facebook is good essay

Essay On Facebook

Table of Contents

Short Essay On Facebook

Facebook is a social networking platform that was founded in 2004 and has since become one of the largest and most influential technology companies in the world. With over 2.7 billion monthly active users, Facebook has had a profound impact on how people communicate and share information with each other.

One of the main advantages of Facebook is the ease with which it allows people to connect and stay in touch with friends and family. People can share photos, videos, and updates about their lives with just a few clicks, making it easier to stay connected even when they are physically far apart. This has also made it easier for people to reconnect with old friends and build new relationships.

Another benefit of Facebook is the way it allows people to access and share information. With billions of users sharing news, articles, and other content, Facebook has become a major source of information for many people. However, this has also raised concerns about the accuracy and reliability of the information being shared on the platform, and has led to discussions about the role of social media in spreading misinformation and propaganda.

In addition to its impact on communication and information, Facebook has also had a significant impact on businesses and marketing. With its vast user base, Facebook has become an important platform for companies to reach potential customers and promote their products and services. This has led to the growth of online advertising and the creation of new business models based on digital marketing.

However, Facebook has also been criticized for its impact on privacy and personal data. With so much information being shared on the platform, there are concerns about who has access to this data and how it is being used. This has led to calls for increased regulation of social media companies and the protection of user privacy.

In conclusion, Facebook is a social networking platform that has had a profound impact on how people communicate and share information with each other. While it has many benefits, such as making it easier to connect with friends and access information, it has also raised concerns about privacy and the spread of misinformation. Whether Facebook is a force for good or evil is a matter of ongoing debate, but there is no denying the profound impact it has had on our world.

Long Essay On Facebook

Facebook has grown to become one of the most popular social media platforms in the world. It is used by people of all ages and from all walks of life. But what makes it so special? In this essay, we will explore how Facebook has changed our lives and why it deserves its place as one of the most influential social media platforms.

Introduction to Facebook

Facebook is a social networking site that was launched in 2004. It is now the largest social networking site in the world with over 1 billion active users. Facebook allows you to connect with friends and family, share photos and videos, join groups, and much more.

Creating a Facebook account is easy and only takes a few minutes. Simply go to www.facebook.com and fill out the sign up form with your name, email address, password, and date of birth. Once you have created your account, you can start adding friends by searching for their names or email addresses. You can also add friends by imported your contact list from another email service such as Gmail or Yahoo!.

Once you have added some friends, you can start posting updates on your profile page. Updates can be anything from what you are doing, to what you are thinking, to a photo or video you want to share. You can also choose to post your updates on your friends’ walls so that they can see what you are up to as well.

In addition to posting updates, there are many other things you can do on Facebook such as joining groups, creating events, playing games, and much more. Facebook is a great way to stay connected with friends and family all over the world.

How Facebook is Changing Society

It is no secret that Facebook is one of the most popular social networking platforms on the internet. With over 2 billion active users, it is safe to say that Facebook has had a profound impact on society. Here are some ways that Facebook is changing society:

1. People are spending more time online

Due to the popularity of Facebook, people are spending more time online than ever before. A recent study found that the average person spends over 50 minutes per day on Facebook. This is a significant increase from the 38 minutes per day that was reported in 2014. This trend is likely to continue as Facebook continues to add new features and become more engaging.

2. People are sharing more personal information

Another way that Facebook is changing society is by causing people to share more personal information than ever before. Due to the platform’s popularity, many people feel comfortable sharing details about their lives with their friends on Facebook. This includes everything from relationship status updates to photos from vacation. While some may see this as a good thing, others worry that too much personal information being shared online could lead to identity theft or other problems down the road.

3. More businesses are using Facebook

Due to the large number of people using Facebook, more businesses are starting to use the platform to reach out to potential customers. Businesses can create pages on Facebook and use targeted ads to reach people who are interested in what they have to offer. This can be a great way for businesses to reach people who may not have heard of them before.

4. People are getting their news from Facebook

Another way that Facebook is changing society is by becoming a source for people to get their news. Many people use their news feed to find out what’s happening in the world around them. This can be a good thing as long as the news they are reading is accurate and from reliable sources, but it can also be dangerous if people are only getting their news from unreliable sources.

It is clear that Facebook has had a profound impact on society and will continue to do so for years to come. While some of these changes may be positive, it is important to remember that there can also be negative consequences of using the platform too much.

Pros and Cons of Using Facebook

There are both good and bad aspects to using Facebook. On the plus side, it allows you to keep in touch with friends and family all over the world easily and for free. You can also join groups with like-minded people, stay up-to-date on current events, and learn about new products or services.

However, there are also some downfalls to using Facebook. For example, it can be addictive and time-consuming, lead to cyber bullying or other negative social interactions, and allow companies to collect data about users. Overall, whether or not Facebook is a positive or negative addition to your life depends on how you use it.

Impact on Education and Social Life

The social networking site Facebook has had a major impact on society and the education system. The site has allowed communication between friends and family to be much easier and quicker. It has also allowed people to connect with others who have similar interests. The site has also had an impact on the way that people learn about the world around them. Facebook has allowed people to share information and news much more easily than before. This has led to people being better informed about what is happening in the world around them.

Benefits of Using Facebook For Businesses

Facebook is a powerful marketing tool for businesses of all sizes. By creating a business Page, you can reach a large audience with your marketing messages. Facebook Pages are free to create, and they provide businesses with a wealth of features to take advantage of, such as the ability to post photos, videos, and updates about your products or services. Facebook also offers paid advertising options that allow you to target your messages to a specific audience.

When used correctly, Facebook can be an effective way to connect with potential and current customers, build brand awareness, and drive sales. Here are some key benefits of using Facebook for business:

Reach a large audience: With over 2 billion active users, Facebook provides businesses with a huge potential customer base. No matter what your product or service is, there’s a good chance that you can find your target market on Facebook.

Build relationships: Social media is all about building relationships. By interacting with potential and current customers on Facebook, you can create a connection with them that goes beyond simply selling them a product or service. When done right, this can lead to lifelong customers who are passionate about your brand.

Generate leads: A well-executed Facebook marketing campaign can generate leads for your business. For example, you can use Facebook Ads to target users who have expressed interest in similar products or services in the past. Or, you can run a contest or giveaway on your Page that requires users to submit their contact information .

Increase website traffic: You can use your Facebook Page to drive traffic to your website. For example, you can link to specific pages on your site from your posts and ads. This can be a great way to direct users to product pages or other important pages on your site.

Grow brand awareness: A consistent presence on Facebook helps build brand awareness for your business. As you post updates and interact with customers, more people will become aware of what you do and what products or services you offer. This can lead to increased sales down the road.

Concerns About Privacy & Security on Facebook

Facebook has been in the news a lot lately for privacy concerns. Many users are concerned about how their personal information is being used, and whether or not their data is secure.

Facebook has been accused of mishandling user data in the past, and there have been a number of high-profile security breaches. As a result, many users are worried about what will happen to their personal information if they use Facebook.

Privacy concerns are especially relevant when it comes to Facebook because the platform collects a lot of data about its users. This includes information about your interests, your friends, and your activity on the site.

All of this data can be used to target ads and content at you, and it can also be shared with third-party applications. This means that your personal information could be seen by people who you don’t know, and who you may not want to see it.

Security concerns are also a major issue for Facebook users. There have been a number of reports of people having their accounts hacked, or of malware being spread through the site. This can lead to sensitive information like your credit card details or home address being compromised.

Facebook has taken steps to improve its privacy and security features in recent years, but many users remain concerned about how their data is being used. If you’re worried about your privacy on Facebook, there are a few things you can do to protect yourself.

In conclusion, Facebook has its pros and cons. On the one hand, it can be a great way to connect with friends and family, share photos, and stay informed about current events. However, it can also lead to addiction and cyberbullying if used unwisely. As such, it is important for users to use caution when using this social media platform by limiting their time on it and monitoring what they post. With a healthy balance of usage in our lives, Facebook can continue to be an effective way for us all to communicate online.

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Home — Essay Samples — Business — Facebook — Pros And Cons Of Social Media: Analysis Of Facebook

Pros and Cons of Social Media: Analysis of Facebook

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120 Facebook Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

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Facebook has become a staple in our daily lives, allowing us to connect with friends, family, and even strangers from all over the world. With over 2.8 billion active users, it's no surprise that Facebook has become a popular platform for sharing thoughts, opinions, and ideas. One popular form of content on Facebook is the essay, which allows users to express their thoughts and insights on a wide range of topics.

If you're looking for inspiration for your next Facebook essay, look no further. Here are 120 topic ideas and examples to get you started:

• The impact of social media on mental health
• How technology has changed the way we communicate
• The importance of digital literacy in the modern world
• The pros and cons of online dating
• The role of social media in politics
• The influence of social media on body image
• The rise of influencer culture on social media
• The effects of cyberbullying on mental health
• The role of social media in activism and social movements
• The future of social media platforms
• The impact of fake news on social media
• The ethics of data privacy on social media
• The relationship between social media and self-esteem
• The impact of social media on relationships
• The role of social media in shaping public opinion
• The effects of social media on children and teenagers
• The rise of social media addiction
• The impact of social media on the news industry
• The role of social media in marketing and advertising
• The influence of social media on consumer behavior
• The impact of social media on democracy
• The role of social media in education
• The effects of social media on sleep patterns
• The role of social media in shaping cultural norms
• The impact of social media on politics and elections
• The influence of social media on fashion trends
• The effects of social media on mental health during the pandemic
• The role of social media in promoting body positivity
• The impact of social media on the music industry
• The ethics of social media influencers promoting products
• The effects of social media on the environment
• The role of social media in disaster response and recovery
• The impact of social media on travel and tourism
• The influence of social media on food trends
• The effects of social media on the fashion industry
• The role of social media in promoting sustainability
• The impact of social media on small businesses
• The ethics of social media algorithms
• The effects of social media on mental health in marginalized communities
• The role of social media in promoting diversity and inclusion
• The influence of social media on beauty standards
• The effects of social media on body positivity movements
• The role of social media in promoting mental health awareness
• The impact of social media on the gaming industry
• The ethics of social media companies collecting user data
• The effects of social media on political polarization
• The impact of social media on the fashion industry
• The influence of social media on travel trends
• The effects of social media on the film industry
• The role of social media in promoting healthy living
• The impact of social media on the sports industry
• The ethics of social media companies selling user data
• The effects of social media on mental health in the LGBTQ+ community
• The role of social media in promoting mental health resources
• The impact of social media on the entertainment industry
• The influence of social media on parenting styles
• The effects of social media on workplace culture
• The role of social media in promoting volunteer opportunities
• The impact of social media on the nonprofit sector
• The ethics of social media companies censoring content
• The effects of social media on mental health in rural communities
• The role of social media in promoting environmental activism
• The impact of social media on the healthcare industry
• The influence of social media on travel destinations
• The effects of social media on the beauty industry
• The role of social media in promoting mental health awareness in schools
• The impact of social media on the fitness industry
• The ethics of social media companies using AI to target users
• The effects of social media on mental health in the elderly population
• The role of social media in promoting financial literacy
• The impact of social media on the tech industry
• The influence of social media on fashion bloggers
• The effects of social media on mental health in the military community

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Example Of Argumentative Essay On Facebook: Good Or Bad For Communication

Type of paper: Argumentative Essay

Topic: Sociology , Communication , Relationships , Internet , Website , Facebook , Family , Networking

Words: 1400

Published: 03/10/2020

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Social associations and the necessity of communication are the two human conditions that are universal. It is a widespread assumption that communication technologies assist in increasing and strengthening social ties (Keller). There are a number of opportunities that are provided by the Internet for social networking. Facebook is one of those opportunities. It is not an untold secret that Facebook has turned out as the most popular online tool. It has made writing letters and phone conversations a practice of the past. According to Pew Research Center, Facebook is used by more than 2/3 of adults who use the Internet. The pervasiveness of Facebook as a social media platform has made it one of the simplest tools to communicate with family and friends (Morse). There is no doubt that Facebook is a great means of communication that allows people to remain connected with their loved ones, no matter where in the world they are. There are a lot of people who consider Facebook to affect the natural communication. They assert that people spend most of their time on this website and use it to be in contact with their family, friends, and acquaintances. According to them, this consistent practice has entirely changed communication ways as compared to the past. They also consider Facebook as a means of affecting real relationships. They think so because people show more attentiveness and concerned for the virtual relationships instead of spending time with family members and other people in the real world. They also argue that the easiness of Facebook’s use to stay in touch with thousands of people has also dissuaded many people to interact through traditional means. In particular, it has affected the communication skills of teenagers who are needed to have face-to-face interactions for learning social norms. Therefore, the opponents of Facebook communication believe that it does not let young children develop social skills ("Effects of Facebook on Communication - Its Impact and Study"). I believe that the social relationships we have today are not undermined by technology as assumed. Facebook is a great communicating platform due to which personal relationships have augmented. It has increased online communication without replacing telephone and face-to-face conversations. Facebook has added to the mentioned offline forms of communication by “increasing the overall volume of contact” (Masket). Facebook users are able to stay in contact with people they already know. It means face-to-face relationships are enhanced and strengthened when people are able to communicate through this most renowned social media website. Both online and offline relationships and conversations are complemented by each other. Facebook is a medium that makes this interaction possible and stronger. In addition, the News Feed option in Facebook is a way to facilitate its users to remain aware of their contacts. Not only this, the size of Facebook has also been successful in encouraging communication as it facilitates new friendships. This website has increased the probability of communicating with people who share similar interests. Thus, people using Facebook do not have to go outside in order to be in contact with people. They can do so wherever they happen to be. In addition, it is also believed by many that Facebook has greatly impacted the socialization patterns as its users are more concerned for uploading their pictures and videos, updating minute-to-minute statuses, and commenting on posts and walls. This simply reflects the fact that they consider online socialization more important than gatherings in real life. According to their point of view, the excessiveness of Facebook use has killed communication in real-life. This is because people now prefer to meet on Facebook rather than meeting in person. In short, many people consider Facebook as a real life replacement as it impacts real relationships and strengthens online ones ("How Facebook is Killing Real Relationships?"). However, I do not agree with the above arguments presented by the opponents of Facebook and other social networking sites. I strongly believe that Facebook is serving as an important tool for enriching social lives. Furthermore, communicating through Facebook has also fulfilled peoples’ need for socialization, intimacy, social support, and independence. Profile construction, video and picture sharing, talking through instant messaging provided by Facebook have made it easier for people to continuously create, recreate and hone their individuality. It is worth-mentioning that a majority of Facebook users are teenagers. As they prepare themselves to enter the social world as adults, Facebook provides them an online social environment which allows them to interact with other people from the comfort of their homes (Koltow). As far as my beliefs are concerned, I think that Facebook has benefitted us in several ways. It is one of those social networks that have made people better individuals and societal participants. Communication through Facebook has helped in the organization of political activities and has also encouraged democracy. This is because people have started to voice their opinions and beliefs through Facebook that impacts other peoples’ mindsets. Social networking and communication via Facebook has allowed people to explore their unique identity. Moreover, it has also assisted in the development and provision of social cognitive skills. For instance, conversing with different people and getting to know their ideas polishes one’s skill to talk with perspective ("Are Social Networking Sites Good for Our Society?”). Similarly, the use of Facebook has reduced loneliness and has also improved wellbeing. It is especially helpful for people who are not good in socializing conventionally (Marshall). It is particularly helping those people who are separated or far away from their friends and family members. Facebook has brought people together regardless of the fact that they are physically separated. The best example in this regard is that of people who are employed in the armed forces. They use Facebook consistently to be in touch with their loved ones as this social networking site makes it easier for them to see and converse with their near and dear ones. I do not completely disagree with the idea that Facebook has several drawbacks. However, its positives and benefits have outweighed them. Facebook has let people to connect with each other (Lecky-Thompson). There are a lot of success stories including marriages, partnerships, business contracts, and other cheering endorsements that make Facebook a valid platform for communication and social interaction. In short, there is no potential harm in using Facebook as a means of communication. It needs to be understoos that this website is not harmful or damaging itself. It depends on the users that how they use it. It can be said that it is all about a fine and healthy relationship with technology, the Internet, and social media sites like Facebook (Taylor).

Works Cited

"Are Social Networking Sites Good for Our Society?”. ProCon. N.p., 13 Apr. 2011. Web. 22 Oct. 2014. <http://socialnetworking.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=001614>. "Effects of Facebook on Communication - Its Impact and Study." GoCompu. N.p., 12 Nov. 2012. Web. 21 Oct. 2014. <http://gocompu.wordpress.com/2012/11/12/effects-of-facebook-on-communication-its-impact-and-study/>. "How Facebook is Killing Real Relationships?." TheCrowned. N.p., 10 Nov. 2011. Web. 22 Oct. 2014. <http://www.thecrowned.org/how-facebook-is-killing-real-relationships>. Keller, M. "Social Media and Interpersonal Communication." Social Work Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2014. <http://www.socialworktoday.com/archive/051313p10.shtml>. Koltow, D. "How Facebook Helps Us Communicate." Science. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2014. <http://science.opposingviews.com/facebook-helps-communicate-3274.html>. Lecky-Thompson, G. "FaceBook : Good or Bad for Communication." Suite. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2014. <https://suite.io/guy-lecky-thompson/1tpx21g>. Marshall, M. "Why Facebook is Good For You." New Scientist. N.p., 6 Mar. 2009. Web. 22 Oct. 2014. <http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126986.200-why-facebook-is-good-for-you.html>. Masket, S. "The Internet Is Improving the Way We Communicate." Pacific Standard. N.p., 2 June 2014. Web. 20 Oct. 2014. <http://www.psmag.com/navigation/nature-and-technology/networks-changed-social-media-internet-communication-82554/>. Morse, S. "How Facebook Helps Us Communicate." Small Business. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2014. <http://smallbusiness.chron.com/facebook-helps-communicate-66432.html>. Taylor, J. "The Bad, the Ugly, and the Good of Children's Use of Social Media." The Huffington Post. N.p., 28 May 2013. Web. 22 Oct. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-jim-taylor/the-bad-the-ugly-and-the_b_3346768.html>.

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Facebook Essay | Essay on Facebook for Students and Kids in English, Is Facebook Good or Bad?

Facebook Essay: Facebook is a long-range interpersonal communication site that associates individuals from one side of the planet to the other. It has made the planet earth a worldwide town. With only a single tick, you can associate with somebody living abroad.

Facebook has become one of the most popular people-to-person communication destinations. Notwithstanding, it accompanies its own arrangements of advantages and disadvantages. While it has helped a ton of people and businesses to make their image, it is likewise being utilized for wrong exercises.

It expects to unite the world with the force of the local area. You can likewise become more acquainted with what is happening all throughout the planet. You can even pen down your musings on that stage.

You can read more  Essay Writing  about articles, events, people, sports, technology many more.

Essay on Facebook Benefits and Disadvantages

The Internet has brought a big revolution to society and the communication world. Facebook is a piece of it. Facebook is for the most part known as the main online media. It is an online stage where we can get associated with individuals and can cooperate with them. It has made the world little and simple to get to. Anybody can get associated with anybody now. It has opened another entryway for business, correspondence, and relationships.

There are huge provisions that Facebook has. Anybody can join there for nothing. You need a web associated versatile or PC. You can join with your email or telephone number. When you joined, you will discover loads of individuals’ records there who you know, all things considered. Facebook consistently energize adding individuals that you know. Then, at that point, others will discover your record of their feed and will send you a companion demand. In the event that you acknowledge their companion demand, they will go to your companion list. An individual who is in your companion can make an impression on you.

At the point when you share a photograph or compose something on your profile or timetable, individuals of your companion rundown can see these. Not just see they can respond to them. Indeed, even they can remark on their viewpoint in the remark box. Facebook has a decent element named bunch. You can make a gathering and can add your companions there. It is an extremely simple and basic technique to make online home bases or offer things to a designated crowd. You can make a page for your business to advance on the web. Pretty much every business has a Facebook page now. They advance their items online with individuals. Counting all, there are heaps of provisions of Facebook that you can appreciate.

Benefits of Facebook

Facebook is encountering sensational development presently where the quantity of clients has arrived at one billion. It accompanies a ton of advantages like video calling with your nearby ones and transferring your photographs and recordings without charge.

Above all, it permits you to reach out to individuals from the opposite side of the world without spending a penny. It is additionally an incredible method to associate with old school companions and school companions.

Further, you can likewise make new companions through this stage. At the point when you associate with individuals from everywhere the world, it opens ways to find out with regards to new societies, qualities and customs from various nations.

It additionally gives you includes for a bunch of conversations and visits. Presently, Facebook additionally permits clients to sell their items or administrations through their site. It is an incredible method of expanding deals and setting up your business on the web.

Disadvantages of Facebook

Other than this load of good sides, there are a few disservices of Facebook. Facebook has turned into a period killing machine for understudies. In an understudy life, you need to stay away from web-based media like Facebook or Twitter. The youthful age is being dependent on Facebook. They are going through quite a while with it. What’s more, it has been an integral justification for their investigation hamper. The gatekeepers ought to know about this. They should restrict their child’s Smartphone utilizing time. Something else, that could be truly downright awful is their schooling.

Conclusion on Facebook Essay

To summarize it, in the event that we use Facebook to the right extent and with legitimate consideration, it very well may be an integral asset for anybody. In addition, it tends to be extraordinary for promoting and systems administration. Further, any business can likewise use its ability to make its business achievement. Be that as it may, it is fundamental to recollect to not allow it to turn into a fixation.

Small Essay on Facebook

Facebook is among the most famous online media organizing locales in the present occasions. Facebook is profoundly famous because of its different applications and the simplicity of correspondence it offers to the client. It permits clients to share pictures, occasions and situations with a solitary stage.

Facebook has various advantages like the capacity to shape gatherings, talk with companions and discover data on different points. Facebook is likewise profoundly instructive because of the different pages on a large group of points including yet not restricted to wellbeing, schooling, science, practice and so forth

It is likewise an optimal correspondence stage for family members, companions and individuals from a family who can remain associated with a solitary stage.

A later expansion to the online visit program is the video calling highlight which has acquired monstrous ubiquity. Not exclusively would one be able to converse with individuals yet in addition see them live with the assistance of this video talk highlight.

One more vital element of Facebook is the internet gaming gateway that it offers to its clients. There are a huge number of games on Facebook which one can play at some random time. The intriguing angle is the capacity to play these games with companions.

Facebook is turning into an exceptionally fruitful stage not just for making new companions and discovering old ones, however forgetting worldwide and nearby news also. The greater part of the news and media organizations have dispatched their Facebook pages.

FAQ’s on Facebook Essay

Question 1. Why do you like Facebook?

Answer: Individuals Are Addicted To Facebook Because It Is A Social Network platform. Having Facebook causes you to feel like you are very much educated with regard to everything everywhere. Facebook allows you the opportunity to stay in contact. You can stay in contact with your loved ones.

Question 2. What is Facebook?

Answer: Facebook is an interpersonal interaction webpage that makes it simple for you to interface and offers with loved ones on the web. Initially intended for undergrads, Facebook was made in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg while he was selected at Harvard University.

Question 3. What are the uses of Facebook?

Answer: Facebook is a site that permits clients, who pursue free profiles, to interface with companions, work associates or individuals they don’t have the foggiest idea, on the web. It permits clients to share pictures, music, recordings, and articles, just as their own considerations and feelings with anyway many individuals they like.

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Has Facebook been good for the world?

15 influencers weigh in on the company’s 15th birthday.

by Sean Illing , Kurt Wagner , and Karen Turner

When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg returned to Harvard in 2017 — the university where he first started building a digital phone book that would make him a billionaire — he challenged Harvard’s graduates to go out and change the world.

“It is time for our generation-defining great works,” Zuckerberg told students. “How about stopping climate change before we destroy the planet? ... How about curing all diseases?”

Those problems are still decades away from a solution. But Zuckerberg has defined this generation — and perhaps future generations — in ways almost no one could have imagined when he launched his online platform in 2004.

Facebook, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary on Monday, has done a lot of good. It’s a source of news and entertainment. It’s a place to launch your business, and a place to check that your loved ones are safe in times of crisis. Most importantly, Facebook has made the world smaller, connecting people with friends and family in ways that weren’t possible before.

But Facebook has had problems, too, and many of them serious. Facebook has changed the notion of privacy. It’s changed the way media businesses operate. It’s provided a platform for bullies and racists and liars. It has disrupted democratic systems and facilitated a global disinformation crisis.

So on Facebook’s 15th birthday, we reached out to a broad cross-section of influential people — politicians, writers, scholars, journalists, activists, and entrepreneurs — and asked them a simple but complicated question: Has Facebook been a net positive or net negative for humanity?

Here are their answers.

Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink , The Tipping Point , and Outliers

I was just reading a history book about the origins of the Second World War, and there is a moment in England in the late 1930s when Lord Beaverbrook — the foremost press baron of his day — writes to Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, anxiously asking for a clarification of British policy toward Germany.

The media magnates of that era were businessmen, first and foremost, looking to make money from the news. But they were also interested in the news: They understood the critical role they played in educating the public and perpetuating a free society. Mark Zuckerberg is our Lord Beaverbrook, only on a scale 1,000 times larger.

Can you imagine him calling the president, looking for clarification of some crucial point of policy? I can’t. And that’s the problem. Platforms are only as socially useful as their owners want them to be.

Sherry Turkle, author of Life on the Screen and clinical psychologist at MIT

Technology is the architect of our intimacies. When, 10 years ago, I first began studying how people felt about their lives in Facebook’s private/public gray zone, one young woman said it was all the same to her: “Who would care about me and my little life?” At the time I remember thinking that this was not an empowered mantra, but I understood what she was trying to say.

Online, she felt less vulnerable. Facebook friendships offered the feeling of connection without the demands of intimacy. And she couldn’t see how her little gestures of friendship and consumer preference were worth much.

That was the founding myth. And it was a myth. In Facebook’s maw, each of us became a new kind of surveilled and manipulated commodity. “Our little life” was the center of what was bought and sold in bit and pieces. At the Facebook launch, I expressed my disbelief that we could have intimacy without privacy and democracy without privacy. But I thought about the two problems separately. Facebook taught us that we can only consider them together. The social media business model sold our privacy in ways that fractured democracy.

All of this happened in plain sight and we didn’t want to look. We had a love affair with a technology that seemed magical. And like great magic, it worked by commanding our attention so that we took our attention off what was going on.

Now, we have to live with many technologies that challenge democracy and selfhood. We will have to contend with everything from machines that can pretend to love us to programs that can track our motions and authorize where we can go, what we can read, and what we can see. How will we regulate programs that can make any speech come from any image? What starts out a parlor trick ends up a tool of mass manipulation.

Facebook will have been good if it has taught us the necessity of exerting social control over such technologies. It will have been good if it becomes a testing ground for some first experiments in how to do so.

But the Facebook experience will have been bad if it has taught us that resistance to corporate incursions on selfhood and citizenship is futile. That people want conveniences and are willing to turn their attention away from costs. We will no longer be able to say, “Who would care about us and our little lives?” We know who cares and why.

Jonah Peretti, co-founder and CEO of BuzzFeed

Has Facebook had a positive or negative impact on humanity? The truth is we don’t know yet. The jury is still out. Will they take responsibility for making sure content on their platform benefits users and society? Or will they do the minimum to remove the worst offenders and keep the critics at bay, rather than developing a true understanding and plan for how to improve their users’ lives?

Will they embrace that they are a platform for content of all kinds — baby pictures, birthday wishes, and vacation videos, but also news, entertainment, and lifestyle media? Or will they insist they are a pure tech platform, and pretend they aren’t the largest content distribution engine in the world?

Will they continue to leave only scraps for the companies and creators that fuel Facebook? Or will they share enough revenue to support quality content from a diverse array of voices that informs, entertains, and inspires?

Only Facebook can answer these questions. But I’m not sure the world will give them another 15 years to figure it out.

Ro Khanna, US Congress member representing Silicon Valley

Facebook has been a net good for humanity by democratizing communication and mobilization. It has allowed unlikely voices ranging from Parkland students, to Sunrise movement environmental activists, to long-shot candidates like Bernie Sanders and Barack Obama to emerge.

Undoubtedly, there has been an abuse of these platforms by foreign interference and hate groups. Going forward, the platform will only enhance democracy if Facebook leaders make structural changes and adopt rules that will foster speech that is based on facts, reason, and respect.

Has Facebook, on the whole, had a positive impact on the world? Well, it has allowed people across nations to share their opinions and communicate. It has allowed members of a diaspora to stay connected to their relatives. It has helped provide a sense of community in an age when families have been split.

Again, the platform has been abused to commit human rights atrocities in Myanmar and also by mobs engaged in violence in many parts of the world. There is a lot that needs to be done to make sure these types of abuses do not take place in the years ahead. We cannot minimize the dark side of these platforms, even as we tout their benefits.

Brooke Binkowski, former managing editor of Snopes.com

I think that Facebook has enormous potential to be a powerful force for good in the world. However, at the moment, it’s failing to achieve that potential, opting instead to use its ability to disseminate (or prune out) certain stories or posts to try to affect crowd behavior or individual thought. This is causing the entire world, it seems, to have a nervous breakdown.

This could easily be fixed by either removing all algorithms or placing those algorithms directly into users’ hands and making them fully transparent and customizable. They also need to hire moderators.

What Facebook needs to understand most of all is that free speech ceases to be free when it is used to silence others. So if a bunch of disinformation is used to manipulate public opinion by pushing ... oh, let’s just say stories about George Soros being a Nazi and a baby killer reptilian, that’s an attempt to silence him and his supporters and thus it now ceases to be free speech.

If what you have to say is being manipulated by algorithms so that some people see it and others don’t, that’s also ceasing free speech. Once Facebook takes on the heavy moral responsibility that any purveyors of mass communication should by all rights shoulder before they even start allowing people to use it, perhaps they will live up to the awesome potential that they have.

As far as infrastructure and ease of communication goes, they can’t be beat. As disinformation purveyors, well, they should be heavily sanctioned. Look at all the chaos they’ve either allowed, enabled, or directly sown — and we don’t know the half of the damage they’ve done yet.

Only full transparency going forward will save them now. It’s time.

Steven Pinker, author of Enlightenment Now and professor of psychology at Harvard University

Has Facebook (together with other social media) been a net positive or net negative for humanity? It’s too soon to tell, for two reasons. One is that widespread adoption of social media is so recent that the world has not yet had time to adopt new norms and policies in response. The other is that the vast amount of recent commentary about social media has consisted of panic and hyperbole rather than balanced analysis, so it’s hard to tell.

Social media are now being blamed for every problem on the planet, from destroying democracy to ruining the younger generation. There’s no doubt that the platforms, like all new technologies, have had negative unintended consequences, and that reforms and countermeasures will be necessary to mitigate them. But the daily diatribes in the mainstream media are so hysterical they offer little insight.

First, they don’t calibrate their anxiety with a historical perspective that shows that every new medium is greeted with dread. These include the internet, the personal computer, television, radio, the telephone, newspapers, novels, the printing press, and writing itself. Nor do they acknowledge that social media are hardly the originators of unfounded rumors, viral falsehoods, and conspiracy theories, which have sparked wars and pogroms for centuries.

Second, the tirades in the mainstream media don’t disclose a conflict of interest. Social media, by siphoning off ad dollars, are the biggest threat to newspapers’ revenue since Craigslist, which means that those outlets have much to gain if social media companies are broken up, regulated, or otherwise crippled.

This doesn’t mean that attacks on social media are inherently compromised, nor does it mean that we should be unconcerned by the financial threats facing standard news sources, with their indispensable fact-gathering and curation. But it’s commonplace to disclose conflicts of interest in position statements by other agents, and this one has passed unremarked.

Third, now that it’s open season on social-media platforms, many banalities have been elevated to existential threats. Yes, social media are merchants of attention that deliver viewers to advertisers. So are all ad-driven media, including newspapers and broadcast television.

Yes, they sell customers’ data to targeted organizations — just like every charity, political candidate, and enthusiast magazine I’ve given money to. And yes, they can be exploited to manipulate viewers. But for as long as there have been news media, there have been manufacturers of content designed to exploit them, including photo-ops, sound bites, campaign rallies, press conferences, press releases, spin doctoring, rampage shootings, and terrorist attacks.

Fourth, the problems created by social media differ in a key way from wars, dictatorships, epidemics, and other scourges: They are not imposed on people but chosen freely. Billions of people have decided that the benefits of social media exceed their costs. This doesn’t necessarily mean that social media are a net benefit; people can make choices that are bad for them, like addictive drugs, and they can make choices that are good for them individually but bad for the world, like carbon emissions.

But any assessment has to consider the goodies that users themselves must see in the platforms. It also must consider the problems that social media were designed to solve. Remember the angst through the 1990s about media concentration? A few corporations with a stranglehold on the mass dissemination of information could “manufacture consent,” freedom of the press belongs to those who own one, and so on. Well, we seem to have solved that problem. But solutions create new problems that take time to solve in their turn.

Finally, many of the rumors about the social, psychological, and political pathologies loosed by social media do not survive fact-checking. Careful studies have shown that social media has not led to epidemics of loneliness, depression, and suicide (see the references in the “Happiness” chapter of Enlightenment Now and in my follow-up essay ). And as the political scientist Brendan Nyhan put it in the title of a 2018 article, “ Fake News and Bots May be Worrisome, but Their Political Power is Overblown .”

Will the net effect of social media be positive or negative? I suspect that the answer will be similar to those for every other medium, including newspapers and television: the effects will always be mixed, and once some time has passed, people and societies will have figured out how to make the net benefits outweigh the costs.

Jonathan Haidt, author of The Coddling of the American Mind and professor at NYU

There’s an old joke about an optimist who fell off of the observation deck of the Empire State Building. As he was passing the 30th floor someone called out to him: “How’s it going?” He replied: “So far, so good!” I think that joke has some relevance for humanity in the Facebook era. So far, the billions of small positive effects of massively increasing human interconnectivity may well outweigh the growing roster of negatives, large and small. Yet when I look to the future, I see two giant negative effects looming larger and larger, like the pavement rushing up to the optimistic jumper.

First, rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide are rising rapidly in young people born after 1995 — “Gen Z” — which has largely been on social-media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat since middle school. This rise in mood disorders is not happening in all countries, but it is happening — particularly to girls — in the US, the UK, and Canada. There are empirical studies pointing to a causal connection to heavy social media use, and there are studies indicating no connection. I predict that a consensus will emerge by the end of 2019, and that it will be that heavy use of social media damages many young teenage girls, reducing their odds of success in life.

The second potentially gigantic problem is that large, diverse, secular democracies are inherently unstable, inherently prone to division unless there are sufficient “centripetal” forces pulling toward the center (such as having a shared language, shared rituals and values, and high trust in the basic political and economic institutions of the country).

Facebook and other social media platforms are powerful centrifugal forces, binding groups together to fight other groups within their own country, driven mad and propelled into battle by an eternal mudslide of outrage-inducing viral videos and conspiracy theories. We are already seeing these effects in many countries.

I predict that by 2030 we will see the spectacular political collapse or geographical division of more than one Western democracy that seemed rock solid on the day Facebook was founded, 15 years ago. My hope is that people, societies, and governments will find ways of adapting to or regulating social media that will render my prediction wrong.

Peter W. Singer, author of Like War: The Weaponization of Social Media and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution

“The goal wasn’t to create an online community, but a mirror of what existed in real life.”

The setting is a den in Silicon Valley and a gangly college-aged kid is sitting on a sofa, with red Solo cup in hand. Speaking into a handheld video camera, he’s trying to explain the concept of this strange new business that he dropped out of school to start.

In the time since, TheFacebook.com has become one of the world’s most profitable and powerful companies. Along the way, it has turned that young kid doing one of his early interviews, Mark Zuckerberg, into not just a billionaire, but the ruler of a digital kingdom that has more members than any single nation in the world.

But it has also become exactly what Zuckerberg predicted, though perhaps not in the way he planned. Facebook is a kind of mirror of what exists in real life. We use it, and the network of companies it’s bought — from Instagram to WhatsApp — to reflect out to the world the stories of our lives.

We share everything from heartfelt posts of what or who we care most about to just what amuses us while sitting on the sofa (perhaps red Solo cup in one hand and smartphone in the other). That mirroring, though, means that all the negative aspects of real life also come in, from annoying advertising campaigns to issues of politics, crime, terrorism, and war.

Facebook became a new kind of communication space and then marketplace for its community members, but it also became a new kind battlespace that helps determine the outcome of everything from elections to genocide. Most importantly, because it is online, it means that the “mirror” is warped. Its reflections are reshaped by everything from our conscious choices of what to post (or not) to the algorithmic and deliberate manipulations that alter not just what we see in our feeds, but what we think about the real world.

The question of its net positive or negative, thus, will be answered by what we see in that mirror, and what each of us chooses to do about it.

David Axelrod, former chief strategist for Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns and host of The Axe Files podcast

Facebook was promoted as a way of connecting us and building community. But it actually has become a tool for dividing us into virtual communities in which our views are affirmed, but not always informed; where we are surrounded by the like-minded and exploited by commercial and political interests armed with our personal data.

Whatever good it’s done is outweighed by these concerns.

Dana Perino, Fox News, anchor of The Daily Briefing and co-host of The Five

Overall, I believe Facebook has been a net plus.

Facebook provided a way to reconnect with people from all walks of your life, especially the generations who didn’t grow up with cell phones. A good example is my husband and stepson — they’d been estranged for almost 18 years when finally Barry contacted his dad on Christmas Day a couple of years ago. I now call them “the happy couple” — it’s brought a lot of joy into our lives.

Beyond bringing people back together, Facebook has helped people start and grow businesses, and to enhance their brands. It provides an outlet for creativity, which is good for the human spirit.

On the downside, we all know about the bullying and negative comments, the foreign interference, the recruitment of terrorists — plus the way dictators around the world are using Facebook to monitor citizens and to restrict their news content to government-sponsored information only. These are challenges we know of now; surely, more will pop up. So on the 15th anniversary, Facebook is under the gun. The technology industry is like Big Pharma, Big Oil, Tobacco, and Distilled Spirits all in one — the regulation is coming ... will it be effective? That remains to be seen.

I maintain that having Facebook is better than not having Facebook. Especially considering all the Jasper photos you can see on my page!

Mark Warner, US senator from Virginia and vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee

The answer to this question is going to be up to Facebook. It’s an iconic American company — no doubt about that. And I don’t want to see it regulated into oblivion. Though the company has made it easier and cheaper than ever before for people to communicate with each other, that has come at a price. And as Facebook grew from a dorm-room startup into a media behemoth, they haven’t always acknowledged that this power comes with great responsibility.

The same openness of communication and low barrier to entry allowed Russia to set up thousands of fake accounts, groups, and pages to sow division; spread misinformation; and attempt to influence the 2016 election. And now that Russia’s playbook is out in the open, we’re already seeing other bad actors rip straight from its pages.

More recent revelations about Facebook’s data-gathering practices and user-privacy breaches have also underscored the importance of Facebook working together with Congress to address these serious issues. So will Facebook decide to work with us to tackle these problems? Then maybe we’ll have our answer.

Meredith Broussard, author of Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World and a professor at New York University

I think there have been a lot of things that have been exciting and innovative about social media, but I think that we are at the point where there are so many people on social media platforms that we really need better governance. I think that self-governance has not worked out well for Facebook and has not been positive for democracy.

I think that has been a fetishization of technological tools [in the past]. I think we as a society have set aside the idea that cyberspace is completely different than the real world. And it’s not. So I think we have a lot of problems that stem from that delusion about cyberspace is different. So I think one of the things that we that we should start doing is we should start treating digital spaces like physical spaces and treating digital companies like every other company.

So one of the things that happens on Facebook is that police use it for surveillance. Police technologies have been disproportionately employed against communities of color and vulnerable populations. So for example, you’ll have police who will go on and catfish teenagers who are suspected of being in gangs but you don’t have policing of affluent teenagers on Facebook. So there’s a lot of inequality in the way that police and technologies are deployed. It’s not just on Facebook of course — it’s everywhere.

I’ve always been an adult on Facebook. One of the things that I think must be horrible about kids on Facebook today is having your entire middle-school life out there. I’m a really different person than I was when I was a kid and I really like that I had the opportunity to grow and change and become better and that past is not weighing me down. So I think it’s not really fair to young people to make them carry around the burden of the documentation of their entire growing up.

We need more regulation of Facebook and tech companies. I think that we have done the experiments of “let’s try this and see how it goes.” And it has not gone as well as we have hoped. We need to have a conversation about this, as a public and as a community. I think part of the problem has been that we have a couple of a couple of people saying that this is how it’s going to be and trying to govern tech as a dictatorship. I think we’re a democracy, and we need to have a public conversation about it.

Aminatou Sow, co-host of the Call Your Girlfriend podcast and co-founder of Tech LadyMafia

I still remember the day I signed up for Facebook as a college student. We had waited for what seemed forever for it to be available at our university and here it was. It would be a lie to say that in 2004, privacy was top of mind when I eagerly joined the service. It seemed like a walled garden and I didn’t think once about whether it was a safe experience for me or for humanity.

I remember the thrill of making digital connections with close friends and then the thrill of making new friends and crushes on the network. I signed up as a student and didn’t quite realize the network would follow me after college.

As the service expanded, so the did the headaches and the privacy conundrums. “Who is a friend?” “Is it OK to add your coworkers as friends?” “Can I ask friends to take down these photos of me doing a keg stand?” “Oh shit, now our cousins are on here too!?” “What does it mean if my boyfriend is or isn’t in a relationship with me?” are all questions I needed to have answers to.

For a long time, Facebook helped me connect with the far-flung corners of my world. Now it is a source of anxiety and guilt mostly. Guilt because I know the harm it is causing and yet, even though I don’t share anything on it, I have not deleted my account completely. My siblings and I joke that we will delete it when our father finally joins but I know I shouldn’t be on there.

The question of Facebook being a net good for humanity or whether it’s had a positive impact on the world is complicated. Right now, as a user and as a citizen, it feels unconscionable to support it and it has been disheartening to watch Mark Zuckerberg refuse to grapple honestly with what he has unleashed and the harm that’s being done at scale. It is also disheartening to watch our politicians refuse to hold Facebook accountable in a real way.

The network we logged on to 15 years ago is unrecognizable but as citizens we cannot outsource our privacy and security to tech moguls. They always have ulterior motives and we are pawns in their game. We are living the consequences.

Antonio Garcia-Martinez, former Facebook employee and author of Chaos Monkeys

Technologies have their birthing pains. One moment they’re barely viable, the next moment they’re a threat to the established order.

There were 60-odd years between Gutenberg first printing indulgences for the Catholic Church, to cover the ruinous development costs of his newfangled printing press, and a then-obscure Wittenberg professor publishing a 95-point screed, partly against that same traffic in religious forgiveness. A century later, Europe would be rent by a violent, continent-wide war over the diametric polarization that Luther’s heresies, amplified by Gutenberg’s technology, had rapidly propagated.

Thus, if in 1648 you had asked your average European about the net good or bad historical effect of the printing press — this well before the Enlightenment upsides, from science to human rights, which we now take for granted — you may well have encountered some skepticism. Ditto any time-travel polling you might do about the telegraph in 1860, radio in 1930, or television in the 1950s. Going even further back, Socrates lambasted the corrosive effects of the alphabet, in Plato’s Phaedrus. (He bemoaned it giving youngsters the appearance of knowledge but no actual wisdom … sound familiar?)

Technologies, particularly in the media sphere, seem to inevitably move from improbable contraption, to dangerous tool whose implications are worryingly discussed, and thence to dull and semi-obsolete utility.

The same radio that allowed European fascists to rally seemingly-civilized nations to conquest and genocide now struggles with a new technological threat (podcasts) while begging us for smalls sums of support. (I’ve got an NPR tote bag somewhere.) As sure as night follows day, the same fate one day awaits Facebook.

For all the fuss now made about Mark Zuckerberg’s creation, the underlying technologies that made it possible — ubiquitous and global smartphone adoption, virtualized social identity, and a Pavlovian addiction to smartphone prompts — exist quite independently of any one service or company. Technology is amoral, and exists in a plane quite beyond our moral dramas.

Put another way, the Great Internet and Smartphone Revolution, or whatever title future historians choose to bestow, is here to stay. The Luddite reaction to Facebook and social media that clamorously calls for its regulation or partition or even outright technological diminution, will be about as effective now as it was in Gutenberg’s day.

One more parallel from that era is enlightening. In 1492, right in the midst of the Gutenbergian revolution, Johannes Trithemius, the abbot of a Benedictine monastery which dedicated itself to the hand-copying of vast volumes, published a tract titled De Laude Scriptorum Manualium (“In Praise of Scribes”). There, he enumerated at length the virtues of illustrated manuscripts over printed books, citing their superior longevity and the elevated virtues required in their fabrication.

And how did Trithemius publish his laudatory hymn to the hand-written word? Printing it in a press of course, as that would mean a wider readership (ironically, only a printed version survives).

In much the same way, this newspaper will publish worried ruminations about the impact of this diabolical social media, questioning its very moral foundations, by sharing them on the selfsame social media under discussion. I can only hope future commenters see the irony in that, as we do in Trithemius’s warning.

Kara Swisher, Recode co-founder and editor-at-large

Facebook moved fast, Facebook broke things. I think the only question now is: Can Facebook fix the things it broke?

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Essay on Social Media for School Students and Children

500+ words essay on social media.

Social media is a tool that is becoming quite popular these days because of its user-friendly features. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and more are giving people a chance to connect with each other across distances. In other words, the whole world is at our fingertips all thanks to social media. The youth is especially one of the most dominant users of social media. All this makes you wonder that something so powerful and with such a massive reach cannot be all good. Like how there are always two sides to a coin, the same goes for social media. Subsequently, different people have different opinions on this debatable topic. So, in this essay on Social Media, we will see the advantages and disadvantages of social media.

Advantages of Social Media

When we look at the positive aspect of social media, we find numerous advantages. The most important being a great device for education . All the information one requires is just a click away. Students can educate themselves on various topics using social media.

Moreover, live lectures are now possible because of social media. You can attend a lecture happening in America while sitting in India.

Furthermore, as more and more people are distancing themselves from newspapers, they are depending on social media for news. You are always updated on the latest happenings of the world through it. A person becomes more socially aware of the issues of the world.

In addition, it strengthens bonds with your loved ones. Distance is not a barrier anymore because of social media. For instance, you can easily communicate with your friends and relatives overseas.

Most importantly, it also provides a great platform for young budding artists to showcase their talent for free. You can get great opportunities for employment through social media too.

Another advantage definitely benefits companies who wish to promote their brands. Social media has become a hub for advertising and offers you great opportunities for connecting with the customer.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Disadvantages of Social Media

Despite having such unique advantages, social media is considered to be one of the most harmful elements of society. If the use of social media is not monitored, it can lead to grave consequences.

Thus, the sharing on social media especially by children must be monitored at all times. Next up is the addition of social media which is quite common amongst the youth.

This addiction hampers with the academic performance of a student as they waste their time on social media instead of studying. Social media also creates communal rifts. Fake news is spread with the use of it, which poisons the mind of peace-loving citizens.

In short, surely social media has both advantages and disadvantages. But, it all depends on the user at the end. The youth must particularly create a balance between their academic performances, physical activities, and social media. Excess use of anything is harmful and the same thing applies to social media. Therefore, we must strive to live a satisfying life with the right balance.

FAQs on Social Media

Q.1 Is social media beneficial? If yes, then how?

A.1 Social media is quite beneficial. Social Media offers information, news, educational material, a platform for talented youth and brands.

Q.2 What is a disadvantage of Social Media?

A.2 Social media invades your privacy. It makes you addicted and causes health problems. It also results in cyberbullying and scams as well as communal hatred.

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Essay on Facebook in 500 Words

In This Blog We Will Discuss

Introduction:

The Internet has brought a huge revolution in modern science. Facebook is a part of it. Facebook is mostly known as the leading social media . It is an online platform where we can get connected with people and can interact with them. It has made the world small and easy to access. Anyone can get connected with anyone now. It has opened a new door for business, communication, and relationship.  

Features of Facebook:

There are enormous features that Facebook has. Anyone can sign up there for free. You need an internet-connected mobile or computer . You can sign up with your email or phone number. Once you signed up, you will find lots of people’s accounts there who you know in real life. Facebook always encourage adding the people that you know. Then other people will find your account of their feed and will send you a friend request. If you accept their friend request then they will come to your friend list. A person who is in your friend, he can send a message to you. When you share a photo or write something on your profile or timeline, people of your friend list can see these. Not only see they can react to them. Even they can comment on their opinion in the comment box. Facebook has a good feature named group. You can create a group and can add your friends there. It is a very easy and simple method to make online hangouts or share things with a targeted audience. You can create a page for your business to promote online. Almost every business has a Facebook page now. They promote their products online with people. Including all, there are lots of features of Facebook that you can enjoy it.  

How Facebook Changed the Business and Communication:

Facebook has changed its business model and communication. Business is based on communication. Now people can reach millions of people with a simple Facebook post. Lots of businesses are selling their products through their business pages. It is easy for customers to buy and easy for business owners to sell. The business owner can contact their customers easily. It is easy to target your preferred audience with Facebook’s latest Pixel Technology and easy to serve ads. Overall Facebook has brought a huge blow in the business.  

Disadvantages of Facebook:

Besides of all these good sides, there are some disadvantages of Facebook. Facebook has become a time-killing machine for students. In a student life , you have to avoid social media like Facebook or Twitter. The young generation is being addicted to Facebook. They are spending a long time with it. And it has been a big reason for their study hamper. The guardians should be aware of this. They should limit their kid’s Smartphone using time. Otherwise, that could be really bad for their education.  

Conclusion:

After all, Facebook brought so much change in human life. We need to use this tool in a good way so that it becomes blessings for us.

Similar Intentions:

⊙ Essay on Facebook in 500 Words for Class 6, 7, 8

⊙ Facebook Essay in 500 Words for Class 9, 10

⊙ Essay on Facebook in 500 Words  

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How to write a character analysis essay, how to write a biography essay, apu students get flexible on-campus working hours and other benefits, the pros and cons of using facebook essay sample, example.

Facebook is a great way to keep in touch with people who are far away. According to surveys, friends who reside in different countries and use Facebook to communicate with each other display a more optimistic mood and feel calmer about those who are close to them, compared to those who do not use any social networks, or use only email (IFR Database). People who use Facebook tend to feel like they are in touch with the rest of the world regardless of distances, and this sensation makes them feel better.

Facebook is a reasonable option for people who want to stay updated with the news of the topics that are of interest to them. Joining various communities regarding all kinds of activities, and receiving updates from them turn Facebook into an easy-to-use, completely-customizable newsline. Hence, Facebook can be a useful tool for those who need to receive operational and fresh information.

At the same time, Facebook is known to be a factor that distorts one’s perception of reality, declines the satisfaction of one’s life and personality, and negatively affects relationships between people. According to the research held by Ethan Kross of the University of Michigan and Philippe Verduyn of Leuven University, people who use Facebook often display a growing dissatisfaction with their lives, whereas respondents who use Facebook infrequently and socialize with peers in real life felt happier and healthier (The Economist).

The same research showed how the most common emotion experienced by people who regularly use Facebook is envy. This is due to the fact that people usually do their best to make their lives look better than they are in reality, and at the same time believe in the reality of “virtual lives” created by other Facebook users.

Facebook can be dangerous for teenagers and children. Parents who would like to protect their children from negative information on the Internet should consider how Facebook is full of links to other media resources, some of which can be explicit. Whereas it is possible, to some extent, to control a child’s use of Facebook, it is impossible to predict where browsing these links could lead them (TheOnlineMom). Due to the same reason, parents have a right to feel worried about the friends of friends. One can know all the friends of their children, but these friends have other friends, who can have a negative influence on these children.

Facebook is a tool which should be used with caution. Though it is a convenient way to stay in touch with friends and acquaintances who live far away, and to stay updated about events which are of interest for a particular person, it can also have negative impacts on one’s personality. For example, Facebook causes its regular users to feel envious about the lives of other people; it can also provoke dissatisfaction with one’s own life, especially compared to people who socialize more in real life rather than online. The relationship Facebook has with the world is bittersweet: but we may witness its relationship turn for the worse in the coming decades.

“Get a Life!” The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 17 Aug. 2013. Web. 07 Mar. 2014. <http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21583593-using-social-network-seems-make-people-more-miserable-get-life>.

“The Pros and Cons of Facebook for Kids.” TheOnlineMom. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Mar. 2014. <http://theonlinemom.com/secondary.asp?id=1275>

“What’s Wrong About Facebook?” IFR Database. 25 Jun. 2011. Web. 07 Mar. 2014.

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Facebook Essay | Essay on Facebook in India for Students and Children in English

February 13, 2024 by Prasanna

Facebook Essay:  Facebook is a social networking site that connects people from all around the world. It has made the planet earth a global village. With just one click, you can connect with someone living overseas.

It aims to bring the world together with the power of community. You can also get to know what is going on around the world. You can even pen down your thoughts on that platform.

You can also find more  Essay Writing  articles on events, persons, sports, technology and many more.

Long and Short Essays on Facebook for Students and Kids in English

We are providing the students with essay samples of a long essay of 500 words in English and a short essay of 150 in English for reference.

Long Essay on Facebook 500 Words in English

Long Essay on Facebook is usually given to classes 7, 8, 9, and 10.

Mark Zuckerberg started a social networking website named Facebook in the year 2004. It was one of the most successful social networking platforms, which gained a few billion users within a few years. It is a platform where one can easily connect with people belonging to different countries. You can make new friends and make a group and continue having a conversation.

It is a platform that gives daily updates on the regular happenings of the world. You can follow your idol and your favorite sportsperson on it as well. It is also a platform where you can upload your pictures and your everyday thoughts. Your friends can place their opinion as well on it.

Users who are willing to use Facebook have to register before using the site. A person who is thirteen years old can register on Facebook and can make new friends from all around the world. It was not Mark Zuckerberg alone who started Facebook. He was supported by his roommates and computer science students, Eduardo Saverin and Dustin Moskovitz. His friend Chris Hughes was also a helping hand. The membership of this website was only limited to the Harvard students in the beginning. Then it extended its branches, and now almost every individual in every corner of the world hold a profile on Facebook. It has grown gradually in the past few years and has grown successfully.

It is a free website, and no one has to pay for it to get registered. A person needs their email id or phone number, and after verification, the Facebook profile will be created. If we compare Facebook to other websites, it is more trustable and safe because it is one of the most famous and regularly used websites. However, at times your profile might get hacked, but it can be recovered in no time.

It enables a person to stay in touch with one another, just by a mere message. Users can also upload a limited amount of information about themselves. They can choose what they want to share about themselves. Facebook’s privacy settings are user friendly, and every user can adjust it according to their comfort mode. It is one of the best options to stay in touch with people. A stable internet connection is all you need. But it also has its drawbacks. Too much of anything is not good. For students, especially school going students, constant use of Facebook can hamper their studies. It can be a distraction at times because it is such a platform that keeps you glued on to it.

It can be the best way to pass your leisure time, but getting back to work is also necessary. Everything has a right side and comes with its share of disadvantages. It is every individual’s choice how they use the platform. They can use it advantageously and get to know people from different cultures and places or waste their fruitful time on it, to keep themselves entertained.

Short Essay on Facebook 150 Words in English

Short Essay on Facebook is usually given to classes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

The most popular social networking platform, Facebook, was created by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004. Technology has enhanced so that you can contact people living in a different country with just one click. Facebook allows individuals to stay in touch with their friends and loved ones with its advanced features. A stable internet can do wonders. You can upload your moods, your emotions, even a piece of your mind, just with the aid of Facebook. It is not only a platform to get away with your boredom; many use this platform as a source of income by selling their respective products online.

It has a negative side to it as well. Since Facebook helps to bond with people worldwide, it breaks the bondage with family and friends who are right beside you. It also offers different games to play online. If you get bored with the mundane scrolling and chatting on Facebook, you can spend your time on various games.

10 Lines on Facebook in English

• Mark Zuckerberg wanted to name the site Facemash initially.
• Women use Facebook more than men.
• 80% of Americans use Facebook.
• Mark Zuckerberg’s idea of creating Facebook came when he was at Harvard.
• Initially, Facebook was not that established a platform.
• After Google and Youtube, it is the third most popular site in the world of social networking.
• Surprisingly, it is trendy in rural areas.
• 50 billion people are daily active users of Facebook.
• This platform adds 50,000 new users daily.
• 80% of parents are connected to their children on Facebook.

FAQ’s on Facebook Essay

Question 1. How can you contact Facebook if you face a problem?

Answer: You have to select the support or the report page, and then you will be aided with the solution to the problem you are facing.

Question 2. How long does a story stay on Facebook?

Answer: A story stays for 24 hours only. It is a feature where you can upload your daily activities, and it will disappear in a day, enabling you to post your day to day routines.

Question 3.  Can you delete your Facebook account?

Answer: You can quickly delete your Facebook account by going to settings. There are a few features that you have to click on to disable your account permanently. You can also deactivate it if you want to take time off this social networking site.

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Various Teams in Facebook

Some of the different teams of the Facebook organization include Marketing, Legal, Information, Human Resources,etc. These various teams allow each sector to promote growth within each team to allow to contribute greatly to the success of the company as a whole. In my opinion, the most important team in the Facebook organizational chain is the human resources team because they do exceptionally well at listening, responding, and implementing customer feedback. Overall, Facebook is a well rounded and innovative technology giant that will continue to innovate and grow as time progresses.

Facebook does many things well, after all, it is the largest social media platform. It provides its users with quick, high quality communication worldwide At the top of this list of things Facebook does well is advertising. In an article published on Investopedia, written by Rakesh Sharma, Sharma stated that “ Facebook made more than $40 billion in revenue in 2017, approximately 89 percent of which came from digital advertisements. Facebook’s method of mass advertising includes targeting products at specific genders, ages, regions, ethnicities, musical preferences, etc. They find this information by looking at your profile information, pages you follow and pages you like. For example, a company such as Toys r us, want to send toy advertisements across the United States. They will produce many different advertisements relating to your region. Then, they will send mass advertisements that will appeal to your ethos, logos, and pathos, which will increase the chances of you buying that product.

Increased Privacy Settings

This method has proved more successful than the older style of advertising of sending one mass advertising to everyone, no matter who the advertisement appeals to. Second on the list of things that Facebook does well is listening to their users and customers. This organization has taken all constructive criticism received and reconstructed their whole platform to make its users requests a reality while still focusing on the image portrayed by Zuckerburg. This includes increased privacy settings that will protect user information, such as card numbers, cell phone numbers, and the use of personal pictures without authorization. Third on the list of things Facebook does well is the monitoring and distribution of a vasts amounts of information worldwide. They do this by having contracted companies monitor every post posted worldwide. For example, at any given time of the day you will see information from the current Brexit discussions to how Japan is combating the future hurricane season. With this information being spread rapidly, Facebook’s contracted information verification companies have their hands full monitoring the 2.5 billion active monthly users.

While being the largest social media platform, Facebook still has its fair share of flaws. At the top of the list of things Facebook does poorly, is its current privacy policy. When logging into facebook it asks you personal information that could possibly lead to hacking of your account’s information and identity theft. This personal information includes your address, phone number, pictures, and credit cards for facebook pay. While having this information on facebook makes actions, such as online shopping and applying to jobs, easier, this could also have substantial negative effects. Although Facebook has companies checking for misinformation and spam posts, they need to bring more attention to content censorship, which is the second item on my list of things Facebook does poorly. It was recently discovered that terrorists all over the world were found using this platform and spreading their extremist messages through various extremist groups. Although they have begun to combat this more strictly there still is need of the total shutdown of these groups, because they could potentially be planning the next 9/11 through coded messages and the world would never know. In an article published by Bloomberg and written by Vernon Silver and Sarah Frier, they stated that “Facebook has added content reviewers. It has 7,500, up 40 percent from the year before.

Content Reviewers

They work in about 40 languages”,. This number of content reviewers seems very small compared to the amount of monthly viewers content that must be reviewed. I’m not saying that Facebook is the only platform being used by these extremist groups but it is most certainly one of the largest and I think more effort should be put toward this. Third on the list of things Facebook does poorly is slow innovation. When Facebook is compared to other companies, although it is the largest, it still seems to be currently targeting the baby boomer generation. They are not focusing enough on the millenials, which in turn could cost them the mammoth social media market share.

With Facebook being one of the largest social media platforms, it has many threats and opportunities. The greatest threat for Facebook is other social media platforms. These platforms could take the Facebook idea and change the layouts and codes slightly, and could potentially overtake Facebook as the largest social media platform. Facebook does have many patents protecting their specific brand, but patents are very specific and just a slight adjustment to the image or platform’s code could make the competitor legal to launch their new platform. With the threat of competition, Facebook has to invent new software that will appeal to millenials, to allow it to maintain its largest social media platform title. Major competitors, such as Instagram and Tiktok, have begun using picture filters, financial incentives, and plaques for its users. Another threat that has faced Facebook was the need to keep up with company growth. As the younger generation grows in size and social influence, this leads to the need of increased software to enable a smooth operating system. This cost a large investment to keep users happy and company software up to date. This also leads to newer technology being needed to keep user interest. A large threat facing Facebook is information leaking. Facebook executives have found themselves being questioned before the Supreme Court about how advertisers target its customers. In an article published by The Guardian written by Chloe Watson, Watson quoted Zuckerberg saying that “what we allow is for advertisers to tell us who they want to reach, and then we do a placement”,. This landed Zuckerberg in lawsuits due to some people feeling discriminated against and the Supreme Court ruled that they discriminated on the basis of race.

Innovation and New Products

Facebook has many opportunities in the expansion, research and development, and diversification fields. The first opportunity is Facebook should actively pursue innovation on new products within the Facebook app that would target the millenials. This would not only increase revenue but significantly increase monthly users. They should attempt to diversify the app to where the older generations could keep the current platform and millennials could change to a newer, more trendy layout. By Facebook not currently pushing this idea, I think they are losing their grip on the market to other platforms. Second is, Facebook could also push for a code that will help themselves and law enforcement fight crime. This opportunity may not be a large revenue generator but it has many positive incentives that could otherwise benefit the company, such as user satisfaction, user safety, and could possibly lower the national crime rate. Another opportunity is Facebook should put out a survey that asks its users, who want to participate, what they want from Facebook as far as technology, their system, and layout. This will potentially make users feel better that the platform is listening to them recommendations and increase satisfaction.

I would recommend Facebook to begin aiming their platform toward millennials because other platforms are rapidly gaining market share practicing this approach to better have a sustainable competitive advantage. A sustainable competitive advantage is a long term advantage that is not simple to duplicate by competitors. This should include layout changes, more appealing systems, such as filters, and better privacy. Facebook currently has a competitive advantage in the social media sector. I think they can maintain this advantage by increasing advertising sales and appeal to the Millenials. I would suggest surveys, in the company and the public, as to what users want to see from Facebook in the future.

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How I Use AI to Catch Cheaters at School

It's getting harder to spot by the day, but here are some ways you can use ChatGPT to spot student papers using ChatGPT.

It's a tale as old as teaching -- a student, for one reason or another, uses someone else's work to complete their assignment. Only in 2024, that someone else could be an artificial intelligence tool.

The allure is understandable. Away with those shady essay writing services where a student has to plonk down real cash for an unscrupulous person to write them 1,200 words on the fall of the Roman Empire. An AI writing tool can do that for free in 30 seconds flat.

As a professor of strategic communications, I encounter students using AI tools like ChatGPT , Grammarly and EssayGenius on a regular basis. It's usually easy to tell when a student has used one of these tools to draft their entire work. The tell-tale signs include ambiguous language and a super annoying tendency for AI to spit out text with the assignment prompt featured broadly.

For example, a student might use ChatGPT -- an AI tool that uses large language model learning and a conversational question and answer format to provide query results -- to write a short essay response to a prompt by simply copying and pasting the essay question into the tool.

Take this prompt: In 300 words or less, explain how this SWAT and brand audit will inform your final pitch.

This is ChatGPT's result:

I have received responses like this, or those very close to it, a few times in my tenure as a teacher, and one of the most recognizable red flags is the amount of instances in which key terms from the prompt are used in the final product. 

Students don't normally repeat key terms from the prompt in their work in this way, and the results read closer to old-school SEO-driven copy meant to define these terms rather than a unique essay meant to demonstrate an understanding of subject matter.

But can teachers use AI tools to catch students using AI tools? I came up with some ways to be smarter in spotting artificial intelligence in papers.

Catching cheaters with AI

Here's how to use AI tools to catch cheaters in your class:

• Understand AI capabilities : There are AI tools on the market now that can scan an assignment and its grading criteria to provide a fully written, cited and complete piece of work in a matter of moments. Familiarizing yourself with these tools is the first step in the war against AI-driven integrity violations. 
• Do as the cheaters do: Before the semester begins, copy and paste all your assignments into a tool like ChatGPT and ask it to do the work for you. When you have an example of the type of results it provides specifically in response to your assignments, you'll be better equipped to catch robot-written answers. You could also use a tool designed specifically to spot AI writing in papers .
• Get a real sample of writing: At the beginning of the semester, require your students to submit a simple, fun and personal piece of writing to you. The prompt should be something like "200 words on what your favorite toy was as a child," or "Tell me a story about the most fun you ever had." Once you have a sample of the student's real writing style in hand, you can use it later to have an AI tool review that sample against what you suspect might be AI-written work.
• Ask for a rewrite : If you suspect a student of using AI to cheat on their assignment, take the submitted work and ask an AI tool to rewrite the work for you. In most cases I've encountered, an AI tool will rewrite its own work in the laziest manner possible, substituting synonyms instead of changing any material elements of the "original" work.

Here's an example:

Now, let's take something an actual human (me) wrote, my CNET bio:

The phrasing is changed, extracting much of the soul in the writing and replacing it with sentences that are arguably more clear and straightforward. There are also more additions to the writing, presumably for further clarity.

The most important part about catching cheaters who use AI to do their work is having a reasonable amount of evidence to show the student and the administration at your school if it comes to that. Maintaining a skeptical mind when grading is vital, and your ability to demonstrate ease of use and understanding with these tools will make your case that much stronger.

Good luck out there in the new AI frontier, fellow teachers, and try not to be offended when a student turns in work written by their robot collaborator. It's up to us to make the prospect of learning more alluring than the temptation to cheat.

I'm a former director of admissions at Cornell. Here are my 4 tips for writing a successful application for a highly selective college.

• John Morganelli Jr. worked as the director of admissions at Cornell University.
• He said there are subtle but important differences between Ivy-level and NYU-level applications.
• Morganelli Jr. shares his best application tips from gaming major selection to presenting a brand.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with John Morganelli Jr., a former Director of Admissions at Cornell University and the current Director of College Admissions for Ivy Tutors Network , about his experience with admission to elite colleges in the United States. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

College prep in the United States starts early. The summer after eighth grade, going into ninth grade, when students should start thinking about what clubs to join in high school. If you want to get into a US college and you wait until 10th and 11th grades, you may not have enough time to create the depth in the application you're looking for.

If you have good grades, you can get into a good college. But there's a subtle difference between an application that will get a child into an Ivy-level school versus an NYU-level school. Here are my insider tips from working as the director of admissions at Cornell University.

Prospective major selection can impact your chances

When I was the Director of College Admissions at Cornell, managing institutional priorities was my biggest job. Elite colleges want diversity — ethnic, intellectual, academic, and social. One of the things that can make students more attractive to a top-tier school is their prospective major.

When you apply to a university, you first apply to the college: arts and sciences, engineering, or business college. Moving between colleges is difficult, but you don't have to declare your major until the second semester of your sophomore year. You can pick any major you have the grades for; it doesn't have to be what's on the application.

The prospective major is just the lens through which readers look at your application. Some majors are more competitive than others. Computer science and pre-med are competitive, but if you say on your application that you want to major in anthropology, the popularity would be very low.

Anthropology is housed in the same college as these more competitive programs but receives fewer applications. And the quality of the apps for anthropology — the engagement, the research, and the objective achievement — would be more diverse because the field is more broad.

Consider applying with a secondary or tertiary interest that may not be your long-term goal but would allow you a significantly easier pathway into the college type you want.

Activity lists are a needle mover in an application

The activity list is a focused list of your extracurricular activities. You want to add some personality and contribution-oriented language.

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Many students struggle with it and treat it like a résumé by just explaining their duties.

Admissions officers want to understand your perspective, whatever activity you choose. If it was the school newspaper, what drew you specifically to this activity, and how did you make a difference in this role? Be clear about your contribution.

Clubs like the newspaper and the model UN are easily adaptable as precursors to various academic disciplines.

Don't leave the additional information section blank

The biggest opportunity students don't capitalize on is the additional information section.

90% of the apps we received were submitted with no additional information.

But you have 650 words available in that section. Use that section for what I call "evidence" — proof that you're already engaged with your prospective major in your community.

Conduct independent research with a community-oriented, information-sharing or advocacy aspect. Formulate a research question you want to know about independently or with a teacher's supervision.

The question could be, "Which groups are left out of public communication about injury prevention?" Write the answer as a paper.

Then, do some additional outreach on that topic in your local community. Maybe write an op-ed for the local newspaper, or attend a council meeting, and speak during the open forum. Get a video or a press clipping of that, and include the public outreach and the research paper's abstract in the additional information section.

Admissions officers glancing at this section will immediately recognize how passionate an applicant is. An application with this extra step will look a lot different than 99% of the students in the country.

Top colleges want you to have a personal brand

The acronym PAGE is a helpful reminder of the four things that make an application stand out.

"P" stands for perspective, "A" for activity or action, "G" is your academic goal, and "E" is ethos.

The difference between admitted and waitlisted students is the clear academic goal: your prospective major or a topic like housing insecurity in rural areas. The more specific, the better. The activities and actions you list should support that goal.

Most students who apply to Ivy League schools have clear goals and activities that support those goals. The differentiator is perspective; how they specifically approach life.

Ethos stands for the application's brand or theme, which should reflect all these elements. We write one for every student. It's about two sentences long and explains the student's values. For example, "I believe that a person must embrace being empathetic to overcome a lack of connection and foster meaningful relationships," or "I believe that being audience-centered, engaging, and adaptive in communication is essential to fostering meaningful engagement and effectively reaching diverse groups."

Infuse these qualities across all your activities, creating a brand or theme in the app. Tie your activity descriptions back to the ethos.

An admissions officer wants to understand the value you're adding to the community. Otherwise, it's just who's the smartest with the highest grades. The easiest way to do that is to create a brand.

Since pivoting to higher education consulting, I have used this strategy to help many students get accepted into Ivy League schools.

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Powerful Benefits of Facebook Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Living in the world of the newest information and communication technologies has changed the lives of ordinary people. Today, they do not have to leave their homes to communicate with their friends and make new acquaintances, buy goods or promote their own business, obtain education or gain assistance in educational issues. What if I told you that Facebook can cope with all these tasks at once, and does it effectively?

The purpose of this study was to choose a specific social media platform and define what powerful benefits it has on the people in my local area. First of all, I would like to highlight that the people of my local area are those who are the closest to me, whom I can see and communicate with on a daily basis. These are my peers. This decision was obvious because, with their help, I could define what are the benefits that they receive from using Facebook. Moreover, I wanted the insight to be fresh and modern that is why I have asked people my age to help me. What I want to stress on is that they use the social network daily and are close to being called social network addicts. Together with that, they managed to turn Facebook into an instrument for achieving their set goals.

As the basis for my research, I decided that I needed to make some investigation on the subject with the aim of defining the reasons for Facebook’s popularity with young people. Second, I believed that I should first define the theoretical benefits of the social network and then seek for approving them from my friends’ words. Let me begin with one simple fact from the statistics: average American spends about 40 minutes a day checking his Facebook account (“7 Powerful Facebook Facts for Business Owners“ par. 4). It means that it is a popular social network, and what I believe is that it owes its popularity with young people to the fact that it was launched by the students, who knew how to make something attractive to people like them. I learned that Facebook grants its constant users three powerful benefits: communication, education, and business.

The initial goal of Facebook was to create a platform for communicating and making new acquaintances. It is the first powerful benefit the social network gives to its users – it enhances their social lives (Gafni and Deri 46). One of my friends, let us call him John for the sake of anonymousness, said that Facebook builds up his social capital through the amount of friends he has there. He believed that he owes his popularity to the number of people who follow him and read his wall. Bearing in mind that social capital is based on the outcomes of various relationships with other people and their structure (Johnston et al. 25), I agree with John that Facebook adds to it, however, I would not want to amplify about the quality of this capital. I will just admit this fact.

Another my friend, I will call her Ann, did not get into details and ink-horn terms. All she said is that this social network is a perfect way to keep in touch with old friends, especially when you are busy or out of town, and make new acquaintances based on mutual interests. However, she brought up an interesting item – the issue of hashtags. Ann told me that it is the most powerful benefit that Facebook could give her because she has met many interesting people simply by browsing the hashtags. I like her point of view. Together with John, they approved that Facebook is an effective platform for communication and making new acquaintances.

Except for communication purposes, this social network is often used for obtaining assistance with educational matters. One of my interviewees, let us call her Cathleen, said that she is not a Facebook-addict. The reason for checking her account frequently is because she gets plenty useful information regarding studying from the posts of her friends and professors. Indeed, Facebook has become a social platform for expressing opinions that very often might be significant in obtaining the education. For example, professors can post notes with useful information from the lectures or for the new course as well as the users have an opportunity to consult with each others or their teacher without leaving homes, so, it saves a lot if time (Gafni and Deri 55-56). Of course, there might be a matter of concern arising from the amount of time spent for browsing Facebook, even if the initial purpose was academic, but it is a whole new story. Facebook has proved that it can be an efficient platform for exchanging information.

Finally, this social network has become a frequently used instrument for doing business. It was long ago that business has moved to the electronic sphere, but its shift to the dimension of social networking is something new. One of my peers, let us call him Mike, said that Facebook is a perfect marketing tool. He mentioned something similar to John’s concept of social capital but in the aspect of making business. Mike told that what has become popular is announcing discounts for the followers of particular Facebook profiles belonging to sales companies. Moreover, he said that it is an incredible tool for promoting business, especially start-up. The reason for Facebook’s popularity is this sphere is that when people like some profiles, they share its posts, and it become well known. Another way of promoting the company is promising the friend who shared the story of successful cooperation with it a discount for the next purchase (Bradley par. 6). The strategies with price reductions really work.

Finally, the last but not the least opinion regarding Facebook’s powerful benefits is that of Carol, another my interviewee. She stated two precious points at once. First, she claimed that Facebook is a low-cost but productive marketing strategy. Indeed, all the company needs is the person who will work on promoting the business without spending thousands of dollars on advertising. In addition, together with the number of everyday logins and bearing in mind previously mentioned strategies for promoting business, Facebook is a perfect marketing tool (“Benefits of Facebook for Business” par. 2). Second, Carol mentioned what is even more important than promoting business – finding new customers. In fact, it can be easily achieved by sharing the basic information about the company and the goods and services it offers and share them by means of, for example, hashtags or ads (Patel par. 7).

So, my friends whom I interviewed helped me to realize that what is written about the powerful benefits of Facebook is indeed true. At least, their experiences demonstrate that this social network enhances communication and help in making new acquaintances, is effective for reaching educational objectives, and as well is a perfect tool for promoting business. Bearing it all in mind, I do believe that it is not the maximum of the Facebook’s potential and that in the nearest future, the development team will offer new options for using this social network for improving our everyday lives.

Works Cited

7 Powerful Facebook Facts for Business Owners. 2016. Web.

Benefits of Facebook for Business. 2014. Web.

Bradley, Tony. Three Ways Business Can Take Advantage of Facebook Places. n.d. Web. 2016.

Gafni, Ruti, and Moran Deri. “Costs and Benefits for Undergraduate Students.” Interdisciplinary Journal of information, Knowledge, and Management 7.1 (2012): 45-61. Print.

Johnston, Kevin, Maureen Tanner, Nishant Lalla and Dori Kawalski. “Social Capital: The benefit of Facebook ‘Friends’.” Behavior & information Technology 32.1 (2013). 24-36. Print.

Patel, Rajesh. What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Facebook. 2015. Web.

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IvyPanda. (2022, January 27). Powerful Benefits of Facebook. https://ivypanda.com/essays/powerful-benefits-of-facebook/

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Guest Essay

Blaming a Parent, Again, for Failed Gun Laws

By Megan K. Stack

Ms. Stack, a contributing Opinion writer, previously wrote about the case of Jennifer Crumbley, a Michigan parent who was criminally charged after her son shot and killed four students at his school.

If you’re cheering on the charges brought against Colin Gray, the father of our nation’s latest school shooting suspect, it’s worth asking yourself how, exactly, he broke the law.

His 14-year-old son, Colt Gray, has been charged with opening fire at school on Wednesday, killing four people. The assault-style rifle he was accused of using was reportedly a Christmas gift from his dad.

But the Grays live in Georgia, where giving your son an AR-15-style rifle is not, in itself, a crime. (The laws appear to be stricter about handguns.) Nor does Georgia have a law requiring Mr. Gray to safely lock away his guns. Georgia is notorious for having some of the weakest gun laws in the country.

Mr. Gray rocked back and forth in shackles and prison stripes on Friday morning as the charges against him were read. His son had just been charged with murder for opening fire at Apalachee High School, killing two students and two teachers. Next came the charges against the white-haired Mr. Gray, including second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter for allowing his son access to the gun even though, prosecutors say, Mr. Gray knew the boy was a threat to himself and others.

Now father and son are both sitting in jail.

The United States, desperate to stop mass shootings, has been seized by an increasing zeal to prosecute parents. Jennifer and James Crumbley, convicted of involuntary manslaughter this year in Michigan after their son’s school shooting, hadn’t broken any gun laws, either. Prosecutors introduced lurid testimony about their personal lives and hobbies in trying to convince a jury that the Crumbleys were indifferent to their son’s mental health. When they were found guilty, many Americans were pleased.

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Why Amazon Stock May Be a Good Buy Today

• The e-commerce king is generating huge sums of cash flow every quarter.
• Though the company is widely known for its e-commerce business, it's Amazon's cloud-computing segment that is generating most of its operating profit.
• The company's huge scale has morphed into its greatest competitive advantage.
• Motley Fool Issues Rare “All In” Buy Alert

NASDAQ: AMZN

Don't be fooled by its $1.8 trillion market cap. Amazon shares may still have room to run.

On the surface, Amazon ( AMZN 2.37% ) stock may look expensive. Shares trade at 41 times earnings. But a look beneath the hood shows a number of reasons why the stock easily lives up to its premium valuation.

Here are some of the main reasons investors may want to consider adding shares of the e-commerce and cloud-computing giant to their portfolio today if they don't already own it.

Gushing with cash

Sure, Amazon's $1.8 trillion market capitalization might seem overwhelming to some investors looking into the stock. But the company's underlying cash flow helps justify this valuation. For instance, the company's trailing-12-month operating cash flow came in at an astounding $108 billion. This huge cash-flow stream enables enormous reinvestment in its business while still producing substantial free cash flow. Total trailing-12-month free cash flow , less principal repayments of finance leases and financing obligations, was $53 billion.

Amazon's price-to-adjusted free-cash-flow multiple of 34 is much easier to embrace than its price-to-earnings multiple of 41.

A lucrative cloud-computing business

Still, even a price-to-adjusted free-cash-flow multiple of 34 may seem a bit pricey for a company that grew its total revenue by only 10% year over year in its most recent quarter. But an overview of Amazon stock is incomplete without understanding how important its cloud-computing business, Amazon Web Services (AWS), is to the company. Coming in at 16% of trailing-12-month sales, some investors may make the mistake of concluding the segment is of small importance to Amazon's overall business. But this couldn't be further from the truth.

First, investors should note that AWS is growing faster than Amazon's overall business. This means it will grow as a percentage of revenue over time. Consider that AWS revenue rose nearly 19% year over year in the second quarter.

Second, AWS is far more profitable than the rest of Amazon's business. AWS's operating income in Q2, for instance, was $9.3 billion. This gives the segment an operating margin of greater than 35%. Even more, this segment accounted for about 63% of total operating income. This means that as AWS grows, it will have an outsize impact on Amazon's profitability.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy emphasized the importance of AWS in the company's most recent earnings call, noting that none of the progress it is making in cloud computing is especially noteworthy. "AWS continues to be customers' top choice," Jassy said in the company's second-quarter earnings release.

Of course, it's no surprise that AWS remains a top customer choice. The company's market leadership in cloud computing gives it scale and cost advantages, helping it reinvest aggressively and innovate rapidly.

Amazon's scale in cloud computing is difficult to overstate. Synergy Research Group estimates that AWS commands nearly a third of the worldwide cloud infrastructure market share, with Microsoft 's Azure coming in second -- about six percentage points behind.

Once investors realize the significance of AWS as a growth engine for Amazon, fundamentals start to justify the stock's current valuation.

A wide moat

The final key factor helping the bull case for Amazon stock in a big way is the company's competitive advantage: scale. As both the world's largest e-commerce retailer and cloud-computing infrastructure provider, the company's overall scale is a competitive advantage in and of itself.

Put another way, the company is able to spread its fixed costs across a larger number of customers than its peers, spinning its flywheel faster so it can invest more aggressively than its competitors and expand its economic moat even further.

Considering Amazon's significant cash flow, its fast-growing and lucrative cloud-computing business, and its scale competitive advantage, shares look like a good buy today. Of course, there's always a chance that the company's edge in retail and cloud computing will erode over time and that Amazon's future isn't as bright as expected. But this risk seems small, given the company's long history of growing rapidly, expanding profitability, and maintaining market share leadership.

John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Daniel Sparks and his clients have no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy .

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• The real problem with China’s economy

The country risks making some of the mistakes the Soviet Union did

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C hina’S giant economy faces an equally giant crisis of confidence—and a growing deficit of accurate information is only making things worse. Even as the country wrestles with a property crash, the services sector slowed by one measure in August. Consumers are fed up. Multinational firms are taking money out of China at a record pace and foreign China-watchers are trimming their forecasts for economic growth.

The gloom reflects real problems, from half-built houses to bad debts. But it also reflects growing mistrust of information about China. The government is widely believed to be massaging data, suppressing sensitive facts and sometimes offering delusional prescriptions for the economy. This void feeds on itself: the more fragile the economy is, the more knowledge is suppressed and the more nerves fray. This is not just a cyclical problem of confidence . By backtracking on the decades-long policy of partially liberalising the flow of information, China will find it harder to complete its ambition of restructuring the economy around new industries. Like the Soviet Union, it risks instead becoming an example of how autocratic rule is not just illiberal but also inefficient.

The tightening of censorship under President Xi Jinping is well known. Social-media accounts are ever more strictly policed. Officials are warier of candid debate with outsiders. Scholars fear they are watched and business people mouth Communist Party slogans. Less familiar is the parallel disappearance of technical data, especially if it is awkward or embarrassing for the party. Figures for youth unemployment, a huge problem, have been “improved and optimised”—and lowered. Balance-of-payments statistics have become so murky that even America’s Treasury is baffled. On August 19th stock exchanges stopped publishing daily numbers on dwindling foreign-investment inflows. As the economic dashboard dims , the private sector is finding it harder to make good decisions. Officials probably are, too.

To understand the significance of this shift, look back to the mid-20th century. Witnessing the totalitarianism of the 1930s and 1940s, liberal thinkers such as Karl Popper and Friedrich Hayek argued that political freedom and economic success go hand in hand: decentralised power and information prevent tyranny and allow millions of firms and consumers to make better decisions and live better lives. The collapse of the Soviet Union proved them right. In order to maintain political dominance, its rulers ruthlessly controlled information. But that required brutal repression, starved the economy of price signals and created an edifice of lies. By the end, even the Soviet leadership was deprived of an accurate picture.

As China grew more open in the late 1990s and 2000s, its leaders hoped to maintain control while avoiding the Soviet Union’s mistakes. For many years they allowed technical information in business, the economy and science to flow far more freely. Think of Chinese firms with listed share prices disclosing information to investors in New York, or scientists sharing new research with groups abroad. Technology seemed to offer a more surgical way to censor mass opinion. The internet was intensively policed, but it was not banned.

China’s top leadership also redoubled its efforts to know what was going on. For decades, it has run a system known as neican , or internal reference, in which journalists and officials compile private reports. During the Tiananmen Square protests, for example, the leadership received constant updates. Techno-utopian party loyalists reckoned that big data and artificial intelligence could improve this system, creating a high-tech panopticon for the supreme leader that would allow the kind of enlightened central planning the Soviets failed at.

It is this vision of a partially open, hyper-efficient China that is now in doubt. Amid a widening culture of fear and a determination to put national security before the economy, the party has proved unable or unwilling to limit the scope of its interference in information flows. Monetary-policy documents and the annual reports of China’s mega-banks now invoke Xi Jinping Thought. Deadly-dull foreign management consultants are treated as spies. This is happening despite the fact that China’s increasingly sophisticated economy requires more fluid and complex decision-making.

An obvious result is the retreat of individual liberty. In a reversal of its partial opening, China has become a more repressive place . Many Chinese still have liberal views and enjoy debate but stick to private gatherings. They present no immediate danger to the party.

The information void’s other effects pose more of a threat. As price signals dim, the allocation of capital is getting harder. This comes at a delicate moment. As its workforce shrinks, China must rely more on boosting productivity to grow. That is all about using resources well. The country needs to pivot away from cheap credit and construction to innovative industries and supplying consumers. That is why capital spending is pouring into electric vehicles, semiconductors and more. Yet if investment is based on erroneous calculations of demand and supply, or if data on subsidies and profits are suppressed, then the odds of a successful transition are low.

China’s admirers might retort that the country’s key decision-makers still have good information with which to steer the economy. But nobody really knows what data and reports Mr Xi sees. Moreover, as the public square empties it is a good bet that the flow of private information is becoming more distorted and less subject to scrutiny. No one wants to sign a memo that says one of Mr Xi’s signature policies is failing.

After the horrors of the mid-20th century, liberal thinkers understood that free-flowing information improves decision-making, reduces the odds of grave mistakes and makes it easier for societies to evolve. But when information is suppressed, it turns into a source of power and corruption. Over time, the distortions and inefficiencies mount. China has big opportunities but it also faces immense problems. A fully informed citizenry, private sector and government would be far better equipped to take on the challenges ahead. ■

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This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “China’s looking-glass economy”

Leaders September 7th 2024

What to do about america’s killer cars, the labour government’s worrying lack of ambition in europe, how to deal with the hard-right threat in germany, a make-or-break moment for mexico, as brazil bans elon musk’s x, who will speak up for free speech.

From the September 7th 2024 edition

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