The Facebook Story: A Revolution in Social Media
The Facebook Story: A Revolution in Social Media
Facebook has continued to attract users of all regions and faiths. It is magnet for those who want to connect socially. Social media has expanded in a big way across the globe. The term Facebook was proposed with reference to the colloquialism for a directory provided to students at leading American universities. Facebook was established on February 4th in 2004. Mark Zuckerberg and his roommates at Harvard University were the founders of this social networking site. However, since its inception, the question over who founded Facebook has constantly been under dispute in media reports. While this may remain an area which attracts debate, what cannot be doubted is that Facebook has become a powerful tool for promoting social and commercial interests.
Fellow founders Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum and Chris Hughes collaborated with Zuckerburg to create this wonderful medium for interacting and connecting with people. Facebook was open to high school students older than 13 to register at their site. As it is with any other project, there are also some downsides. Facebook can become extremely addictive and even a substitute for real life for some people. This is not advisable as the psychological impact of isolating one’s self from people is not very wise.
The website was initially limited to Harvard students but it expanded to other universities such as Stanford after this. Users must create a personal profile and they can then exchange messages and notify others regarding important information. Users can also join common interest groups on Facebook and support important causes. You can even join workplace, school or college groups in different categories to meet and interact with friends. As of September 2012, FB crossed over one billion active users, according to sources. The huge amounts of data stored on Facebook point to the sheer genius of its inventors.
A massive amount of revenue for Facebook comes from advertising. It has attracted massive interest and attention, not to mention collaborations and partnerships as well. For every one million pages, 400 clicks are for ads on Facebook alone. The Online Sales Operations units of Facebook have always provided high percentages of click-through for those who log onto to Facebook. Of course, compared to other websites in Facebook, the click-through rate is not very high. But it must be considered that FB is chiefly a social networking site and it is certainly the cat among the pigeons when it comes to capturing market share and providing an outlet for attracting business.
Facebook has the potential to become a major marketing and campaigning tool. Successful political campaigns such as those of President Obama depended a lot on social media sites such as Facebook. FB is also mobilized by top celebrities to generate interest and excitement for their products. In a world where everything has a price, Facebook is a free site that lets its users interact with people from all over the world.
The reach of Facebook is stupendous because it has the capacity to help people across vast distances interact. When the recent ban on social media in Turkey culminated into a civil rights protest, it became apparent that people respond very negatively to the stifling of their right to free speech. Of course, national security concerns are also very essential to consider. Facebook or any other site must not promote biases, prejudices or anti-national activities as this can impact the rights of a nation to safety and security. Nations such as India where people from different communities live side by side are particularly vulnerable. The attempt to use FB to promote hidden agendas should be clamped down upon, yet the freedom of citizens to speak their minds must not be compromised in any way.
The basic principle on which social networking sites are based must also be sound. When Facebook responded to protests from activists and revised its policies regarding expression of views that promote gender bias, it took a massive step forward in promoting healthy social interaction on the website. Young users are often impulsive and it is up to the social networking site to protect them from getting involved in unsavoury situations. Certain parameters should bind expression of views on FB. It can then realize its true potential in countries like India.
