Facebook Notifications Feed (Photo credit: dannysullivan)
I’ll Facebook you. When a brand name migrates into a verb you realise that it has made its impact. Very few would argue that Facebook has not made an impact, in fact many consider that it has revolutionised the way we communicate. It has only been with us since 2004, and I would guess the majority of us joined post 2007/8, yet it has become an integral part of our lives, or has it?
I wanted to consider the impact Facebook has had on my life. I am a heavy user, according to my browser Facebook is my number one most visited site. Notifications come straight to my phone, and I still regularly visit the mobile site. I did consider as an experiment deactivating my Facebook account for a while, but I realised that I could not do this. Why? What has Facebook done to have become so vital to me? There are three main reasons:
- In Summer I am starting a new job in a new town I do not know. The easiest way for me to connect with new people I meet is by Facebook. It is also the easiest way to keep in touch with family and friends when I move away.
- I am active in my sports team (I have written a lot about it here). As a group we communicate entirely by Facebook, we have an emailing list, but we do not not use it, why? Because Facebook has proved itself a more reliable tool. I lose Facebook and I lose this connection.
- I have friends and family who I solely contact by Facebook. They live over the world, sure I could get their email, but it isn’t likely. Facebook has become the easiest way to communicate with people.
Why is it so important to us? Facebook took an important part of our lives and digitalised it. We are social creatures, we live to connect with other people, we love to gain information. Facebook put this online, made it easier for us to interact with our friends and acquaintances. Quickly we integrated this into our lives, because it made life more convenient.
Who can predict the future of Facebook, indeed I think I once predicted its downfall on this blog, which did not materialise. It continues to keep going! Perhaps one day the Facebook babies of the world, the ones who we have actually watched from the womb to birth and as they grow up, perhaps they will one day find themselves Facebooking!
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- Facebooking – We’ve Come A Long Way (sihlesays.wordpress.com)
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- Facebook Now Suggests Friends to Add to Acquaintance List (mashable.com)
- Is Google imitating Facebook? (socialmediaalley.wordpress.com)
[...] Life without Facebook(rachelbarkley.co.uk) [...]
funnily enough, I neither use Facebook nor twitter, and I am only barely ‘LinkedIn’ despite many of my family using LinkedIn and Facebook (no idea whether or not they tweet) but I use email, Instant Messenger (and, still use Ciao) and follow a few blogs