(The screen you seen when you log on to your life Facebook.)
I remember when I first made my Myspace page and it was the thing to have. It was a lot simpler then it first came out. You had control over who could post on your page, you only had one main picture on your page, and you felt more in control of your profile page. Of course to keep up with the trends I got a Facebook. It was my junior year of high school and as I started to look into different colleges our advisors warned us. “Facebook can ruin your future.” was the message that kept ringing in our ears over and over again. Maybe they just weren’t clear enough, the word “future” was taken to lightly and maybe should have said “Facebook can ruin your LIFE” and it may have been more appropriate. We all know the stories about a friend who didn’t get a job because of what an employer saw on her page or someone getting in trouble for a video they posted. It only becomes real when that “friend” is your best friend or even yourself. These social networks we where we spend hours a day procrastinate doing homework or other important things. Social networks have become a window into your life and a source of cyber bullying.
I’ll never forget junior year when my friend, lets call her Amanda for the sake of this story. Amanda was going on vacation for two weeks with her family and would be in the Caribbean, with out cell phone use or Internet access. Before heading to the airport that day she had changed her default picture, updated her status, and replied back to the comments from the day before. While she was off having a blast in the Caribbean having a carefree time, back home little did she know her Facebook page was being vandalized, for lack of better wording. Amanda and her boyfriend had recently broken up and she was definitely moving on quicker than he was. In a jealous frenzy, that is the only way I could remotely justify it, he had tagged her in humiliating pictures he had posted on his page and took the liberty to share with all his friends. For two weeks with no cell phone and/or Internet access Amanda page had become a free-for-all with everyone commenting and some defending her. Her initial excitement upon her arrival back to the states Amanda was excited to update her Facebook with pictures from the trip. When she began to receive all the missed text messages and calls from the past two weeks she knew something was wrong. Why was everyone asking her about her Facebook? What had been posted? Why was everyone freaking out? She couldn’t get to a computer fast enough.
The top left corner reads:
157 Notifications
25 Messages
8 Event Request
3 Friend Request
(OMG she had never seen so many)
When she clicked to view her page, she couldn’t believe her eyes. Chaos everywhere. With in 5 minutes everything was deleted, her entire Facebook page as well had been removed. Just when she thought it was over on Monday morning when she went to school she was called to the Principal’s office to “discuss the issues on Facebook” and the moment she heard those words she knew what was next to come would not be good.
Statistics on Social Networks
Did you know that.....
1. According to a study done by CNN, 43% of online news sharing occurs via social networks.
2. A study done by comScored comparing mobile content use between the U.S., Japan, and Europe 21% of the U.S. cell phone users wen ton a social network or blog via their mobile phone alone.
3. Facebook passes Yahoo to become the number #2 video site in the United States right after Youtube.
4. An alarming number of younger generation are on social networks, 54% of 13-14 year olds have a Facebook page.
5. The average 15-17 year old Internet user spends 19.9 hours a week online.
6. According to PC Advisor, as of September 2010, 60% of Web users visit social networks.
VS
VS
THESE NUMBERS ARE ALARMING.
The trend is so overwhelming there has even been a movie made about social networks:
No comments:
Post a Comment