Facebook

FACEBOOK

[|What Is Facebook]

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Is technology hindering people or is it strongly benefiting the lives of people? Everywhere people turn there is something new coming out or some sort of new technological advance. People flock to stores or wherever they can to purchase this new form of technology that they feel will better impact their lives. Questions have been raised about the social impact of widespread use of social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and Twitter. Do these technologies isolate people and truncate their relationships? Or are there benefits associated with being connected to others in this way? A **social networking service** is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, who, for example, share interests and/or activities. A social network service consists of a representation of each user (often a profile), his/her social links, and a variety of additional services. Most social network services are web-based and provide means for users to interact over the Internet, such as e-mail and instant messaging. Online community services are sometimes considered as a social network service, though in a broader sense, social network service usually means an individual-centered service whereas online community services are group-centered. Social networking sites allow users to share ideas, activities, events, and interests within their individual networks. Facebook allows people to stay connected and join in events and meet others to reconnect with from their past. Activities can get planned, and people can choose to accept or decline so as to inform others of their presence. There are so many uses for facebook, and many people all over the world are on this site. Facebook, like much of the Internet, is a great innovation! It offers you an opportunity to interact with an extraordinarily expansive universe of new people. You can sculpt your on-line identity and learn more about how the Internet and its various programs work to create new relationships and communities. For the entrepreneurially minded, it might be an introduction into business as you think of how to "market" yourself. Individuals with particular social identities or hobbies, say as a Christian gay person or someone who likes a narrow range of military on-line games, can use it to find friends with common interests. Facebook is a cool tool. People make the technology, not only in the fundamental sense of discovery and invention, but also in the sense that they make it happen and that they contour it in ways that reflect our basic humanity. Our basic humanity is for better or for worse, however. It is vulnerable to context, circumstance and interpretation. And so it is important to remember that Facebook is malleable and creates as many obligations as it does opportunities for expression. Some positives and negatives go along with facebook. As I mentioned earlier, people can reconnect and get re-united with others. There are now also relationship sites that go along with facebook. People can find jobs or sell things on here, with others quickly able to see and respond. Sometimes, however; people put inappropriate things on facebook that may later hinder their chances at getting a certain job in the professional world. Also, it may be a negative social aspect of some peoples’ lives. People may get consumed by facebook and be so wrapped up in it, forgetting that there is a world outside of it. Catching: “Caching, in effect, means that if you post something on Facebook, let's say for a day or two, just to be funny or to make a point, even if you take it down or change it, it remains accessible to the rest of the world on the Internet anyway.” People should be careful about what they put out for the world to see. Things posted can significantly change someone’s life and not necessarily for the better. Facebook should not be the center of someone’s life, nor should it define them as a person. Facebook, along with much of the Internet, is a great innovation that allows users to express their humanity and an opportunity to create new communities. As such it represents a forum in which one can make choices about their identity, at least insofar as one chooses to represent themselves publicly. That freedom does not suggest that one can do so with impunity, however. Because we live in a society in which expression is judged in legal, policy and even personal ways, it is important to remember the consequences of that expression no matter how ephemeral or fun in the moment it might seem to be. Facebook is constantly changing, and usually there is a newer version set up, or things are loaded differently on a person’s page. There are games that can be played with others while online. They can become competitive, and a fun way to spend someone’s time. A new aspect of facebook is the timeline...

Facebook Timeline

The timeline is a new feature that facebook has just come out with. Many people are still getting the "feel' for it, and seeing if it's something they would like to use. One is able to preview their timeline, and they have seven days to make changes before others can view their timeline. This allows you to make changes the way you want, and to make it just how you desire. Once you have started a timeline, it highlights some of the top stories and photos. You are able to easily highlight things to decide what you want to keep or save. You are also able to control who sees your posts. I think this new way for facebook will start to catch on and be highly successful. Technology is constantly changing everywhere one turns, and things tend to "catch on" pretty quickly.

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