Facebook is a social networking platform. It was launched on February 4, 2004. Its easy sign up and simple parameters has made it extremely popular and easy for even someone with very basic computer skills to use. It quickly grew into a worldwide phenomenon that has had impacts of varying degrees on the lives of its members. It indeed has many faces as it can be used to keep in contact with friends, locate past friends and make new ones, form groups of interest, organise parties, play games, build photo albums, post videos, meet new people, spread information and jokes, and even to poke people!
Well every giant casts a long shadow and has thus a dark side. Facebook is no exception. For starters, it exposes a lot of personal information on a person in terms of who they are, who they know, where they go, and what they do (note that settings can be set to minimize such exposure). This makes things a lot easier for fraudsters, stalkers, pedophiles, kidnappers, and virtually anyone who can profit from personal information. Furthermore, keeping up with hundreds of friends can be time-consuming and this can have further negative impacts such as kids not doing their homework and staying up late or adults who have lost their jobs for spending too much time on it during working hours.
It also opens up many doors to relationship conflicts. It can raise trust issues within a couple caused by one of the mate “spying” on the other’s page, exposure to ex’s, flirtation with contacts from the opposite sex, jealousy issues, misinterpretations of messages, etc… Facebook can be very enjoyable and is a great way to keep in contact with people but it should be done with caution, moderation, and with an awareness of the possible pitfalls.
