Ten years of Facebook

Alright folks… The Valentine’s Day is coming. If you are going to ask someone out, with all those monotonous one-liners from Bollywood, you might end up messing it up. A Hollywood scene you desperately try to recreate might also look passé... Try giving them your Facebook password (only if you are an active user and you think you are truly in love), you have just slashed the ‘Trust Sword’, and lo… you might have just impressed her, way too much. Well… thanks to Facebook, for redefining the words like Trust, Friends, Like and Poke.

Ten years ago on a Tuesday, Mark Zuckerberg launched a social website called thefacebook.com from his Harvard dorm room. In the ensuing decade, the social media network now known simply as Facebook has gained 1.23 billion monthly active users and a $150 billion market capitalisation. Along the way the site has added features and interfaces that define much of the way we interact online, both on Facebook and on other sites. It’s regularly courted controversy in its attempts to better serve its true customers (advertisers) by compelling users to offer up more public data.

How did Facebook change your life? Some cannot see their social life without it, and see it as the necessary social platform of our times. Others are using it to educate and communicate with their peers. And there are a few who just don't use it.

Through our entire life, our parents tried to protect us: first from foul language, then came the television, and then they were climbing on walls on how exactly they can protect us from the world of the Internet. As children, we always used to test the limits, and see how far we can push the boundaries. The secrets were there, and we wanted to know them.

Did Facebook really kill privacy?

The answer is no, as it up for the person to chose what will be exposed and what not. “You put up what you want to show the world in order to portray yourself the way you want people to see you, if you want to keep something private, well...don't put it online”.

With Facebook the loss of privacy is a mutual process. Two people who are on another’s lists can see what the other person wants him to see. If there are rules as to who we approve to see our profile, how are they decided? And how much exposure do we really want or need?

Some have an account which is composed of no more than a few “real” friends. Others have accounts which can build a small to a medium town in Goa. Some “Friends” don't even like each other in real life, while for others Facebook is a vital way to communicate with their close friends. For them Facebook made their non virtual life better by having the platform needed to exchange messages, publish events, and even educate.

As for privacy, people have a choice as for what they want to put and what they like other people to see. It’s a people choice - not Facebook.”

Facebook is the best way to find out the “ relationship status”?

Some are using it as a tool to find out what the situation is before making a first move, or even sometimes, it is used as the platform for the first move. Yet this can cause some confusion. What does a person’s profile stating that he's “single” really mean? Is the person is looking for a relationship? Does a person dating and not changing its status means the relationship is not a serious level yet? And what does “it’s complicated” actually mean? For those who are already in a relationship, Facebook, can help, but it also can cause problems.

On the deeper side Commenting on the prevalence of Facebook in our lives, SV Nagnath, an astro-psychologist says, “Facebook for most of the users becomes a podium for; a source of personal identification, fulfilling his identity crisis, seeking others attention on every incident of their life, too much interest in others activity.”

He continued, “Identity crisis and attention seeking are the two main personality problems which make social networking interfere in personal life.”

The recent Anti-Load- Campaign by TVF spoke of persons having problem expressing their dissent through Facebook. “These folks either they try to influence their opinions, or they look for people who support their ideas and they tend to criticize everything they dislike. Expressing their hatred and personal views on prominent people, inspirational social personalities, celebrities and politicians have become quite monotonous,” he added.

Talking about people with fake Facebook Ids, he says, “People who use multiple accounts and male posing as female and vice versa have problem with multiple personalities. This only leads to unproductive intelligence. These people fail to understand any inspirational message or constructive point to improve their personality.”

As the social network revolution continues to grow, over a billion people are making the third most populated “country” in the world. Some live in this virtual world as an extension to their social circles, while others create a whole new world there. Today, this has become more a statement, an attitude and an identity.