Facebook is a popular web page where anybody can create a free account, similar to an email address. The site allows anybody to add friends, post pictures, and let all their friends know what their doing on an hourly basis. At the beginning, the page appeared to be a great way to keep in touch with people who lived two minutes to two hours to two thousand miles away. The site allows all who have accounts to add friends, some who are suggested by the page itself, and keep in touch through quick, easy Internet access. But is the web site actually helping or hurting the relationships we form everyday?
There are many benefits to Facebook. Facebook is the quick, easy way to keep up to date with events that happen every day. Once a person creates an account, they can add their friends and therefore look at the page that is created by that person and see their posts. When a person “posts” something it means that they are writing anything they want for all their friends to see, from song lyrics, to what their plans are for the day, to angry outbursts with a lot of curse words associated. The posts pop on the community wall so a person doesn’t have to go to each individual’s page to see their plans. This feature is beneficial because it allows a friend to discover plans and therefore work with, or around them to be able to see or communicate with that person without having to go through to hassle of keeping in touch every hour or having to send a text to twenty of your friends about what you’re doing that day. Another benefit of Facebook is it allows a person to keep in touch even through long distances. For example, if a person lives across the country, it is difficult to coordinate the time difference, and therefore makes it hard to have phone conversation or text repeatedly back and forth unless it is at a set time that is consensual for both parties. Facebook allows people to keep in touch on each person’s own time through wall posts, and messages, this is
Cited: Catfish. Dir. Henry Joost and Areil Schulman. Perf. Navid Schulman. Rouge Films, 2010. Film. Parr, Ben. "Study: Facebook Increases Jealousy in Relationships." Social Media News and Web Tips – Mashable – The Social Media Guide. 9th Aug. 2009. Web. 27 Oct. 2010. . Sabatini, Andrew. “Effects of Myspace and Facebook on Relationships.” < http://webrelationships.wetpaint.com/page/Effects+of+Myspace+and+Facebook>. Fisher, Lauren. “What effect does Facebook have on Relationships?” < http://www.simplyzesty.com/facebook/effect-facebook-relationships/>. Hines, Twanna A. “Is Facebook Helping or Hurting Your Love Life?” < http://www.fastcompany.com/articles/2008/02/facebook-love-life.html>.