Facebook has become a part of the daily lives of most people these days. That is because the technological marvel has allowed people to connect with each other and communicate in ways and means that seemed to only be a part of sci-fi movies 20 years ago.
These days, if one does not have a Facebook account, it is almost as if that person does not really exist. Facebook has become the bonding factor amongst family and friends these days, allowing us to stay in touch with each other even when we are separated by time and distance. This is supported by the research of Jay Leon (2011) in his article”The Advantages Of Having Your Own Facebook Account” where he explains that :
If you use Facebook, you are never really out of touch with people you know. Once you add a person as a friend on your account, you will know whenever there are updates, uploaded photos and other new information on his or her profile — unless your friend blocks you from seeing updates — through your news feed. You can contact one another anytime from any place in the world where you have access to the internet.
With over 5 million registered and active users on the social networking site Facebook’s official statistics page (20110 indicates that the site is fast proving to be the best tool for organizing activities and keeping in touch with each other be it in a personal, educational, or professional basis.
Educational institutions have also come around to realizing the advantages that having a Facebook account presents to their offices and student body. Take for example the use of Facebook Groups in order to disseminate information to relevant student participants whenever an activity arises.
Kate Wadas (2008) studied the possible reasons as to why a student organization or educational institution should have a Facebook account in her article “The Challenges and Advantages of Facebook”. It is her opinion that Facebook works best for these parties because:
Students can log-on at a time which is convenient for them and see what is new with the student organization, as opposed to filling their inboxes with multiple emails a day about announcements or schedule changes. Facebook can also be used to advertise events and other involvement opportunities.
Businesses have also learned to take advantage of the high traffic volume, the Facebook Statistics page (2011) indicates that the site users have at least 900 million objects in the form of group pages, communities, and events pages, to interact amongst themselves via their “friends list”. Within these pages are paid targeted advertisements related directly to the topic being discussed on the page and recommendations being offered as points of interest and discussion in a discreet manner by the advertisers themselves.
These paid advertisements have the advantage of clearly picking up on the interests of the user and offering them products and services that they will be sure to take an interest in and possibly, actually click on and use. When Kate Wadas (2008) first looked into the advantages of using Facebook as an advertising tool, she found the following information regarding the successful of Facebook advertising by the University of Maryland. To quote:
… One example of a successful advertisement was at the University of Maryland when the Community Service-Learning office recently had success posting advertisements for its spring break service trip applications and found that several students had heard about the opportunity through the Facebook announcements. These advertisements seem to be more cost efficient and effective than a traditional student newspaper ad since students log-on multiple times a day to check their Facebook accounts.
Students, businesses, and regular Joe’s will continue to find new ways and means to use Facebook as a positive communication tool. As such, advertisers will also continue to develop advertising schemes that will prove to be beneficial to both the advertisers and Facebook users in the long run. This is because the advertisers will be able to continuously study the habits of their users and therefore offer relevant services and information to their target audiences.
Facebook is not without its problems though. It is true that there are disadvantages to certain types of interactions on the social media network but these seem to be overshadowed by the positive and advantageous side of having and actually using a Facebook account.
The concern by professionals across the board regarding these negative aspects are within reason and because the company that runs the website has continuously worked towards improving the interactive experience on an ever heightening platform of safety, it is safe to say that Facebook will be ever evolving and developing their positive aspects as a social media tool.
Just like all previous technological advancements, there will be hiccups along the road for this social media giant, but these will not be so threatening that the system will fail and Facebook deemed to be a negative part of everyday life. On the contrary, these hiccups will show us that Facebook is truly an extension of our everyday, real-time lives. Facebook, as a social networking, advertising, information dissemination tool, is here to stay. It will continue to positively affect our daily interactions and improve our social relationships.
Just everything that have become a positive part of our daily lives from the past era, there will always be naysayers who will trumpet Facebook disadvantages, but they will never be loud enough to dispel the positive impact that Facebook has had on the lives of people in the 21st century.
References
“Facebook: Statistics”. facebook.com. facebook, 2011. Web.
Leon, Jay. ” The Advantages Of Having Your Own Facebook Account”. eHow. 2011. Web.
Wadas, Kate. “The Challenges and Advantages of Facebook”. Office of Information Technology: Project NETHICS. 2008. Web.