Facebook, a social networking site started by Mark Zuckerberg, has made great strides from its birth in 2004 to its current status today. Starting out as a site solely for college students to network and gain friends, the site has evolved greatly and now allows anyone to be a part of their school network, work network, or geographical network. However, besides simply allowing a greater variety of people to take part in the site, I believe that Facebook has also become more business savvy in recent years. Will this new venture benefit the ever-evolving social network, or cause members to shy away from the ad-covered web pages?
When Facebook first began I believe that Zuckerberg truly had the users of the site in mind, with the money he was beginning to make serving as an extra perk. But recently, with Facebook's blatant popularity, I have noticed a shift in focus towards business and promotion of brands through ads on the site. When I first started my personal Facebook page in high school, there were few ads, and the only things a user was allowed to do was write on a friends "wall,"post photos, and list there general interests and educational information. However, Facebook now offers thousands of new applications which allow users to do anything from sport their loyalty to a sporting team, to give a "gift" to a friend. Another recent development i noticed was the amount of advertising on Facebook. From the banner ads on the side of the page, to companies being able to create their own pages to promote their products. According to an article on CNN.com, Facebook is going above and beyond by unveiling a new ad campaign to include Facebook users. They say that people influence people, and this new campaign will do just that. If a friend buys a product or books a vacation, the company will be able to use this information to entice others within their social network to buy the product.
I believe Facebook is becoming to commercial, and has lost much of its luster since it first began. I now feel like I am being used by the site to help make money through this new advertising plan, and I am not a fan. I think this idea will backfire on Facebook and cause many privacy issues to arrive. What if a member doesn't want their information used on a companies Facebook page? Will they have the choice to say no? It will be interesting to see what becomes of this new investment, and how it will affect the popularity of the site. Personally, although I do not like the idea of being used to help advertisers, I will continue to use this social networking site to keep in contact with my friends. I have learned to adapt to all changes the site has enforced thus far, and use the site far to often to quit cold-turkey. But in the end I think the new additions to Facebook are taking the focus away from the needs of the users, and putting it on to business and making money; a common problem plaguing many Internet sites today.
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