Saturday, August 20, 2011

Positives/Advantages of Facebook.


Positives/Advantages of Facebook.



Since it’s inception in 2004, Facebook has become the preferred networking site for millions around the globe, as is evident by its recent ranking as the most visited website in the world.
As far as technological advances and barriers go, the conception of Facebook is truly second to none, and it is clearly seen as a force of everyday life now, as an everyday part of our culture - as a permanent part of our Popular Culture.
There are many advantages/positives that Facebook brings to our lives. For the scope of this paper and discussion we will identify and discuss four key advantages/positives of Facebook.
1.     Facebook makes it easy and accessible to find people and join groups with similar interest and dislikes -
·       At the College Level.
·       At a Hobby Level.
·       At a Dating level.
·       And even as part of a larger movement such as the Egyptian Revolution.
What we see as evident in the above examples is that Facebook can serve as a social network for the micro factors of life such as meeting new friends or keeping in touch with old ones while it also serves as a tool for organizing larger revolutions (macro factors) such as the recent Egyptian Revolution.
2.     Facebook has affiliations with more than 2500 colleges around the world.
·       They are even in the process of developing networks that will link over 5000 middle and high schools worldwide.
One of the most effective ways to increase worldwide production and efficiently is through means of education. Facebook has really made a conscious decision to try and link all the higher means of education together worldwide in order to provide more access to students in regards to education. This is even more so helpful in lower developed countries such as India, Brazil, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.
3.     Facebook is also being used to meet business contacts and for networking purposes.
·       At last check by Wikipedia.com, over 10,000 businesses has Facebook pages in order to promote their businesses. 
o   Food trucks are an example of a business that has really flourished due to social networking.
This is great tool for big business and small business alike and is truly the new wave of doing business and making contacts in today’s culture. Big businesses employ people specifically as Facebook web managers and liaisons, whereas it also serves all the small businesses, especially the Mom and Pop type store to advertise their business - without expensive costs - and receive feedback by their consumers.
4.     It has even served and continues to be used as a great tool in the college and even pro sports industry.
·       College are now scouting and learning about players via Facebook.
·       Pro scouts are able to have a greater database of local and international players.
Moreover in this economy, when budgets are tight and expenses are of the utmost concern, teams and players are able to contact, “try-out” and essentially interview for a job or position electronically via social networking instead of the more traditional and expensive way of face to face meetings.
As illustrated through examples and discussions above, those are just four of the many advantages the inception and use of Facebook has given to social network users all over the world. As we continue to grow as a globalized worldwide economy, Facebook is only going to open more doors for innovation and networking.
Facebook is also a further example of a grass roots movement that started as a culture from below, but over time, has flourished and  made headways into the economy and culture, and thus now can be viewed as a culture from above. It illustrates how something can transition from a grass roots movement to a worldwide movement and how it’s perception of culture changes with its popularity.
We can also see a see a separation of class between Facebook users and those who do not. At some level, it is also a separation of class between the users of the world and the nations and countries of the world that are technologically efficient and those that are not. Facebook today has over 800 million active users from all parts of the world, with almost every country in the world represented in some form or another in the form of registered users.
We can further see the use of Saussure and his theory of signs, via the usage of the name “Facebook” and its image, symbol and sign too. The Facebook logo has become a worldwide brand where people now can recognize it just by shape and colors alone. We can also see that “Facebook” has gone through some names changes and logo changes in order to become more commercial friendly and worldwide recognized.
In finality, I would also like to discuss how Facebook has transcended the boundaries of capitalism and is in essence creating a brand new market in terms of capitalization and market share. Facebook is one of the most successful companies in the world, yet they do not sell a single tangible product. In past years, we see all the big companies used to actually create a product which they sold in the free market to make a profit, for e.g. Apple sells Iphones, Ipods – Exxon sells Gas – Toyota sells cars – Sony sells electronics. Facebook is one of the first and only companies that actually lets users get access to its product for free, and instead charges it’s advertisers as a means of making revenue and profit.
Facebook is a genuine and permanent part of Popular Culture in the 21st century.






Works Cited:

Barker, Chris. Cultural Studies Theory and Practice, Chapter 1, 2, 10, 11: Marx, Saussure, Digital Media and Culture. Sage, 2008.

“Facebook.” Wikipedia.com. 19 August 2011.

Rivkin, Julie and Michael Ryan. Literary Theory: An Anthology. Malden: Blackwell, 1998.

Social Network. David Fincher. Jesse Eisenberg. Columbia Pictures. 2010.







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