The Facebook Domination

By Leah Weiss

The ultimate social networking site, Facebook, has taken over the Internet in only a few short years, and is beginning its takeover of social lives across the globe.

“I spend about an hour and a half everyday, generally looking for bumper stickers (an application) or looking through my friends pictures and profiles. It becomes very addicting,” Stonehill College freshman Katherine Healey said.

That is what the millions of Facebook users worldwide are finding.

According to statistics from the Facebook.com pressroom, the social networking site now has 120 million active users with an average of 250,000 new registrations per day. Needless to say, there are plenty of profiles to peruse on a daily basis.

“Sometimes it keeps me from getting work done, it’s a good form of procrastination, but I do try really hard not to let it get in the way,” Healey said.

People spent an average of 20 minutes on Facebook daily, according to comScore Inc. in 2007.

With over 55,000 regional, work-related, collegiate, and high school networks, it is easy to reconnect with long lost friends and family by just clicking a button.

"I love the way Facebook keeps me interacted and connected with all of my friends, I use it at least 30 minutes daily," University of Virginia freshman Peter Szeremeta said.

Facebook has become the new way to stay involved in the lives of friends and family that are further than a phone call away.

Just below Internet giants Google and YouTube, Facebook is now the sixth most trafficked site in the United States, according to statistics from comScore. However, still above Facebook in the ranks, is Myspace, another social networking site.

Myspace may have slightly more visitors per day, but Facebook is all the rage on college campuses.

“Myspace became too creepy with the older people and the more sexual nature that just doesn’t exist on Facebook. I have my Facebook set to specific privacy settings so only my friends can see my pictures and profile, so I just feel safer on it,” Healey said.

There’s always a risk when posting personal information on any website, but Facebook has found a way to make its users feel more protection from predators that roam the World Wide Web.

A common term among Facebook users is “creeping,” Healey said. It is looking through someone’s profile without his or her knowledge, and viewing who has written on the wall or what pictures they have been tagged in.

It is the norm among today’s Facebook users.

There are different reasons why people are drawn to social networking sites like Facebook, Stonehill College psychology professor Rita DeOliveira said.

“At first, people tend to go on because they are curious or they want to see what everyone else is talking about, then they get persuaded by others to stay on the site and create their own profile. This gives them a sense of belonging and importance. It's an easy way to communicate with many people; especially people one would never have communicated with were it not for Facebook or any other site,” DeOliveira said.

Communicating with people on Facebook is not as personal as sending a text message, and much less confrontational, Stonehill freshman Shannon Clancy said.

Facebook breaks down social barriers and allows users to converse freely with “friends”, usually acquaintances, that they have acquired on the site.

“In some cases, people have social anxiety and interacting via the computer is more comfortable and not as anxiety provoking, people feel more at ease to express themselves. For some people, it then becomes an addiction where they feel compelled to be social networking,” DeOliveira said.