My favorite obsession: Facebook

The above video is a hilarious parody of Facebook and the "eharmony" commercials on TV.

Online communities and social networking have been often discussed in our COM 125 course. The reason why they are so important to learn and talk about is because they are apart of mostly every person's daily routine. Facebook is an example of one of these online communities that I spend most my time, share notes, share photos, and share interests with many other people alike, and unlike myself. According to Wikipedia, a decent definition of Facebook is as follows: "Facebook is a social networking website. It was originally developed for college and university students but has since been made available to anyone with an email address. People can select to join one or more participating networks, such as a high school, place of employment, or geographic region" (Wikipedia.org "Facebook"). Developed by a college student named Mark Zuckerberg, this online community has taken the use of Internet communication to a whole new level, and I am sure far exceeded Zuckerberg's expectations. I believe that Facebook is one of the most widely used social networking sites on the web, and because of this, I also believe that it has some sort of impact on our everyday lives.
I wouldn't even have to look up any statistics to add to my belief that Facebook is used by an extremely large number of people, because I have not met one person yet in my college experience that isn't on Facebook. I also belong to Myspace, but I feel that Facebook is much more familiar to me, and I have noticed that more of my friends have a Facebook account rather than a Myspace account. An article from MSNBC described part of the growing popularity of Facebook. "The site has become so ubiquitous among college students that they tell others to "facebook" them — to look them up on the site. Browsing it is known simply as "facebooking" (MSNBC.msn.com). From the same article, a student for Georgia Institute of Technology described Facebook as, "It becomes part of your daily routine. It's e-mail, the news, the weather, Facebook," (MSNBC.msn.com). A social networking news website spoke about the popular site as well. "Facebook is the second largest social network on the web, behind only MySpace in terms of traffic. Primarily focused on high school to college students, Facebook has been gaining market share, and more significantly a supportive user base. Since their launch in February 2004, they’ve been able to obtain over 8 million users in the U.S. alone and expand worldwide to 7 other English-speaking countries, with more to follow" (mashable.com). It is known everywhere- Facebook is widely used, and highly liked by people all over the world.
Facebook has an impact on people's lives because of the overflow of information available to everyone. For instance, I do not ever read the newspaper, I find it boring, and I don't think I ever will, since the revolution of the Internet. However, Facebook allows me to hear about everything going on around me that directly or indirectly affects me. Whether it be a themed party this weekend at school, or a group paying their respects to the families and friends of the victims from Virginia Tech, I read present and past news constantly and quickly at that. Facebook allows for people to learn all kinds of things about people, places, and things. Memorials groups are made for the deceased, friends' news feeds are constantly being updated, friends are made all over the world, people stay in touch with childhood friends, and much much more goes on in the phenomenon that is Facebook. Whether it is a good impact such as making new friends, or finding out that the guy you have a crush on, is now in fact single, or a bad impact, like the hours spent on facebook taking away from your study time, Facebook definitely has made a mark on my generation and generations older and younger. I will always continue to use Facebook to stay in touch with the world around me and I hope that for whoever does not yet have an account will make one someday, and join in the Facebook community.



Sources:

"College Students Flock to Facebook." MSNBC. 4 July 2005. MSNBC/MSN. 25 Apr. 2007 .

"Facebook." Wikipedia. 25 Apr. 2007. Wikipedia. 25 Apr. 2007 .

Yadav, Sid. "Facebook- the Complete Biography." Mashable: Social Networking News. 25 Aug. 2006. 25 Apr. 2007 .

Network Neutrality

Network Neutrality is an extremely controversial topic basically between big businesses and small businesses. To better understand network neutrality I had to look on Wikipedia for a good definition. "Network Neutrality...refers to a principle applied to residential broadband networks, and potentially to all broadband networks. Precise definitions vary, but a broadband network free of restrictions on the kinds of equipment attached and the modes of communication allowed would be considered neutral by most advocates, provided it met additional tests relating to the degradation of various communication streams by others" (Wikipedia.org). Net neutrality is something that some businesses are striving for, and others want to reject. There are two extremely strong arguments to both sides of net neutrality. The big businesses such as telephone companies (Verizon) and cable companies (RoadRunner) that oppose net neutrality believe that the small businesses such as YouTube, and Google are offering too many media files which could lead to viruses and other problems that are slowing up Internet access, which is affecting the big businesses that provided the Internet for them (with a monthly fee) in the first place (Information Week).
The supporting side of net neutrality (the small businesses) are basically arguing that the Internet providers, and big businesses are opposing the neutrality because of financial incentives. Information Week explains the supporting side in one of their articles..."Proponents of net neutrality argue that cable and telecommunications form a duopoly that threatens the current system. They say that, without some type of anti-discrimination law or standards, cable and telecommunications companies could control users' access by blocking content from competitors, favoring certain applications, charging higher rates to deliver information into people's homes and offices and failing to inform people of their capacity" (Information Week).
I support the supporting side of net neutrality because I find that an argument i found Information Week is extremely true..."The Internet is based on a layered, end-to-end model that allows people at each level of the network to innovate free of any central control. By placing intelligence at the edges rather than control in the middle of the network, the Internet has created a platform for innovation" (Information Week). With the big businesses wanting to put restrictions on the Internet, that will just degrade the large amount of free innovative ideas and work that people are coming up with. The Internet should be the one thing that big businesses can't control, because we, the people are so involved with it that we won't let them make it controlling and manipulative. Rock The Net also brings up a good point, that these big businesses would be putting a sort of "Internet toll" on society. "Some cable Internet service providers such as Verizon and AT&T have proposed charging Internet content providers for having their web sites load faster. It's essentially a toll for using the Internet "highway" these ISPs have built. The proposal would create a "tiered" web. Companies that are able to afford the fees would have better service. Those that can't pay would be relegated to slower service. In the worst-case scenario, ISPs might even block certain web sites" (Rock The Net Why Net Neutrality is Important for Musicians).
So to sum up net neutrality, the people that are for it are the big businesses, the Internet providers. The people that are opposing it are the small businesses, and people like me, who don't want to pay more to access the Internet. For the big businesses, they are complaining that the heavy flow of media usage from small businesses are creating a traffic jam on the Internet, which is affecting their revenue. The small businesses and I don't want to have restrictions put on Internet connection and content, because that will change our everyday lives. We have grown so use to the Internet, and the way it works, that if Big businesses change this, there will be a very big uproar from the common user and small businesses.

Jones, K.c. "Net Neutrality Debate Remains Contentious." Information Week. 16 Mar. 2007. 13 Apr. 2007 .

"Why Net Neutrality is Important for Musicians." Rock the Net. Rock the Net. 13 Apr. 2007 .