“On March 15, 2011, Facebook will be shut down forever.” This rumour spread faster than wildfire after it was posted on the Weekly World News, the self-proclaimed “most reliable” Internet news publication. Thousands of comments have been posted expressing the anguish felt by Facebook fans who cannot possibly imagine the prospect of a future without their favourite social networking site. However, before joining the congregation of Facebook mourners, one should check the facts. Despite it being spread by a “reliable” news publication, the rumour is only a hoax.
However, the panic that this rumour created brings up important questions about our society: are we too dependent on social networking sites? Are social networking sites affecting our behaviour in new and unpredictable ways?
Facebook is not the sole contributor to this social obsession; however, none of the other social networking sites are as popular as Facebook. Before Facebook, MySpace and Friendster dominated the social networking industry, but they have since been largely replaced by blogging sites such as Tumblr (a micro-blogging site that features multimedia posts) and Twitter (a micro-blogging site that allows for posts of up to 140 characters). Still, none of these sites can compare to Facebook in terms of popularity. Facebook now has 600 million active users, and its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, was labelled Time magazine’s Person of the Year in 2010.
Social networking websites allow us to share everything about our lives with anyone in the world who owns a computer. In fact, many people regularly do put large amounts of information onto the Internet, usually without knowing about the potential consequences. Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr all have privacy settings, but, very few people know about these options. For instance, Facebook users have the option to prevent their information from being accessible via search engines, yet only a small percentage of accounts are secured in this way.
Even though the privacy settings on social networking sites have become advanced and customizable, users are still not fully protected. Once something is posted on a social networking site, it becomes the site’s property. When one first joins Facebook, the Terms and Conditions state that Facebook has the ability to make copies of anything one posts and can use them in any way.
People should not be overly paranoid about using the Internet, but should be more careful about the information they post online. The potentially disastrous consequences of uploading information online can easily be avoided by checking the website’s privacy information.
The fact that the hoax of the termination of Facebook had such a global impact demonstrates the tremendous influence that social networking sites have on people’s lives. So long as people understand the detrimental effects of posting their information publicly, these websites can continue to be used safely.
