What if Facebook ends?
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| Photo by rishibrando |
Once ICQ and then MSN, now is Facebook.Though Google+ has been introduced quite recently, it seems that Facebook is still the social media champ among all.
Facebook is definitely NOT the first social networking tool I used but is surely the one that allows me to reach people most widely and do many things in a much more convenient way. I think people would agree that Facebook is the icon for Web 2.0 and it's become a kind of culture that slowly changes people.
It changes us in many ways such as how we relate to people. Most significantly, it also subtly changes the way people think of the power they have to influence the community. With the availability of smartphones making sharing much more instant, the Facebook craze is lead to the peak and some people would think now it's the Golden Age for Facebook.
But the thing is people will get bored - not soon but eventually - particularly in this fast-paced world. It's been eight years since Facebook first launched. Over the years, it has been constantly changing so as to survive in the highly competitive market of social media platforms. The Timeline as the newest Facebook profile is one of the examples.
While I do think there's no turning back - just like cellphones evolved from black and white screen to colour screen; and now from cellphones to smartphones - that this kind of social media would continue to dominate, Facebook may or may not still be the social media king in the future.
What I want to say is, even if Facebook really shuts down, the end of it does not mean the end of social media platforms because people love to share. A new social networking platform may overtake Facebook and even Facebook would be sold to that company. It is a very common in nowadays business world but my concern is people's privacy since Facebook records what we do daily, what we like, who our frieds are, and etc. How would our personal information be treated when Facebook is abandoned? Improper handling would lead to privacy disaster and the effect could be something beyond our imagination.
Fortunately, according to some analysts, the empire of Facebook would not end in the near future as no other similar platforms on the market can beat Facebook at the moment. People can still enjoy using Facebook for some years.
Sometimes I think that it is wonderful that the founder of Mark Zuckerberg came up with the idea of Timeline, which is about recording people's life as a story. The question is will Facebook last long enough for one to record his/her whole life?
