Facebook autobiography

I am an avid but somewhat jaded user but my 14 year old sister is itching to have one. To be honest, I’m not even sure where the appeal is. You can get bragging rights from many sources e.g. “My farm is doing better than yours on Farmville” or “You have 500 friends and I have 550”. There are pictures and status updates but really it’s just a useless website that we’re all obsessed with. But not having a Facebook is taboo. It signals that you are socially weird. For everyone who didn’t go to Harvard, Facebook isn’t very old. However, it’s so ingrained our lives and culture that you have to have one. Facebook has also become a means for big corporations like Target to hunt us down and tell us what the latest sales or promotions are so that we can go and spend money so that they make money. Having a dad as a business professor has taught me that we are the products of Facebook and that there are consulting firms who give our information to companies like Target so that we can be targeted (no pun intended) in the most effective manner. I have told her that it’s useless and he has told her how she’s just a pawn in the game but she continues to ask. How have we allowed a website to dictate our lives so much? Everything is just so different now than it was in 2005. Games and “personalized” ads have been added. Status updates have become a way to hear about the latest news and music. You can now track what people do on other websites, if they don’t disconnect the connection. In short, Facebook has gotten corrupted. It’s no longer about connecting with friends. Now, it’s about staying relevant.