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A decade with facebook that changed the world

facebook2017Many people undoubtedly agree that the most influential website ever created to the cyber space is the Facebook website.



Because after it was commenced in 2004 it has created a new way of thinking and a new culture. It changed not only the internet but the whole humankind. This article is about that change in thinking and culture.


Although facebook was created in 2004 until 2006 it was limited to higher educational institutes such as universities. But after opening to the whole world this ten years old website has contributed in massive changes in the recent world history. It created a new dimension in humankind dealing with thousands of people in the world. No one knew that there was such a large need for a space for thoughts in the human society before the emerging of facebook. Until two decades pass after the creation of internet it was just used as a tool and no one believed that a space which could handle human consciousness could be created until Mark Zuckerberg, who was a university student, created facebook.


Afterwards, it became a subculture within the internet that could impact on the shape of human lives. It interfered in several important human phenomena. It was introduced as a website that enables relationships between friends. It enables two or more people, living in a physical distance, to share their ideas as messages or pictures and to engage in chats. Human society has used this facility to create a platform for free thought. It today contributes even in the governance of a country. It is a situation that even Zuckerberg didn’t imagine when creating facebook. However, when people tried to chase their lost freedom of their true lives through facebook many impacts on the society can be seen in the fields of love, sex, politics, arts, entertainment, and marketing strategies etc. Today the love is experienced by youths through facebook page Virtual Love. Though it is a modern trend of expressing love there is an issue on their trustworthiness. Some love stories in facebook had developed to the marriage and some had fewer lifetimes. Therefore, one should act with understanding to determine whether a certain facebook love is genuine or fake.


 
Facebook contributes in sexuality too. Groups who cannot approach sexual activities in true society try to enjoy their feelings through facebook by creating a virtual culture. It is sort of a cultural revolution. However it may create many complex issues in the whole society with their negative impact on the society. There are several ways of experiencing sexuality through facebook. They are sex chats, sharing pornographic contents through promotion pages, sharing pornographic fictions and creation and use of sexual groups and sex games in facebook etc. This has raised certain issues regarding privacy, child abuses, and use of fake photographs etc. However one may remove any post which is harming their privacy by reporting them to facebook. If you are a member of this facebook subculture, be educated before you get a victim of it.


Facebook today act as an ideological equipment that can impact personal life as well as political and social situations. Hence, it facilitates various political and social movements. It is used today to promote a certain character, a political group which has a certain aim or a government. It has also become a fashion to express political views through Personal Promotion Pages and Personal Accounts, and they tend to measure their popularity through the amount of likes reported to their accounts. However, as these likes could also be gained for money, it should be considered whether these persons have that actual popularity in the society. Today facebook is used by political groups as well as communal extremist groups. Nevertheless, such action could be prevented by reporting those pages and accounts to facebook.


Arab spring and rainbow revolution in Sri Lanka cannot be forgotten when discussing socio-political movements which were largely contributed by facebook because there was no earlier experience on such global movements done through facebook. However, the facebook contributed greatly in the Arab spring which started in 2010 in Tunisia. Though some refuse this fact there are ample facts to prove such thing happened. This movement was influenced in the recent presidential elections in Sri Lanka and it is called the rainbow revolution. It focused on matters which could not be discussed through mainstream media. It opened a new path towards a new political culture.


This new culture has given opportunity to popularize creative works too. It provides a platform to spread various creations without barriers which were present before the internet was introduced. There are thousands of groups and promotion pages for this purpose. There is a space for making creations and criticism without any barriers.


Moreover, some facebook artistes publish some of their creations as books. Publishing them through facebook helps them in getting a feedback on them before it is published in other formats. Also there are singers in the new generations who became popular stars in mainstream media after publishing their songs in facebook. On the other hand facebook has become a platform to publish some creations which were rejected by mainstream media for various reasons. There is a big space for entertainment which includes humour, hilarious photos and videos, and cartoons. There are numerous pages created in facebook on this purpose.


Facebook is used today for arts, politics, and entertainment as well as for marketing promotions. It is bound with all aforesaid features. It is more productive as the product could be directly referred to the target group with respect to the region and age of the target group. The online market based on internet provides opportunity to engage in transactions using credit and debit cards. Accordingly, the world has experienced many changes within the decade spent with facebook. It could be identified as an era that internet is brought to a more humanitarian approach. However, we cannot forget that facebook also has become the top crime zone. Therefore, we should use all these facilities for the good of the human society with conform to related ethics. Otherwise, the facebook which is created by the human will cause the end to the human kind in the near future.

The department assists media in a macro level in welfare, training, policy planning and accreditation, and providing easy access to Government news and information.