The Social Network
Mark Zuckerberg single-handed changed the world. The scene above, from The Social Network, exemplifies the empire Facebook was (is) a whole. In this post, my goal is to examine the means in which Facebook, and furthermore Mark Zuckerberg, created a legendary era of social networking.
The era of social networks indeed began with Myspace, back in the early 2000's. Myspace was the cool thing to do, and if you were a teenager who didn't have one, you weren't with the program. Myspace was a peasant of Zuckerberg's Facebook.
Facebook had (has) every idea possible about social networking. It perfected Myspace, and drove Myspace into the ground. I remember I was reluctant to get a Facebook when it first came out because I was so attached to Myspace. After finally giving in, after most of my friends already signed up for Facebook, my Myspace was deleted within a couple weeks. Facebook had it all, the perfect way to communicate with friends online. The most important shift in our society during this time period was when everything started to become mobile, and Facebook helped lead that transition.
Facebook is still a business empire today. Though it's not as popular for the teen generation, it has become more significant for businesses to promote and for families to stay in touch. From my perspective it's not "cool" anymore, but to others it remains a lifestyle. Its one of the largest websites in the world today, and has been over the last decade or so. It has been the Godfather of all other social networks today, like Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Vine, and even apps like Tinder. Each one of those sub-networks has taken a major idea from Facebook and just enhanced it. People like each one of those sites because they are all different, but all are relative to Facebook,
Who knows where Facebook will be ten more years from now, but nonetheless, it has paved the way for infinite possibilities of social-networking and business ideas.
I don't really quite understand what is going on in the scene above. But I can relate to social media and some of the things you have said. Like the tough transition for moving to a different social media. I have had that specially when Instagram came out versus Facebook, only cause my mom wouldn't let me have a Myspace and it wasn't easy to let her let me have a Facebook either, but now even she has one. I even thought how Instagram wasn't as good as Facebook, because ti couldn't do all that Facebook could. But I somehow became addicted to Insta, and then Twitter, but now I am snapper. Maybe because I am in the youth and go with what is trending, because you are right facebook isn't as big with the youth, but it still huge for business and continuing to grow for the older generation and before we know it the youth will be the older generation and it will be interesting to see what transition we have made since then. Maybe there will be something bigger and better than Facebook. But it funny that you say all social media is a magnified branch of Facebook, which I can see and it is funny cause all of it can go back to Facebook, literally almost everything social media wise, because when you make a new account you always have the option to connect it to your Facebook.
ReplyDeleteI can agree with you that Mark Zuckerberg did and has built a social media empire out of Facebook. I can also agree that it connects all our friends and family all in one place. Recently my grandparents created an account and they love the fact they can see what their kids and grand kids are up to. Facebook has also become more than just social media. It has become booming advertising business, acting as a advertising medium for almost anything! Facebook has even helped change history in far away countries. A prime example was during the Arab spring. Facebook was where these revolutionists would muster their peers and plan their protests. This was an extremely effective way of communicating and it helped bring down governments for the better or worst. After Arab spring, countries (such as china) started to heavily censor what their citizens could and could not access. These countries realized how social media could topple them. I too am curious to see what Facebook becomes in the near distant future.
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