Facebook – the beginning of the end?
It’s a truism that whenever something or someone is deemed to be getting too big for its, his or her boots, in the West (the Western World, not Galway) we like to bring it (or them) down a peg or two. Witness the Facebook backlash. Suddenly we’re all being alerted to the fact that it may not be a good thing for us to spill our collective guts in the public domain – particularly, if we’re exposing personal information that maybe, just maybe, is going to be shared with people or businesses that we don’t want to share it with. Oh how we laughed at people’s lack of popularity and their public faux-pas. But now we’re starting to get distinctly nervous about FB’s omnipotence. If you’re not on FB you don”t exist. It’s even replaced email for many people. Brands are hammering at the door, screaming to be let in, even if they don’t have a clue what to do once they get there. It’s like an exclusive party that we’ve all managed to gatecrash. Only once inside, whilst many of us are partying on the dancefloor, there are an equal number of us hanging around uncomfortably by the bar nursing half a lager. Maybe it’s just our natural suspicion of authority. But it suddenly seems like we may be getting ready to remove FB from our ‘Friends’ list. As though sensing this uncomfortable shift in the public perception, the FB Grandees have been in the papers this week, attempting to reassure us all that they’re not about to sell us down the river. But maybe it’s too late? Is there a tsunami coming that will blow it away and we’ll all look back in 10 years and say ‘remember Facebook?’ Or perhaps, FB is now so ingrained in our culture, it’s become the social media equivalent of a mobile phone – something we’re no longer able to live without? So whilst you ponder this, have a look at QuitFacebook and this. A sign of things to come?
And then ponder this heartbreaking image:
But then before it all gets too sad, have a laugh at this.
