I have a lot of friends and acquaintances who are not on Facebook. Some have quit, some never joined. A large portion of them seem to infer that they are too superior to join Facebook, that Facebook is only for “people with no lives” or that Facebook is somehow evil. Facebook is neither good nor evil, it is neutral. I have seen Facebook facilitate some very positive experiences and bring people together. Facebook can really strengthen communications and relationships by allowing us to share info and connect with folks we have not seen for many years or even decades, and, it is great for us folks living overseas far from our family and friends back home. The site is easy to use on a PC or an iPhone (and I assume Android). Personally I am a big fan.
This summer, Facebook really helped assist the grieving process for a whole group of friends when one of our best mates suddenly and unexpectedly died. To be able to be in contact instantly with so many old friends and colleagues during the shock was comforting. The site is great for distributing pictures and updates to ones friends and family. In the past to share pictures one would have to send an email with photos as attachments which is inconvenient and not reliable.
I have not yet seen “The Social Network,” but I definitely will someday. My review is neither about Facebook the company itself, nor about its founder Mark Zuckerberg’s potential unethical side. I write about the user-experience that Facebook provides, the site is like email on steroids. Is Facebook perfect? No, definitely not. Privacy is a legitimate issue / concern and us Facebook users need to keep the pressure on Facebook executives to be responsible and transparent with the vast amount of personal data the company is managing. I do like that users must be at least 13 years old and the site is relatively clean of smut, and I like that one can “unfriend” friends and no notification is sent to the “unfriended”.
It is really amazing how these recent internet behemoths such as Facebook and YouTube have no real competitors. At this point, Facebook is take it or leave it. I took it, and like it.
– Darren McKellin – Originally from Chicago and Minneapolis, Darren has lived in Japan for over 20 years and currently works for Verizon.
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