Observing Facebook...

For the final essay my job is to observe Facebook. Since I use Facebook more than I use my own textbooks this shouldn't be hard. Observing Facebook is something that I have been doing since I joined the site a few years ago. Facebook has changed drastically since I first began to use it. The introduction of the mini feed was perhaps the biggest change of them all. I know that Facebook is a social networking site, but once that was created it seemed more like that annoying little sister snooping around for dirt. The mini feed has caused an eruption of privacy on the site and it details everything that all of your friends are doing as well what non friends are doing. When I was first introduced to it it bothered me very much because I knew at this point everything I did on the site would be completely highlighted. Although, I realize that Facebook is a social site and that you pretty much knew that all of this was public when you signed up, it is more annoying that you know everyone will defintely see it. It is hard to explain the privacy issue with Facebook especially since people are willing to put their phone number and home address on the site. That is something I will personally never do because that is a bit extreme. Despite the privacy issues I really enjoy using Facebook especially since it has kept me in contact with old friends and family members who live far away. Some of the applications are cool, especially the friend wheel, and the whole idea of you being the star of your own show makes it interesting. Facebook was created for people to connect and despite the other problems, it does just that.