Facebook Be Damned…but Keep Logging on!
If you type “Facebook” into Google on any given day, you’ll be greeted with pages of news stories related to the social networking website/phenomenon. In more recent times, these stories have represented the website in a less than positive light. This is hardly surprising however. Everyone already once confirmed that Facebook was a good invention (hence why there are 600 million active accounts on the site to date) so all that is left to do now is to criticise it. The same things had happened with other popular trends…the electronic pet that was the Tamogotchi…Facebook predecessor MySpace…and more recently, teenage pop tart (and general annoyance) Justin Beiber.
Today’s Facebook related news includes the revelation that the social networking website – alongside reality TV – has been voted as one of the worst innovations to influence out lives in the last decade in a survey undertaken by Foundation, a consultancy in place to advise retailers and banks. Reasons cited from the 2,200 individuals surveyed indicated that the website is “irritating” and “a waste of time.”
Another news story in today’s Google results suggests that the longer amount of time a girl spends on Facebook, the higher risk she has for developing an eating disorder. A study carried out at the University of Haifa in Israel has indicated that browsing Facebook causes negative self body image and can on set eating (or not eating) behaviours that wouldn’t look out of place with someone diagnosed with Anorexia and/or Bulimia. If that wasn’t miserable enough, Psychologists from Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland have suggested that it is the Facebook users with the most friends who are thought to be the most miserable and stressed, via yet another study regarding the site. Those academics just love damning Facebook (this is the research that £9,000 of annual university fees per student is funding?)
A news story today also has Australian Criminal Law Specialists revealing that the number of people taking out restraining order against “Facebook stalkers” in Australia is significantly on the rise.
In arguably more positive news, an Egyptian man has named his new born daughter “Facebook” in respect of the influence that the website had recently when it came to the successful overthrowing of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Facebook – as well as other social platforms like Twitter – allowed the voices of Egypt’s civilians to be heard. You may think that this name dedication is a nice sentiment but no doubt this will bring much criticism from those who prefer more traditional names for children.
The difference between Facebook and the other trends mentioned in the launching paragraph of this blog post is that Facebook has been very much ingrained into our daily lives. There is no doubt that it is a useful communication tool – something which is confirmed from the fact that almost everyone is using it (if you are not, then it is you that is considered the oddball). It just seems strange to me that academics and the media are so quick to find negative elements to pinpoint.
I guess that this is a reflection of the fact that any news stories of research documents prefixed with the buzzword of “Facebook” is automatically assumed to be relevant and of contemporary importance. And we all know how well sensationalism sells…
Kat Cole is a PR agent for a company specialising in Retallack baby friendly holidays but enjoys going to gigs and writing guest blog posts in her spare time.
Posted in Social Networking. Tags: facebook, rant
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