Facebook: Do You Know Who Your Friends Are?

Facebook: Do You Know Who Your Friends Are?

Should the American public trust a multi-million dollar business to set the standards of personal privacy? Boasting a virtual population of 500 million active citizens, Facebook would be the world’s third largest country by population, two-thirds bigger that the U.S. (Fletcher, par. 1). The creation of Facebook in 2008 challenged the American society with a new form of communication, which promises convenience. With little effort, Facebook allows members to expand their friendship base and connect to people around the globe at the speed of light, anytime, day or night. It is to Facebook’s advantage for its users to keep posting their lives online. The company has fine-tuned it into a science (Fletcher, par. 16). Although Facebook is feeding the American culture’s need for global communication and virtual community, it does so by promoting self-obsession, user friendships that often lack intimacy, and the company’s exploitation of personal privacy.

Some users tally hundreds of “friends” in a matter of days when they add them to their Facebook list. They are Facebook friends forever but might never have a one-to-one, real life conversation with them. Still, many individuals are often impressed by the enormous number of friends an individual has on Facebook. Consider that true friendship is not measured by quantity, but by quality. Friends depend on confidantes to offer a shoulder to cry on in times of trouble. Facebook connections cannot offer this physical, real life connection that human beings often long for. Often, friends going through the heartache of breakups, post it on Facebook first before calling their best friends. Is this the way American culture is now wired? When the true “real-life” best friend finds out, they often feel betrayed for not being told first of this very important news. Facebook friends cannot offer us the fundamental basis of a good friendship—the ability to tell a good friend...