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Why people like facebook so much.

da_prodigy
edited November 2007 in General
My theory is that most student's don't have the time or energy to maintain a large social network. But with facebook, it's easy to keep in touch with friends and "socialize" as evidenced by the fact that when I walk by any computer lab, there are always a few people browsing profiles on facebook. Ironically, the same competitive phenomena we see in day to day life is being reflected in facebook. Instead of judgments about who has more friends, you can actually get an exact figure by simply clicking "view friends." Anyways, my point is that facebook made socializing easier so it allows people to have more of a social life...albeit online. Anyone else have any opinions about the runaway success of facebook?

Comments

  • Ether
    edited November 2007
    I think you're right and wrong there. It is much easier to keep in touch with people, but I don't see this as any less "social" than sending emails or IMing.

    Another thing that people assume about facebook is that people actually care how many friends you have. It's a meaningless statistic and it's not like people go around saying "I'm so cool 'cause I have 327 friends!".
  • Morro
    edited November 2007
    I like it because girls seem compelled to post half-nekkid pics.
  • Sarahvma
    edited November 2007
    I think it's really a case-by-case thing. For some people it's definitely a way of showing off or having kind of "pretend" social encounters, but take setting up a party, for instance.

    You had to call up each and every person, agree on a place, time, etc. If anything changed, everyone who had been invited would have had to have been called all over again, more phone tag...

    With facebook, you create an event, invite people, and if something changes everybody knows about it immediately.

    For me it's not so much a way of socializing, but a way to organize easier social outings IRL.
  • baby e
    edited November 2007
    Facebook is so crappy. It was fun at first, but now I really dont see the need to constantly be updating my status for everyone to know what im doing. I only do it once in a while now.
  • Magnificent_BastardMagnificent_Bastard
    edited November 2007
    I think most people like it because they're attention whores who like thinking that they have more friends than they really have in real-life. So Facebook is a good way to continue living the lie.
  • randomuser
    edited November 2007
    facebook is just interesting in a voyeuristic approach, ive been known to creep my friends profiles to see how theyre friends with...its fascinating to know who people are friends with or the types of people theyre friends with...the ability to look people up who've changed email addresses, i found a friend i lost contact with for four years on there

    i dont know anybody who cares how many friends they have thats very myspace'ish...cause most people on facebook know that they have some people on their friends they never speak to or speak to anymore

    its kind of like txt messaging too but for free
  • Morro
    edited November 2007
    Magnificent_Bastard;17809 said:
    I think most people like it because they're attention whores who like thinking that they have more friends than they really have in real-life. So Facebook is a good way to continue living the lie.
    Be more cynical. =P
  • Broken Lizard
    edited November 2007
    i gots 607 friends, bitches!!
  • meeshmeesh
    edited November 2007
    I haven't been on Facebook for about a month. I nearly forgot about it! Facebook was fun when I was just starting off in university and my friends were all over the place. I usually use email anyway and I only really keep in contact with my close friends via in person, phone, or Skype if they're far, far away :)
  • Broken Lizard
    edited November 2007
    ok i dont, i just cleared out half of what i got because i don't talk to them, haha
  • JennyBRONX
    edited November 2007
    I use it kind of as a social reference. If I hear a name or am interested in knowing more about someone, I log onto facebook and do a search. The information people provide on there should be taken with a grain of salt though, because a lot of people orient their profiles as who/what they would like to be, rather than who they really are. I think thats another reason why facebook is so succesful, because it allows you easily control what people perceive you for. You have total control over how you want to present yourself which can be a good thing or a bad thing...which is why my friends refer to it as "fakebook"
  • imelting
    edited November 2007
    estalking is the new umm black. ya!
  • randomuser
    edited November 2007
    its called 'creeping' not stalking and its fun, and disturbing when you find out youve dated the same people as people you know, or when people are friends with your worst enemies

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