WHAT IS IT?

 

Facebook is the current king of all social networks. Five hundred million people worldwide have Facebook accounts. One in three people in the United States is on Facebook. The next most popular social networking website is a Chinese site called Qzone, with 200 million users. Way over in the shallow end of the pool is Myspace, with 130 million tweens and crappy emo bands clogging their pages. Twitter boasts a paltry 75 million users, and every one of them is the most boring human being you’ve ever encountered in your life. The cool kids are all on Facebook.

You’re on Facebook whether you mean to be or not. Even if you don’t have an account, several of your friends do. If you’ve had your picture taken alongside any of them, it’s probably online, with your name and face tagged and visible to anyone with access to your friend’s photos.

Facebook relies on the tendency of people to brag about the most mundane aspects of their lives. It appeals to our desire for celebrity. A Facebook page is a self-published tabloid, detailing everything about you for all the world to see. It strips away the anonymity of the Internet without relieving you of the courage anonymity brings.

There was a time when people were extremely hesitant to give out personal information online. When creating an online persona, they relied on no one recognizing them. Back then, only your close friends could know for sure who you really were. But Facebook doesn’t work unless we’re honest. There’s no point to Facebook unless people admit who they are. It asks us probing questions, and expects honesty. We give it our name, our birthday, a list of our likes and dislikes, and we share with it our opinions about everything from politics to food. We tell it where we went to school, where we’ve worked, and what we like to do for fun. We give it our sexual preference and ask it for help finding a date. We show it pictures of ourselves at our best and our worst. Facebook is a total stranger that knows everything about us.