Do you think we can get Facebook to pay us to update our status?
I don’t own a Facebook (FB) account but there are at least two accounts out there with my name on it. My full name, the one I use for official purposes and not the Christian name everyone else knows me by. They were created by frustrated friends who have tried time and time again to get me to log in so they could stop doing my dirty work for me. These friends meticulously tag and reply messages in my name and they do this pretty damn well only because they know me like the back of their hands. I’m not bothered, not much (only when I get emails from FB asking me to authenticate my account with my phone number, that’s where I draw the line of TOO PERSONAL) because nobody I really care about is on FB and even if they are, we are connected via other mediums that I check daily. Sometimes I think FB is like a high school popularity contest except a lot more dangerous because the Internet is technically, free for all and as much as you censor and moderate, there are things that will always slip through back doors and loop holes. Identity theft, defamation (libel) and many others.
And in this case, technology can be more of a bane than a boon. As easily as FB accounts are created, they can be hacked and manipulated for criminal activities. Who is to know that your best friend poking you on FB is really your best friend? Because the Internet is so liberal and difficult to police, it is not uncommon to hear of scams on FB (the SMH article’s comments are quite telling. There is a genuine issue of security and public anxiety).
We’ve also seen the power of social media (i.e. Twitter, FB) in our lives – getting rogue companies to respond to problems, better customer service, citizen journalism, transparency and a collective hive mind mentality. But FB bites the hand that feeds it in this case where the power of social media causes you to lose your job because your boss found out about your private comments on a public space (I really like the Telegraph’s layout. After the headline, there is a useful insert detailing the entire story in bullets and usually it’s gives you the skeleton of the story in 5 points, leaving you either curious or searching for the ‘x’ button). Many employers also use FB to track down potential interviewees long before they get their 5 minutes on the hot spot and unless you lock up everything or censor everything you say, employers can judge your professional ability through that very personal space that you consider private. The results are not always accurate and you could be a completely competent person but your friend’s comment about you getting drunk the night before the interview says something else altogether. In the digital age, your FB profile is as good as a first impression (because we all are guilty for judging people by their friends when we have inadequate information and like the article says,
On social networks, information about you isn’t only about you.
As much as it has flaws, FB’s strengths are not to be taken lightly. With Web 2.0 and a constantly advancing technology, FB has served as a hotspot for people looking for other people. And with the concept of six degree separation, FB is perfect for social networking, keeping up with long distance relationships, checking up on enemies and reuniting old flames (loving Times.com’s use of anecdotes and related links that aren’t intrusive to the flow of writing). While some creative users take it a step further by making use of this collective global conscious as a resource to write a novel. But even if you don’t use FB for any constructive prupose, it’s always good to keep one because FB surprises us with an unexpected ability – closure. FB can help loved ones of the dead find comfort in their FB friends (very informative story, packed with useful links for better understanding).
There are always two sides to a coin, the only difference is what we use the coin for. FB, twitter, what’s next? IDK but have something to laugh at, check out Obama’s FB feed. Current news, social satire, parody and more.
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Tags: abcnews.go.com, facebook, media, microblogging, news, slate.com, sydneymorningherald, thetelegraph, time.com, twitter
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