Research Findings

It was found that 20% of the respondents liked to use Facebook for less than 1 hour per day, and 40% of them liked to use Facebook 1-2 hours per day. Moreover, 20% of the respondents liked to use Facebook for 3-4 hours per day. The rest of the respondents (15%) liked to use Facebook for more than 4 hours a day.

15% of the respondents strongly agreed that they felt upset when there was no response from their friends on their wall post, and 38% of them did not feel upset when there was no response on their wall post.

   
Facebook could destroy relationships between friends. It was found that 48% of the respondents strongly agreed that Facebook could destroy relationships between friends. 25% of them agreed and another 25% neither agreed nor disagreed that Facebook could destroy the  relationships. Only 3% of the respondents strongly disagreed.

45% were not sure on the question whether they used Facebook to avoid awkward face-to-face conversations while13% of them strongly agreed with this question. However, 13% of the respondents disagreed and 3% strongly disagreed.

78% agreed that Facebook was a tool for connecting with new people. Nevertheless, 18% neither agreed nor disagreed with this question. The minority of the respondents (8%) disagreed that Facebook was tool for connecting with new people.

  40% of questionaire respondents admitted that they used Facebook to express their feelings. Moreover, 38% of the respondents neither agreed nor disagreed with this and 10% of the respondents strongly disagreed.

  43% of the respondents neither agreed nor disagreed that using too much Facebook could cause a person to lose social relationships. However, another 43% of them admitted that using too much Facebook could cause a person to lose social relationships. Only 5% strongly disagreed.  



  From the survey on the question to see if they felt anxious if they did not have a chance to update Facebook information, 28% of the respondents strongly agreed that they felt anxious. 8% of them agreed and 23% neither agreed nor disagreed. The rest (43%) disagreed that having no chance to update Facebook information could make them anxious.

    28 % of the respondents strongly agreed, but 30% of them neither agreed nor disagreed. 28% of the respondents disagreed and 8% strongly disagreed that every time they used Facebook they ignored the surrounding things or persons.
  

  

Effects of Facebook

Positive Effects of Facebook 

 More and more people are using Facebook because it gives them many 

positive effects. For one thing, it is a social utility that connects 

people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. 

Moreover, Facebook is a great way to keep in touch with their family and friends that live far away by using instant messaging and even video chat. Next, one positive effect of  using Facebook is that users will be able to post almost anything on their wall. In addition, a lot of people are taking advantage of this page to post some information and update on their personal and social lives such as, birthdays and class reunion. Through this wall, users can also express their feelings and reactions towards social events through wall post comments. Not only can users post written content, but they can also post some videos, pictures and music as well. Furthermore, Facebook helps users meet new people very easily due to the fact that it allows them to add up to thousands of friends. 

Negative Effects of Facebook 


Most of the teenagers do not realize the negative impacts of Facebook on their life. The 
main reason is that they have already been addicted to it. This addiction can lead to 
several negative consequences. To begin with, a negative effect of Facebook is that users personal information becomes public and this threatens their privacy or they may also be friends with people they do not know well.  

Furthermore, the biggest impact of social networking on our lives today is the ability for users to be able to give feedback and interact with one another. Also, Fodeman & Monroe (2009) states, “We see that many students post embarrassing, humiliating, denigrating and hurtful content in both texts,photos and videos.” If they have a fight with a friend, they can publicly expose this through Facebook, because they may find it easier to say things online than in person.

 

Reasons for the Popularity of Facebook

  Facebook has over 900 million subscribers (August 2012), excluding the users who have signed up this year. To begin with, Facebook is the most popular website for uploading photos; more than 14 million photos are uploaded daily. Not only can users upload unlimited photos but they can also add tags and comments on their friend’s photos. Moreover, they can embed and upload their videos through the web or through their smart phone using Facebook applications. Next, they can update their friends activities by reading their news feed, allowing them to see what their friends are up to without having to ask them. Also,Vanderhurst (2011) states that Facebook is an alternative form of entertainment. There are games and applications existing for users’ satisfaction. Furthermore, Facebook offers various communities and groups where users can choose to become a member. Many users of Facebook love various applications, features, and games offered by the site. For example, birthday alerts are also one of the features that helps them send a virtual gift to their friend on time.

Facebook Origin and Popularity

Facebook was first founded in 2004 by a Harvard University student: Mark Zurgerberg,Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes as a site for Harvard students only. Shortly after, it expanded to any college student with a .edu e-mail account and quickly expand to other schools, then to high school, and eventually to everyone in 2006 (Valenzuela). Also,Valenzuela (2008) states that Facebook.com was ranked as the 16th most visited website on the Internet in the U.S with 34 million unique visitors by January 2008, and as the 13th most popular website worldwide with 98 million unique visitors by December 2007.  

 

General Background Information

The Internet has provided human beings a great deal of convenience in communication, resulting in a high number of users around the world. Facebook has 1 billion users and 600 million mobile users. Facebook has become a popular tool for keeping in touch with friends and families. Moreover, Facebook attracts the young generations, particularly college students, to become regular users.