Facebook

Facebook is a social networking site that connects you with your people in your area. Facebook is one benefit of technology and we have to be thankful for the people that made it possible. Today’s world relies on technology. According to D. Ziff (n.d, para.1), “Facebook is a social networking site founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg. It initially targeted Harvard students, but was later opened to other universities and then high schools. In 2006, Facebook allowed everyone to join and also added a News Feed feature that would broadcast changes in members' pages to all Facebook users identified in their personal network of friends. It turned Facebook into a personalized social news service.” Facebook made an unbelievable revolution in the market of platforms and what it offers customers. It is free, without charge and you can do whatever you want and avoid nudity pictures. According to D. Ziff (n.d, para.4), “In late 2007, Facebook introduced its Beacon social advertising program, which tracks Facebook users who visit the advertisers' sites. Ads are then targeted to the friends of these users indicating that their friend has taken some action such as purchasing a product, renting a video or signing up for a service. The system was launched as an opt-out service in the beginning, causing enormous controversy. It was later changed to opt-in’’. I personnaly believe that Facebook is getting more attention from media like other networks site. It is actually more popular that others because many students and people use Facebook for chatting, saving money and keep in touch with their friends. Others log on to find a date. Facebook is really helping people to do extraordinary things.In facts, Facebook is still in use today and many people love what they offer as services. Facebook should be more efficient, it should address privacy problem and education.

When we look at the Facebook background, the history that he came up with the success of that site is very impressive. In “The Facebook - The Complete Biography” by Siv. Yadav (2006, para 3), “Originally called thefacebook, Facebook was founded by former-Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg (while at Harvard) who ran it as one of his hobby projects with some financial help from Eduardo Saverin. Within months, Facebook and its core idea spread across the dorm rooms of Harvard where it was very well received. Soon enough, it was extended to Stanford and Yale where, like Harvard, it was widely endorsed. Before he knew it, Mark Zuckerberg was joined by two other fellow Harvard-students - Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes - to help him grow the site to the next level. Only months later when it was officially a national student network phenomenon, Zuckerberg and Moskovitz dropped out of Harvard to pursue their dreams and run Facebook full time. In August 2005, thefacebook was officially called Facebook and the domain facebook.com was purchased for a reported $200,000.” Facebook has become a very popular social network website, and it’s the trendy way to keep in touch between people. According to Rose (2007), by 2004 millions of people have come to use Facebook website; this habit starts when a student makes an account in the Facebook and they make it to check each other and make a friend online.

First, Facebook is not compatible with Internet Explorer and Firefox. Sometimes when you load up your page with Internet Explorer or Firefox and you try to upload some pictures, the page freezes up and you have to restart your machine. It is a really bad thing and one inconvenience of Facebook. Some compatibilities with these software need to be proven and need to be fixed. According to Erick on a Discussion board on Facebook, ( 2008, para.1), “ Whenever I try to upload photos onto facebook the browser just jumps to not responding and stays there. I can create photo albums I just can't add photos to them or update on them. I read about fixing that through firefox, but unfortunately I'm not allowed to put it on my computer. Does anybody have any suggestions?” People are having problems with uploading their pictures because of the non accepting script of Internet Explorer and Firefox. For example I have a computer and I use Firefox and anytime I try to upload some photos my computer freeze up. It is really annoying for your computer to freeze for just a simple script.They should try to fix it because it really matter for customers and it can make them really nervous about it.

Second, Facebook has privacy problems. Facebook owners already know that Facebook has address privacy problems and how it really matter for customers on the site. According to Gremillion, S (2008, para.7,8,9), “Facebook was once again the center of privacy-related issues in late 2007 when intrepid software engineers discovered code in a new Facebook application that looked at the data stored on users' computers and reported them back to Facebook. The application was "Facebook Beacon" and it was intended to further integrate the social networking utility into users' lives. The application was also partially intended to target ads so that companies could market directly to the consumers who would be interested in their products. Through the Beacon program, Facebook and its initial partners tracked and recorded user transactions. The program scanned hard drives specifically for Facebook login files containing the users' login names. The login name would tie the transaction to the user, and the information would end up posted on the user's profile.” People feel insecured because Facebook was watching watch every move we made. People do not have privacy at all and what should we do about it? We should try to protest and let them understand our rights as users. The site was designed to watch every single move on any hard drive when you log on into their site. They really have to make a move about it and satisfy the users more.

Finally, Facebook is used for bullying. People that are underage are the one exposed to bad pictures and nudity videos. We have to look forward to ban all these from Facebook because it is nationwide and every body are using it. We have to watch our kids because it will give them bad education. According to Bogdan, P (2008, para.1,2), “There are lots of people who think that Facebook and all the other social networks on the web have a bad influence over kids and teenagers, but a Saudi father went beyond this. Because her daughter was using Facebook to socialize and to communicate with members of the opposite sex on the Internet, the father has beaten the girl and then shot her dead. It may sound extreme, but Saudis have always been harsh when it comes to their Islamic beliefs and since Facebook allows young users to flirt and make new and unknown friends, I wonder why it's not banned already...However, it may seem like banning Facebook would not be quite the best solution as Saudis would be looking for other social networks as soon as this one becomes unavailable. Speaking for The Daily Mail, a 27-year-old woman living in Saudi Arabia admitted that Facebook has a pretty bad influence over their teenagers as many of them use the website to meet members of the opposite sex, although their beliefs clearly prohibit this kind of activity.” For example, in Saudi Arabia people are really strict with religion and don’t like opposite sex talk to their daughter and that’s why they cover their face with a black tissue. She may talk to a man only if she is engaged to a man. Religion in my country is more important than education itself. According to Cassandra, Szklarski (2008, para. 7, 12, 13), '' In recent years, it's faced criticism over privacy concerns and controversy over online bullying. This looks like a situation where there's probably some of that but also maybe ... (there's) older people who haven't experienced the positive effects of Facebook but hear the news stories about some of the negative aspects (and) may be accentuating the negative a little bit more. Those who saw Facebook in a negative light included 22 per cent of the younger group and 26 per cent of the older group.'' What people are facing on the internet is bullying and it is bad for education. We have to look for a way of protecting underage children by retricting some site for them. Parents should control that for their children and watch them while they are online. It is a real problem in some countries to use online stuff to communicate with people of the opposite sex. Facebook should try to review their policies and be strict about nudity stuff and how they can make education, stop bullying and make internet better for people.

Opponents argue that Facebook is a good website that allows them to communicate with friends and stay in touch. First, it saves money to users that are using it, second it is free and you can do whatever you want on the site. However, people should not only consider the benefits. They have to look for the disadvantages and see what it gives them. We really have to take a step forward and auto-educate our self about the problems. Auto-educate ourselves means simply that we can get more information about what we are interesting on and know the bad side and the good side of it. If we do educate ourselves, I think it will be a better way of anticipating problems like bullying in the Internet and how bad pictures affect children. We can talk about it to our children and let them know what they possibly endure on the Internet.

In conclusion, Facebook is a good website where you connect yourself with people around you. Technology is the one responsible for this accomplishment and the scientists. We have to look deeper into the problems and see what we can save and replace for a better educated environment and Facebook have to stop violating people’s privacy.






References

Bogdan, P (2008, March 31st). Facebook Kills! Saudi Arabia Girl Shot Dead for Using Facebook. Internet Life. Retrieved April 28, 2008, from http:// news.softpedia.com/news/Facebook-Kills-Saudi-Girl-Shot-Dead-For-Using-Facebook-82081.shtml
Consumers. (2007, October 24). BBC News. Retrieved March, 31,2008, from http:// www.bbc.co.uk./consumer/tv_and_radio/watchdog/reports/internet/internet-20071024.shtml
Cassandra. Szklarski (2008, April. 11). Many find Facebook a negative influence: Poll. Thestar.com. Retrieved April, 208, 2008, from http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/413701
Erick (2008, Feb. 12). Problem uploading photos with IE. Facebook. Retrieved April, 28, 2008, from http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=2305272732&topic=5544
Gremillion, Skylar (2008, Jan. 15). Privacy issues at heart of Facebook.com problems. The Daily Reveille. Retrieved April 28, 2008, from http://media.www.lsureveille.com/media/storage/paper868/news/2008/02/15/Opinion/Privacy.Issues.At.Heart.Of.Facebook.com.Problems-3212715.shtml
Yadar, S. (2006, Aug 25). Facebook-The Complete Biography. Mashable (Social Networking News). Retrieved April 28, 2008, from http://mashable.com/2006/08/25/facebook-profile/
Ziff, D (n.d). Definition of face book. PCMAG. Retrieved April 28, 2008, from http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=Facebook&I=57226,00.asp