Facebook

Update: I'm not sure I thought this topic through before I posted this one. I'll probably put in another one later. Ignore this one for now if you can.

"More than 500 million active users
50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
Average user has 130 friends
People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook." Source.

I haven't yet watched 'The Social Network'. Traveling extensively has cut down on my movie time although I have a prime pirated DVDRip file lying on my hard disk. I shall attend to it shortly. This post isn't about the movie though.

Facebook has faced severe criticism since it's inception for various reasons. The website in itself is an innocent networking platform. Meant for those who would like to keep in touch with old friends and possible acquaintances. But the potency comes from the freedom that it allows an individual user, as a medium to exhibit oneself to the voyeuristic pleasures of those who would dare to see.

This isn't about a true self too. It allows a person to create a virtual identity of himself or herself in a way he or she wants the world to see him. You sift through hundreds of photographs in your album and fish out the very best to be your display pics. Noone has seen the one in which your teeth look awkward when you laugh. It's not the way you want the world to see you.

People look at Facebook as a movie. Where you force fit yourself as the star. Either through liking music that is most "liked", even if you don't or by posting quotes as status messages even if you do not understand them. And you feel good by the number of likes or comments on the same.

There is a lot more I have to say on the topic and I shall in due time. I'm not saying I'll delete my profile, but I'd like to begin to use it just to keep in touch with friends. Not to scan through personal histories and feel better about my virtual self because of how better I APPEAR than them.