Facebook - The Social Network

by Craig on Nov.21, 2010,under Leisure, Technology

Who hasn't heard of Facebook? How many of you are on Facebook?

Facebook is not the first or only web site whose purpose is to connect people. There is MySpace, Friendster, Plurk, Twitter, Wretch (popular in Taiwan) and many others. Facebook, however, is definitely the largest and hottest at the moment.

You could argue that Facebook is currently the most successful site on the Internet, with over 500,000,000 members.  Last week in the US,  almost 25% of all Internet page views were on Facebook, compared with only 6% of page-views for YouTube and 5% for Google.

Last weekend, Josh and I went to see  "The Social Network", the movie about Mark Zuckerberg and the creation of Facebook. It was a very good movie and a very interesting look into the history of Facebook. I am not going to try to write in detail about the movie, Facebook or Mark Zuckerberg because there are many other sites that can do a better job, but there are a couple thoughts I would like to share.

What is a social network? Basically, it is your group of friends, family, classmates, colleagues or the people with whom you are somehow connected. Social networking sites like Facebook are connecting them all together with each other.

The question is, is that really a good idea?

Do you really want your co-workers, even your boss, to know who all your friends are and what they are doing? Do you want your contact information to be shared by everyone in your social network to everyone in their social networks? Are you sure they want you to share their information with your friends?

Use caution and consider your privacy and the privacy of your friends before you share information.

I have different social groups in my life who are not very similar to each other. They have nothing in common with each other besides knowing me, therefore they may have no interest connecting to each other online. They also might not want me to give out their e-mail information to strangers, which will then likely lead to them getting all kinds of messages and notifications about things they don't care about. Additionally, it might not be appropriate to share things that your friends or you do in your private lives with your family or colleagues.

Take a look through the following presentation called "The Real Life Social Network" for an example of how awkward that might be. (You only need to look at the first 15 slides to get my point.)

The Real Life Social Network v2
Social networking sites like Facebook are so popular, other companies are trying to copy them. For example, recently MSN turned Windows Live Messenger into a social networking service. Unless you go to your profile and make your contact list private, everyone in the world can see who is on your MSN contact list. Every time you connect to someone new, that information is also available to everyone else on your list unless you change your settings. Maybe that matters to you, or maybe it doesn't, but you should think about it. You should also think about whether the people on your contact list want their information shared with others.
One last thing to think about when posting on social networking sites is that whatever you put there becomes that web site's property. They can use it and sell it to companies who are looking for ways to advertise their products. Facebook can use pictures you post in their own advertisements. This may not be important to you, but it is worth considering.
You might think it's ironic for me to write about privacy when I write about myself on this blog, which is available for anyone in the world to see, or that I also have links on it for people to share my blog on their social networking accounts such as Facebook.  I understand, though, that what I write here is not private and I do not share other people's contact information without their permission (at least I don't think I have....). Finally, I do not collect or sell any information about people who visit my site.
Although social networking sites are not for me, I do understand and respect that they are fun and interesting for others, and I do invite you to add my blog and my posts to your Facebook page. But, I also encourage you to consider your own privacy and that of your friends when you do share things.

 

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2 comments

Comment from: Shane [Visitor]
Shaneya
maybe friends of mine aren't so much like that, so i don't have that problem now.

fackbook is great
but the way to talk face to face is the most important
everyone should know it ha.
11/28/10 @ 22:01
Comment from: sophia lee [Visitor]
sophia leeFacebook has become a new social network we have to build and carefully manage. After reading this, I think we would have very interesting discussion in the class tomorrow night.
11/29/10 @ 22:48