The Facebook Phenomenon

By the year 2005, over eighty percent of households owned a computer in the United States and this outstanding number has only gone upward since then. It is very rare to find someone who does not know how to operate a computer in the twenty-first century. As a college student, I have seen technology’s importance in students, social lives. One of the biggest forms of social communication among our generation is Facebook. It has taken prestige over the once widely used Myspace. Although, both sites virtually have the same purpose (connect with friends, share pictures, and express interests) why is it that Facebook has become more popular?

In the beginning years and birth of Facebook, Facebook was only eligible to only Harvard college students. Then it expanded to Ivy League students. Soon after, it launched a high school version. Its final expansion, anyone over the age of 13 with a valid e-mail addresses. Although Facebook was safer than Myspace with more restrictions as to who could use it; has this phenomenon and caused Facebook to follow this same trend as more and more people are permitted to use it? If so, how safe are we?

I have used Facebook since my freshman year of high school. It became more and more popular within my school as the year went on. I believe that Facebook is a beneficial tool as it is safe and very efficient with connecting to people. One of the settings of Facebook, is you can decline and confirm a friend request and customize how much information is shared to certain people. If you do not know the person you can deny their request and they will not be able to access your information. If you accept a friend request because they are part of the same network as you ( your school) but don’t want them to see certain information of your pictures, you can control that too. All these privacy control settings lead me to believe that Facebook is a valid and safe social networking site. One just needs to be aware of who friends them and the information that they put out for everyone to see. Although this is the current state of Facebook, it is clear that Facebook keeps evolving and changing. Only time will tell how safe Facebook continues to be in the future.