FaceBook: The good, the bad and the horrible
When you consider that Facebook was launched in February 2004 and has grown to more than 500 million members, it truly is an extraordinary achievement. It is a feat of epic levels and a tremendous success story which also reflects the growing recognition of social networking.
You can find individuals whose career is now dependant of Facebook. There’s a continuous battle between independent application developers and development companies such as Zynga, and other web design company type businesses around the planet.
Zynga is a brilliant illustration of success with Facebook. After being in business for almost three years the business has an annual income of over $100 million dollars and are responsible for some of the most well-liked applications on Facebook, specifically Farmville and Mafia Wars.
Nonetheless, within the interest of fairness and objectivity, you may argue that Facebook is a bit like Marmite. You either love it or hate it. My fourteen year old niece for instance will happily invest hour after hour on Facebook, whereas I may spend perhaps five to ten minutes on it each day or two.
How many times have you been out with close friends, maybe you had a few dozen too many drinks and made a comprehensive idiot of yourself, which would have been fine pre 2004 mainly because even if your close friends did have cameras and took pictures there was virtually no site which could humiliate you in the same manner Facebook can.
The effect of Facebook has also passed on to firms and may now effect employment opportunities. It is extensively reported that employers will try and find your profile on Facebook, just to see if there exists anything you maybe forgot to mention. You’ve the capability to share with the world absolutely anything that you like and dislike, your favourite music, food, movies and your political and religious affiliations.
For some, the quantity of information has gone too far. It is commonly said that knowledge is power, and if that’s the situation Facebook is all powerful since they have knowledge of over half a billion members. Some may question what possible harm could possibly come from all this knowledge?
Well a lot really. To start with, companies will go to great lengths to collect data on consumers and Facebook is a giant and rich database of customers. Since 2004 advertising has come to be progressively substantial for the firm because it brings in income. With Facebook firms can develop highly targeted adverts, so one may argue that at least users aren’t swamped with random advertising. Throug such localization as web design London Facebook is sending out a strong message of willingness to enhance their services which is encouraging.
There is also a much darker side to personal data and information which was confirmed during World War 2. In Germany and in other regions in Europe, as the Nazis grasp spread to Poland, France, Holland and Belgium the census’ of the countries were employed to hunt down Jews and various other political enemies. Without a doubt this is a rather extreme example with the dark side of data but it did take place and demonstrates how data could be used in the most severe possible way.
