Facebook is a social networking site created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and 4 other individuals while they were students at Harvard University. Facebook was initially invented as a “whose hotter” website and thus was quickly shut down by Harvard University while Mark Zuckerberg faced possible suspension. He changed his thinking and decided instead to create a place where Harvard students could interact with each other online. Facebook soon expanded to other universities such as Yale, Columbia, and Stanford. In 2006, the Facebook creators decided to allow anyone to be part of this new social media site over the age of 13. Mark Zuckerberg expanded his company over the years by adding Instagram, Threads, and Whatsapp to his ever growing social media empire. Facebook was not the first social media platform as Six Degrees was created in 1997 and Myspace in 2003, it is however the most popular one that is still around today and boasts having more than 3 billion active users each month.
I grew up in Europe and a lot of my family still lives there. I also have all of my mothers side of the family that live in Australia. Travel to Europe and Australia is expensive and so I do not see my family and friends often. I remember getting birthday cards from my grandparents in Australia and letters from my parents when I lived in Finland and they were in America. The mail would take about 2 weeks to reach me and then I was able to send something back and even include a picture or two if I wanted to after I had printed them out. When Email became more popular I got my very first email address in 1998. I was able to now send letters a lot faster and did not need to wait weeks to hear back. I had to know my family and friends email addresses and could only communicate with them if they had signed up for email as well. I remember setting up a Myspace account when that became available and soon I found a few friends that I had lost contact with over the years. When Facebook became popular I already had 2 kids and they were 6 and 4 years old. I was now able to share news about my little family in America with my friends and family far away. They were able to see updates and pictures all over the world no matter where they were.
Over the years I have found friends I lost contact with and have been able to connect with family that lives far away and even some that I have never met. My kids, now 23 and 21, each have all the social media apps and use them daily. They have Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, Reddit, Twitter (now X), Pinterest, Linkedin, Youtube, Twitch, and much more. I can see how their lives revolve around the use of social media to stay up to date with the latest trends/fads and to make sure everyone knows about their lives as well. Countless hours are spent online now instead of outside or communicating with real living breathing individuals. In today's society kids are given smartphones with access to social media before they are even old enough to sign up for the sites themselves. They are learning about the world's expectations of them from celebrities and influencers instead of their parents, siblings, family members, or teachers at school. As I have gotten older I have enjoyed keeping in contact with my friends and family far away but have found it less necessary to post everything that happens in my life. I log on to my Facebook account seldomly and only to see if anything new has happened to those that I don’t see on a regular basis. (Except during this class as I now log in multiple times a week to look at my community) Last July I deleted my other social media accounts that I signed up for a long time ago and only kept Facebook as it lets me keep in touch with my family and friends in Europe and Australia. At first I missed the constant knowledge of knowing what my friends and kids were up to, but over time I realized that I could actually talk to them instead of looking at their social media pages.
I am glad that social media sites such as Facebook have a set of norms, values, and expectations that all users need to adhere to. Your posts can be removed and you can be kicked off the platform if you do not adhere to these social standards. To be a part of many online groups you may need to acknowledge that you are willing to abide by the norms and values of that particular community to be a part of it. Just like with any other society there need to be expectations so that everyone knows what the “rules” are and that they can choose to follow them or look for a different community that caters a little better to them instead.
[Paper written for SOC 3690 class UVU Spring 2024]
Amy Brouwer . 2024 . All Right Reserved
