Facebook

The way people communicate has evolved over the years. As people we have gone from pictures, to writing, to telephones and long-distance transportation. Every few years, advancements are made in the field of communication. Recently, a profound innovation has been formed. Facebook is the new telephone or e-mail. It reaches globally which dissolves many of the boundaries that people once had in regards to keeping in touch. However, Facebook does not just make it easier and more cost efficient to stay in touch with friends and family far away. It also allows us to stay in contact those who live close, but we still may not have the time or resources to see in person. It crushes the cellphone because it is free with all internet use and it eliminates the e-mail because it allows for simpler mass sharing. Of course, it is not even necessary to go into how Facebook (and the internet in general) have taken away from the once cherished, and now not as convenient, face to face conversations. Facebook is a recent step towards improving and expediting our human interactions that has morphed the way people once communicated.

            The Facebook wall is the most common place of interaction. While lacking much in privacy, it is quick and gets to the point of whatever someone feels like telling their friend. A quick message is sometimes all that is desired and while it is not important or urgent enough to call someone about; people still would like to share. Also, posting something on someone's wall takes away the pressure of immediate response. If someone does not pick up their phone, people may wait so long for the call back, that they may not even remember what they wanted to say. Facebook eliminates this problem by allowing you to post to someone's wall whenever is desired. Another great thing about posting to someone's wall is that others can comment on it. Since the sight is public to your friends at least, anytime someone talks to someone else, the conversation is visible and can easily be joined. This allows for people to meet or get to know each other's friends or for a group of friends to all talk at once. By creating these bonds with possible strangers, the wall post also opens the door for new friendships. In the Onion's satirical article about the false malfunction of MySpace (pre-cursor to Facebook), they speak of the importance of the friend maintenance that is provided by this site. "If I have to revert back to face-to-face friend gathering, I would be middle-aged before I built that number into the double digits. I'd definitely never get back into the hundreds again," (pg. 160). While an obvious exaggeration, this little contact between colleagues on a wall may be the only way that people can interact which makes Facebook a very important and valuable tool.

The status option on Facebook is probably the most important feature for the aforementioned reasons. Rather than having the same conversation with people over and over to tell them the funny thing that happened yesterday, the status allows us to share that funny story, fact, or whatever it is we want to share, with all of our friends at once. While limiting to in person conversations, it is a lot more efficient and less tiresome than repeating the same thing a million times. People take the few minutes to update everyone on the newest, most interesting thing in their lives and then can move on with their day. A status is also a replacement for group conversations because you can involve every single person you know without going through all that it would take to bring together friends, family and colleagues and have a nice conversation where everyone gets a chance to say their piece. There is no way to interrupt someone and since it is typed rather than said, conversations are more concise and to the point this way. Status’ open the door wide open for local and global sharing.

            Another Facebook feature that makes it more appealing to the masses than actually talking is IM'ing. While there are thousands of sites to instant message from, Facebook eliminates the hassle of exchanging e-mails or usernames with everyone by allowing people to IM with everyone on their friends list. This feature can replace anything from a text message, to a phone call, to a chat over coffee. Facebook IM makes it unnecessary to collect phone numbers as well because if someone wishes to speak with someone every once in a while, but has no desire to give out their number, he can add the person on Facebook. Also, this eliminates costly texting bills and the need to purchase so many minutes for a cellphone. Since Facebook is free, it almost makes a cellphone unnecessary.

            The number one benefit of Facebook is that it is free. Phones are almost a necessity in this day and age. No one has time to meet face to face anymore. Bills for phones are going up as the need to communicate on the go increases. However, with internet innovations like Facebook, you don’t need to rack up phone bills. Facebook has an easy to use IM, messaging, and other ways of posting information. One feature is an event creator. Click on the event button and then there are easy to follow instructions that allow you to send a virtual invitation to whatever event you may be planning. This is way faster than individually inviting people or creating a bunch of invitations. Facebook is more cost and time efficient than a phone call or a text.

            Though it is free and easy to use, Facebook is detrimental to the traditional forms of communication. Face to face interactions have taken a back seat to things like phones and internet. Because of innovations like Facebook, people do not feel the need to talk in person anymore. Even a phone call is more personal than a Facebook message, but people still opt for the less personal and potentially easier way of communicating. Facebook has taken over the internet and made even e-mail irrelevant because of all its different features. If Facebook just got music like Myspace and a web-cam chat, there would be no need for any other social networking sights or in person contact. Of course people will still talk in person, but not as much as they would if they did not have an innovation like Facebook.

Communication has completely morphed the way that people communicate. Human beings are continually looking for better, faster, and cheaper ways to keep in touch from phones to automobiles. Though a newly popular addition to the social networking scene, Facebook has completely taken over. Facebook is the new telephone. With Facebook people can keep in touch with relatives and friends around the world which was once a problem of distance. However, Facebook does not just make it easier and more cost efficient to stay in touch with friends and family far away. Not only can we keep in touch with those far away, but we can also maintain relationships with those who we simply don’t see as much as we would like to. Facebook is superior to the phone because it does not cost anything and allows for simpler mass sharing than an e-mail. Facebook is the newest innovation in the battle to improve and quicken are human interactions.