Many colleges and universities still utilize the Facebook, and the web site's creators based their name and idea on that old college tradition, they just updated it for a younger, hipper, techie audience. However, compared to other social networking sites, like My Space, Facebook is far less chaotic, busy, and difficult to understand. The pages are neat, easy to navigate, and offer the information in an uncluttered, neat site that is pleasant to look at.
Facebook's effect on today's society is not difficult to distinguish. Of course, Facebook's success has spawned numerous other sites geared to specific age groups and demographics. Another writer notes, "There are social networking sites for musicians, for mountain climbers, and for particular political persuasions. And with each site, a new community emerges that presumably satisfies the community needs that the members of such a site are looking for" (Fabian, 2008). Facebook has changed the way people communicate, connect with each other, and meet, and all of that is done virtually now, instead of in person. Users can share photos, buy and sell items, and spend hours online communicating with friends and acquaintances. It has changed the way people connect and communicate, but its affect on society goes far deeper than that, and it says something about our virtual society.
Experts estimate that many people now spend at least 50 percent of their waking time online (Fabian, 2008). For many, a large part of this time is spent in social networking sites like Facebook. People give up huge parts of their privacy when they post their feelings, interests, and ideas online, and society seems to be becoming much more open to this lack of privacy, in fact, the users of Facebook seem to relish it, adding very personal items to their profiles that anyone who becomes their friend can view. This seems to say that our society is much more open now, and much more open to posting intimate information online, but it also is rather anonymous in a way, because users never see, meet, or touch the person they communicate with, and so, even though they know intimate details, they do not really know the person at all.