In The Benefits of Facebook ‘‘Friends:’’ Social Capital and College Students’ Use of Online Social Network Sites, the study addresses the power of Facebook and its impact on the communities within the platform. Specifically, the focus narrows down to undergraduate students and how Facebook impacts their lives and social capital. The study discusses some of the negative effects of Facebook like self-image and self-esteem issues.
Although, Facebook is a popular social media platform, I find this study a little outdated. However, the study is from 2007, so during that time it might have been more relevant and accurate since that generation started off with Facebook instead of Instagram. For my generation, we heavily rely on Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat. I have a Facebook account, but I only use it to connect with my relatives who live far away.
However, this study relates to today’s news regarding the Facebook whistleblower. Yesterday, Facebook and Instagram went down for seven hours, costing Mark Zuckerberg about 7 billion dollars. The whistleblower came out to announce the wrongdoings at Facebook regarding its knowledge of the platforms negative impact on users’ mental health and body image beliefs.
I like your point that connecting to what happened recently in your writing. Hours of shut down of Instagram caused a fiery discussion yesterday. Also, I agree that the technology and social media change in a fast pace, some popular social media in the past may not be as fashionable as in nowadays. I am wondering is it possible that each generation may have their own favorite social media platform, maybe decades later, Instagram may lose its audience too.