'Thefacebook'
We will not ever know of course how the World today would have looked like, if this crazy 19 year old geek from Harvard University hadn't had the idea to create a friend site - from his dorm room - with the purpose to make it easy for students to connect with each-other.
'Thefacebook', as the first, original, site was named, has not only transformed the internet but completely changed the nature of how we communicate.
Although my kids their grandma still can't really understand this new way of communication, because after all, isn't it lot more fun to "call each other on the landline" or better, "hop on your bike and go see each other?!' And what on earth is there to talk about "when you already saw each other in school all day?"....... Granny has been under a stone for he past decade obviously. Nevertheless, same Granny now also registered on Facebook and Twitter because that IS the best and fastest way these days to stay updated on her grandkids' daily life. And not to forget of course keeping in touch with family in Brazil and the US has become a lot easier. Granny does realize that now...... Slow process, but she does.
Over 500 mill users and available in close to 80 languages, Facebook is one of the fastest growing companies in History.
Social Networks have the ability to really CHANGE the world. The speed in which communication is possible these days is already having a huge knock-on effect. Ones an issue has started, and the snowball begins to roll, there's NO stopping anymore. One of the very first protests for example, that started via Facebook, was a massive demonstration in Bogota, Colombia against FARC, February 2008. And it all started from an upstairs bedroom in Barranquilla (*)
And more recently, developments in Egypt were also fueled by Social Networking sites, FB & Twitter in particular. The easy at which people can now join forces was evident in Egypt.
On the negative side of course, more and more there's the 'worry' about sensitive private information going all over the world, and accessible for the whole world. With the development of Social Media, we need to even more carefully monitor our children and their internet behavior.
Back to the positives - for Business, Social Media truly IS Heaven on Earth. The amount of people worldwide you have access to is truly beyond limits. Therefore Social Media is also changing the way we do business, and those who stay behind will be the losers of the Century.
Like it or not, good or bad, fact is the world is very highly affected by Facebook and a few other Daily Life Influencers like Twitter & Youtube. Their social impact continues to broaden. Pros & Cons will always be competing but that Facebook is changing our notion of communication is without any discussion. Even my Mum agrees now.....
The Harvard Geek is now a Billion Dollar Boy and I wonder if he ever could've thought that this silly idea to connect students would become a portal that completely turned around millions of lives.
"By giving people the Power to SHARE, we're making the world more TRANSPARENT" ~ Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook
The Slight Edge Community and all other Social Networks have successfully picked up Zuckerberg's idea and made the World a lot smaller, for ourselves and certainly also for our children. Or should we say it made the world wider...... Either way, distances and bounderies are to be neglected. We can more easily learn from each other, learn from situations, improve our health & lifestyle, improve our skills, develop ourselves and meet new people. All what is left to do is also keep our feet on the ground and don't forget to now and again go back to basic; switch off the computer, tablet and mobile phone, light some candles and the fireplace and spend time on the sofa talking......like we did when Mark Zuckerberg was still a toddler...... ;-)
* source: 'the facebook effect'
