It's Facebook, Not Farce Book!

OPINIONBy Solomon Dibaba

The development of global social media outlets like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Bebo, Tumbir, You Tube, Linkedin is moving in an unprecedented speed. The revolution in science and technology, particularly in international cyber technology network has not only helped to accelerate globalization but has also been playing a major role in the transfer of technology, promotion of international trade, media coverage, online higher education, global communications, easing relations between families and persons who had lost contact for some reason or another, promotion of cultural exchange between peoples of the world, as well as exchange of a myriad of information on a wide range of topics of interest.

There are millions of people on the internet who are looking to meet other people and to gather and share information and experiences on a variety of topics. Because of this, hundreds of social networking sites have been created, and they have attracted millions of users. Hence, social networking has become a global phenomenon. Most of the key features of these social networking sites are very similar, yet the cultures that form around them vary in many different ways. Some of the sites target diverse audiences, while others attract people based on common language, race, sexual preferences, religion, or nationality. The sites also vary the ways in which they show and incorporate new information and communication tools, like mobile access, blogging, and photo and video sharing (Boyd, Ellison, 2007).

As an important component of the global social media, Facebook, which had 1.71 billion monthly active users as of the second quarter of 2016, has rendered unfathomable contributions to the development of human knowledge on ongoing events, issues of the environment and global climate change. Governments, corporate organizations, UN systems, civil society organizations, scientific research institutions, educational institutions and millions of individuals have been able to utilize the facilities of this modern innovation for the common interest of mankind. The peoples of the world have now managed to contact each other in a couple of minutes. Read from the source