Since its birth, most people in the later generations tend to view Facebook as another wacky website where their children and their grandchildren go to hang out and do nothing with their lives. However, I hate to inform you later generations that this is not really the case (anymore). While that assumption may have been true for Myspace (since it was the first social network to go big, thus making it a version 1.0 product with bugs), Facebook is a much different story. Here’s why.
In a single statement, Facebook is its own virtual economy. It has grown from a simple way to stay in touch with friends and family to a secondary way of life for more and more people. In fact, it is basically on the same playing field as checking your email and watching TV. While I realize this is hard to understand, it’s probably harder to explain it! 
Let’s break it down for its different uses. For businesses, Facebook offers an advertising system like no other. It puts the power of target marketing into the hands of every person on the planet. Heck, even I’ve used it twice! You name your price, you build your ad, you pick your target audience (right down to age group, location, interests, etc.) and click Submit. Done! Of course, there are steps to take when planning your social media advertising strategy, but that’s the basics of that in a nutshell.
For non-profit organizations and cause groups, Facebook is a wonder drug. They can start Facebook Groups, Facebook Pages and Facebook Causes (yes they are all different features of the system) to create foundations of followers and supporters which to market to and spread their missions. This even works for charitable movements at the personal and individual level. Here’s an example of Facebook creating a movement for a 13 year old boy and his family. And this is only one of the many stories I’ve heard like this. It’s truly an amazing way to connect with people and reach out.
While all these ideas of success stories seem incredible, they aren’t as easy to pull off as the articles make it sound. You have to do your homework and you have to play the game correctly. I myself have several presences on Facebook in different forms, and I haven’t seemed to get the right balance yet on any of them. But I believe if I really drove for it, I could make an impact too. 
For the individuals on Facebook, there are continuous reunions (classmates, old friends, family, new friends), interaction, conversations, and even shopping (via the Facebook Marketplace).
Again, this is hard to get across to people who just aren’t into the idea of trading in real life interaction for virtual social interaction. And really, you’re not giving up real life interaction, you’re just adding to it. This leads me to another point. When you’re out in public, Facebook doesn’t really ever come up (unless you’re saying goodbye, “hey are you on Facebook?”). It’s just kind of a second world that nobody really thinks about unless you’re on a computer in front of it. Sometimes when I’m in public I look around and realize that everyone around me is probably on Facebook, but you’d never know it. It’s kind of bizarre.
While I hope this explanation gives you a better understanding of Facebook and may even get you to actually join it, I somehow get the feeling it was a bad idea to explain this to my parents (who are currently anti-Facebook, for now….).
For a more in-depth explanation on Facebook, check out the history of Facebook on Wikipedia. Or to finally give in and see what it’s all about, Join Facebook!
Still confused about this topic? Leave your question in the comments below and let us know!
We need more blogs in the world like this. Frustrated techies can now breathe a sign of relief and move on with their experiments.