When it comes to Facebook, you’re probably an A.S.S.

Hi, my name is Samantha. I’m a sophomore Animal Science major from Coral Springs, FL. The long trek to Cornell was definitely an interesting adventure, although there were many delayed or canceled flights and lost baggage I made it here. Upstate NY is a lot different from home. I’ve effectively traded the single-season beach scenery for the weather extremes of the suburbs. Okay enough with the mini-bio, let’s talk about Facebook!

Oh Facebook, you might be the best/worst thing that has happened to the online world. This Internet phenomenon has taken the college world and beyond to a new level of communication. I would classify Facebook’s online space as a “social network” that integrates email (messaging), discussion boards (groups), and the homepage (self-descriptions, contact info, personal info, etc.), linking people across the globe. It’s really quite exciting but it’s also a little creepy…

I have to admit that I am an A.S.S. when it comes to Facebook. Now when I say A.S.S., I am referring to a(n) addict, stalker, or stranger, and I’m pretty sure that you might be one too. Whether you check your Facebook ferociously every few hours, or look into those News Feed updates to see what your friends are up to, or befriend someone you’ve only met for a brief time (but just long enough to exchange names to find each other on Facebook).

I mean, we all love that we can keep in touch with our friends without having to worry about new mailing addresses or new phone numbers; you can stay in contact with friends and family across the country by the click of a mouse. But some of the relatively new features on Facebook are slightly concerning. Now, every time you update your profile (by adding pictures, changing personal info, etc.) all of your “friends” are notified through News Feed. And I say “friends” because, how well do you really know the people on your friend list? I know that you might have been going to school together for years with some of them, and you maybe even grew up together, but most are probably acquaintances that you know little about.

Now I’m not totally against Facebook. I just think that because it’s a relatively new program, there’s still room for improvement and changes to accommodate for the needs of users (as seen with the new applications and expanding privacy settings). We still have a ways to go and with technology advancing, who knows maybe Facebook will be outdated by some new program in a few years…we’ll just have to wait and see…But until then I guess we can just keep being A.S.S.’s on Facebook.