Facebook: Its Advantages and Disadvantages

Facebook: Its Advantages and Disadvantages

Facebook, over the past few years, has become a large part of our daily lives. There are over a billion people who regularly use Facebook (Protalinski). We share everything from photographs to news with our friends and family using this social media, and for many people Facebook has enriched their lives. Certainly there are many advantages in using Facebook; however, there are also many disadvantages. This essay will briefly explore both. 

          There are many advantages of using Facebook. Most importantly, it is a way to share one's life with friends and family all over the world. Unlike in the past, modern social circles are often geographically diverse and distant, and social media such as Facebook is the best way to keep in contact with friends and family all over the world. One can now share photos at a snap in an easy-to-use system, so for instance you can share a photo of your holiday in Bali with your grandparents in Budapest at an instant. The growing number of older people using Facebook also makes it easier to keep in touch with older family members (Segan), and for most users, the ability to control who you share information with is extremely important, making it more private than social media that are fully open such as Twitter. Moreover, as Facebook crosses all platforms, from photos to news, from opinions to video, it is more useful than item-specific social media like Instagram (photos), YouTube (videos), and so forth. In many ways, Facebook best resembles how one interacts with friends and family in a virtual way. 

          Nevertheless, there are also many disadvantages of Facebook, often coming from the ease of use and the amount of information that is shared. One of the biggest criticisms of Facebook is its opaque privacy policy that often changes with little notice. Privacy concerns are extremely important, ranging from information being accessed by those you do not necessarily want to have such information -- such as enemies or marketing companies (Bickham). In addition, there is evidence that law enforcement agencies often use Facebook to monitor activities, raiding parties and other social events planned on Facebook (Modine). Also, employers now frequently access information that can be found on Facebook, and one may lose a job offer (or even a job) from Facebook postings (Davidson). Moreover, like anything on the internet, once something is posted it is very likely to be permanent -- so embarrassing photos or questionable comments, even if quickly deleted, may come back to haunt the user especially if they go viral (Egbert). Finally, the increase in advertising on Facebook is extremely annoying, and in many ways a violation of privacy, as Facebook screens postings and crafts advertisements for the interests of specific users as "targeted" ads (Vara). Although Facebook offers much to users, it also opens the door to more problems that would otherwise be avoided.

          Clearly Facebook is something that is enriching the lives of many, helping individuals share their lives with friends and family all around the world. Facebook makes that process much easier and faster. However, that also opens the door to problems such as privacy and over-sharing. For those who use Facebook constantly, the lesson is to be conscious of postings and the intended audience, or else, perhaps it is better to log off just to be safe. 

Svitlana Serogina