Filtered Judgment

Facebook is part of nearly every college kid's life. Many students in the class, for credit or not, have posted something about Facebook on their blogs... some have even done presentations about it in some of their classes. What in the world of Facebook could I possibly talk about that hasn't been talked about before? the answer is "not much". That's the point: Facebook is very popular; it gets a lot of attention accordingly.

And Why shouldn't it? It is a brilliant idea that will make Mark Zuckerburg, its creator, insanely rich. It is the closest online replica of how our social networks work in reality. I think its most uncanny ability is how effective it can be at informing you of changes in your world. It actually improves upon the way we roll along in our normal lives. I could go to one class and have one whispered conversation with the person next to me for gossip news. I may find out that that person bombed a test, or that infamous line to describe a dull uneventful life: "I'm good...". But in 20 seconds on Facebook, this is the info I glean (this is an actual test; I pulled up my home page and scanned for information, stopping after 20 seconds):

• I have 3 friends with birthdays in 3 days.
• 2 of my friends are going to the Phillies game next week.
• One of my friends, according to his status, is currently confused.
• What I call the "Don't ask, don't tell" picture albums... You fill in the material.
• I've read three sentences in three of my friends' conversations to each other.

This instant and useful information are the cornerstones(can one have two?) of what makes Facebook an incredible phenomenon. The popularity of Facebook, as described in the article by Newsweek, is growing at the rate of one million people a week. It's apparently "a perfect fit" for plenty of people across demographics with a seemingly endless myriad of uses. This aspect is something the article above stressed in detail. Since Facebook opened to support third party applications, everything from playing poker or listening to new music can be done on Facebook.

Ah...The ever present buzz word of technology these days: versatility. Multifaceted technologies are becoming more popular. People can no longer live with a phone. Why would they, when they can have an internet browsing phone that plays music, has a built in planner, and can feed your dog for you? Ok, so maybe I'm getting a little facetious, but you get the point. The more things you can do on Facebook, the more time you spend on Facebook. Consolidation is key in today's technology market.

To summarize, I'll use the Austin Powers "Paradox Construction", courtesy of a certain overweight individual:

"I Facebook because I need to gossip, and I gossip because I Facebook. It's a vicious cycle..."