Showcase yourself

I use Facebook...Who doesn't? Although I don't spend as much time as some others I know who use up hours of time creepin' on this site. Facebook is a virtual community where people with same interests can come together, a place where you can keep in touch with friends and place to showcase yourself.

Possibly the most attractive feature of Facebook is the ability to make a page all about "you." People love to talk about themselves, to show pictures they have taken, to let people know their thoughts and ideas, and to have center stage. Facebook gives people this opportunity. People get to share everything they want about themselves and put effort into "everything about me."

This reflects our culture of individuality and self-centeredness. Facebook feeds the human desire to care mostly about oneself. As stated in the paper "The Benefits of Facebook 'Friends:' Social Capital and College Students' Use of Online Social Network," the online communities liberates people to form communities around shared interests instead of shared geography. The focus is on what interests "me" not about working together with people who might not have the exact same views or interests as "I" do.

This trend can be seen in the way that new media is going. Things like MySpace, YouTube, and Facebook all put the power in the hands of the individual. This can be a positive thing where people's voice's can be heard but it can also be negative in the sense that real, often difficult community is becoming a thing of the past. We are loosing the art of working together and helping our neighbor and gaining the ability to become specified and individualized.