With The Social Network set to open in theatres islandwide this week, Thursday Tech looks at the phenomenon of Facebook, how it completely enhances online communication and ultimately leaves us vulnerable all at the same.

The Social Network is based on the life of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and how the Harvard techie grew the website from just a few hundred users at his college in 2004 to the over 500 million subscribers it boasts today.

The site is worth over US$25 billion and is listed as the sixth most-visited site in the world… for all that, though, Facebook must have some ‘killer’ perks.

Advantages

Social networking via this website is quite advantageous, as it allows users to expand their reach both personally and professionally. It allows users the world over to stay connected through messages, wall postings and images. Users can have as many friends as they want and use it as a means of reuniting with long-lost pals from college or high school.

The network has also popularised what’s often referred to as ‘community journalism’ and is a great source for up-to-the-minute news; marketers have also enjoyed the mass appeal of the site (the number of users grows at a mind-boggling rate of roughly 150,000 daily). Another plus is that it’s fairly simple to use, just a click or scroll can mean the page is organised and that helps, especially when one doesn’t have a lot of time to spend on the Internet.

But for every advantage, there is perhaps an equal disadvantage.

Disadvantages

Of note, too, is the fact that Facebook has been known to be plagued with privacy issues. In May of this year, some users discovered a glitch that gave them access to supposedly private information in the accounts of their Facebook friends, like chat conversations.

However, before that Facebook had implemented changes that essentially forced users to choose between making information about their interests available to anyone or removing it altogether.

It must be pointed out though that the operators are quick to address security breaches whenever they occur.

For many people, it has become more scary than fun and the online social community is rife with tales of mistaken identity, the escape of illicit material and even fraud.

What’s more, the website seems to encourage users to share photos and information with other Internet sources; it’s not unusual to find Facebook links on other web pages. In fact, CEO Zuckerberg in April of this year spoke of plans to allow users to share information in their profile pages, such as hobbies and hometowns, in a way that would make the information public.

Though the extent of discontent among users worldwide is hard to quantify, one benchmark is a group specifically created on the social networking site to protest privacy changes, which has attracted more than 2.2 million members.

But, like it or not, Facebook has completely changed how Internet users interact with technology and the social landscape.