Tunisia, Egypt, Libya have all risen up against their dictators. And Facebook and other social networking tools were one of their main ammunition, a powerful means towards a glorified end. People across the country made plans and itineraries to start a revolution which has swept the Arab world. And therefore Mark Zukerberg managed to carve a even greater achievement on his epitaph, as a innovator who was partially responsible for the sweeping change that is the Arab Uprising today.
For those who choose to, their lives are pretty much governed by Facebook. I remember reading an article many days ago about a British lady who was fired from her job due to the increasing amount of her working time she had spent “Face-booking”. Characters in the American sitcom The Big Bang theory generously use the phrase “I’ll friend you Facebook” to their future in-laws! And regularly update their booty calls on Twitter! The global world is on our 17 inch laptop screens and iPhones and android phones. We follow our friends as they journey across Mongolia and NY City likewise. We comment on picture we like and ask for a dislike button. I wouldn’t be surprised if a dislike button appears as a offering in the near future. And if you are a regular on Facebook, one can notice the constant upgrades that Zuckerberg and team have been busy at.
For someone like me, whose pretty much left behind an active physical social life in India, Facebook and its virtual social life has taken over. There are Facebook rules and customs, that one gets familiar with, having spent just 2 active days on it. Wishing folks on birthdays, commenting on their pictures, liking their status updates – all these virtual actions determine our virtual friendship. And people with a large number of “friends”, actually makes me wonder how many of them come close to being true friends? Suppose you have 500+ friends on Facebook. How many of them have you met more than once in your lifetime? How many them have you spoken to more than 10 sentences? How many of them know the number of siblings you have? When you feel down and low, how many of them do you reach out to? For most, the number would be 10 or less. Then, pray, why do we have so many friends on our Facebook page? What purpose does Facebook serve in our lives? Have we ever paused to research that? Have we been so “virtualized” that own physical friendships are in total disarray and we reach out to “like” button to prove our virtual friendships?
A lot of people, my fiancee for example, regard Facebook to be a total waste of time. I disagree. To a certain extent. The going is good, in my opinion, as long as we can balance the two – our virtual & physical friends. And then comes a time, when a virtual misunderstanding has grave ramifications on our true flesh and blood friends. It its at that precise moment that we need to draw the line. Does it mean, if someone “unfriends” me on Facebook, he/she doesn’t choose to be my friend? What if those someone who you considered close, do not comment on your photographs? Do you respond in the same way? Reciprocity seems to be the order of the day in our Facebook world. The question is, should we carry over our experiences in the virtual world to our real world as well? What if I meet a friend with whom I have “bad blood” on Facebook, but all was fine in the real world? What should be my code of conduct in the real world? Pretend nothing happened on Facebook? Or ignore his/her presence in the real world as well?
A realization has set in that there is a Facebook ethics and code of conduct – an unspoken one. One can even determine the parasites and the aloof crowd. Or the ones who just have an account since they have nothing better to do in life. Some people upload pictures every alternate day, a dinner with friends at a restaurant or some photographs taken at home for dinner with friends. Some even have pictures of their new gym clothes or shoes uploaded, and let me not even start on new gadgets!
Reverting back to the start of this post, Mark Zuckerberg, is a tech wonder boy. He’s redefined the way the common man defines friendship . I am not an expert at the business talk, hence will not elaborate on the billions that Facebook stands to make once they go public; anyone wanting to do the reading can follow the link : http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/2011/01/03/is-facebook-really-worth-50-billion/
I am sharing some pictures of the Facebook HQ that I found on the internet. Looks like a cool place to work though!
Muisc@Work?
Coke@Facebook
But I stick to my guns that Google and the android enterprise is way more valuable as a service to me than Facebook! I yearn for the good old days where friends met over a cup of coffee and laughed over a joke or two. But then that is me; maybe someone out there, can still convince me on the value of having a “virtual” friend!
