ten, I have over three-hundred.

A supporter of this social network, I hear a lot of negativism about Facebook. Mostly from those who are the "baby boomers" and those who are older. They feel that Facebook is ridiculous and don't understand how so many have gravitated to the network only to exploit their personal business. In the article, "How Facebook is taking over our lives," writer Jessi Hempel says, The college and post-college crowd the site originally aimed to serve (18- to 24-year-olds) now makes up less than a quarter of users. More of the "baby boomers" are becoming members of Facebook. Jessi Hempel says, it's just that Facebook has finally started to make their busy lives a little more productive – and a lot more fun.

I have had many debates with my parents in regards to how we (I) share too much of my personal business and how this is dangerous and harmful to me. My mother has a Facebook page, but will not upload a picture of herself and rarely gets on. She is what I would call "uneducated" when it comes to using Facebook, so she avoids it at all cost. 

Reaching 500 million members, Facebook has become the norm among Americans. In the article, "Facebook Tops 500 Million Users," writer Jenna Wortham says, Facebook's popularity has also spurred competition from the likes of Google, which views the billions of links and hours spent on the site each month as a threat to its business. No longer being asked for your cell number, you can expect to hear, "Are you on Facebook?" In the article, "You Have No Friends Everyone else is on Facebook. Why aren't you?," by Farhad Manjoo, the site has crossed a threshold – it is now so widely trafficked that it's vastly becoming a routine aid to social interaction, like e-mail and antiperspirant.

So the question still remains - why should you join? Facebook, now considered the fastest growing social network, don't be surprised if asked, "Are you on Facebook?"