Facebook: Wall Post

                              

Facebook: Wall Post

            “Happy Valentine’s Day, My Best Friend!!!,” received status update February 14  2012, at ten o’clock. It brings joy to my face when my best friend writes on my Facebook wall. Has the social media affected your life? Do you get on Facebook or Twitter often to look at the new gossip? Studying the mass social media, has been a huge eye-opener; social networking is a huge part of the American culture right now. As Brian Williams, a news anchor for NBC Nightly News, says, “It’s all about you. Me. And all the various forms of the first-person singular.” We think of ourselves before anybody else, it’s all about me, myself, and I. I don’t like the fact that people think that way, but it’s unfortunate that people only think about themselves today. There are many points of emphasis that Brian Williams, Andie Wurster, and the movie The Social Network bring up about this modern social networking world. Some of these points include: the origin of Facebook, warnings, benefits, and business lessons that go along with this technological world.

            First of all, the original Facebook came out in 2004, with four founders. The names of the founders are: Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes were named the four founding fathers of this world-wide website. A movie came out about founding of the social network of Facebook in 2010. One opinion of this film from Eduardo Saverin, the CFO for the company Facebook, says, “… The movie was clearly intended to be entertainment and not a fact-based documentary.” Most of the stuff about this movie is entertainment based with a few factual based elements incorporated in the film. Eduardo Saverin is an important opinion because he is the one who is in charge of the financial part of the business. Mark Zuckerberg states a similar review about this movie that received many golden globes in 2010. Zuckerberg said in an arrogant way that he thinks the movie is not even close to the way Facebook was founded upon. This movie really brought up many questions for me. Did he actually steal the idea from the twins? With the starting of Facebook will this start a new generation of social networking users?

            Many precautions and warnings are associated with Facebook and other social media websites. Andie Wurster tells us a variety of these warnings about how we publicize our personal life. Wurster, who is a well-respected writer, brings up the fact that the Internet is open and free to just about anyone in the world. However, some people post inappropriate pictures of themselves and post verbal attacks on their friend’s walls. She also warns us about the out-of-control invites everyone to parties; so many people who are complete strangers at one party can sometimes lead to violence. One of the most important cautions to have on social media networking is the privacy setting. In my opinion the privacy setting on Facebook is an important part of my profile. Only showing when my birthday is and not the year I was born allows me not to let others know how old I am and my current address. These privacy settings have probably saved many children’s lives from the others in the world. A quote from the film, The Social Network, puts this whole idea in one sentence: “the internet isn’t written in pencil, it’s written in ink.” This quote sums the warnings that come with being a member of Facebook or any other social media. Employers and schools like colleges also look at your Facebook to see what your life is like and how you behave. Most employers before hiring their employees check these websites and that’s how they illuminate people from a job position.

            There are also some benefits of social networking. Meeting new people from different backgrounds, different interests, and different cultures is just one of the many benefits of networking. Ms. Wurster has come up with many interesting benefits of socializing through the internet. Sharing online invitations, visiting with distant friends or family members, or even just giving your old high school friend a shout is what the social media is about. Connecting with old friends and bringing new people together is what Wurster is trying to directly say to us about benefits of online social interaction. I agree with her. Some of these benefits out weigh the warnings or cautions of the social media. Some of the main benefits to Facebook and other social media outlets, in my opinion, are how readily available the information is about family members, friends and others. You can always check up on them anytime and know how they are and what they are doing. I often catch up with my aunt and uncle that live in West Virginia on Facebook, and I also talk with other friends that have moved away. I appreciate Facebook just for the fact I can talk to friends and family that live out-of-state. The only draw back would be that not everybody has a Facebook page, especially some of the older members of a family. There are many, many, many benefits that can be found in having Facebook, but there are also hard business lessons that were learned with the original development in the Facebook corporation.

            Business lessons of Facebook, that surround the whole controversy of who came up with the original idea is one of the business lessons we learned about within the movie and in the articles. Zuckerberg continued to learn what real business is all about. Zuckerberg and Saverin fought about who was in charge of financial management. Zuckerberg let “this idea be potentially worth millions of dollars.” Eduardo Saverin also had to become grown up very quickly majoring in business in college and become the CFO of the website of Facebook. Even though he was young and inexperienced that didn’t get him any free passes. When he signed his “death certificate” that document basically lost most of his fortune he had in Facebook.

            Many people across the world use this website and continue to use social media. It’s not just only Facebook; but there are also other websites like Twitter, MySpace, and Blogspot on the internet. The one idea of Facebook took on a whole new level in our society today. Overall, the social media has impacted America and people across the world. It connects them with family and friends across the globe and will continue to advance.