Facebook

When I first started reading the article I thought it was going to be the typical anti-Facebook and online networking site rant. After some reading I realized that the author had very good points as to the benefits and innovations of Facebook. He talked about how Facebook allows friends to be constantly in touch and through status updates, wall posts, etc; get to know their friends on a deeper level. The author compared Facebook to cellphones, in that when you have one you begin to notice all the little things in life it makes easier. A key to his argument was using real people as examples, such as the women who complained about Facebook to a magazine, but now has over 250 friends on the site. Overall, the author provides a new viewpoint on the Facebook/Myspace phenomena and tries to show why it can strengthen relationships and broaden ones views of friends and family. 

After reading over the article again, I begin to see huge gaps in the author’s logic. One of the main points of his argument is based off the fact that you can better connect with and meet new people on Facebook. My argument against this would be that you have no idea if your really talking with the person intended or if its a 500 pound man sitting in his mom's basement in Canada impersonating someone. Facebook and other social networking sites completely take the personality and intimateness out of relationships, by allowing people to communicate "virtually" instead of in person. On the site everyone knows what is going on in your life and the lives of others, one has no control to stop people from writing vulgar or offensive things on each other’s "walls". Overall, I would have to disagree with the author’s idea that Facebook allows you to get to know people better, by allowing you to constantly see what is going on in the lives of others. I, instead, would argue that it creates a “fantasy world” where you can be whoever you want and this completely takes the personal and intimate aspects out of relationships.