Facebook has been a gift for most of us and where we can find updates on family and friends as well as the world around us. The social media site has become a place where everybody shares everything and well almost anyways. But it has also become a place to meet people and not only is it a hub to catch up with friends both new and old.
With more than a billion users, Facebook has been a blessing and curse for almost everyone. As it has evolved, one question which remains is whether it is good for you?
Even wanting to know what is going in your local area and around the world is done through Facebook and simply it has been ingrained in our lives. Most of us anyway and for some it is hard to imagine a world where it is not present. Facebook has drawn some criticism as well despite bringing benefits to the lives of people around the globe.
In this article, we are going to have at pros and cons of Facebook.
Pros of Facebook:
First of all, let’s have a look at the pros of Facebook and these are as follows.
1) Hub of discovery:
A certain number of users utilize it for gathering information and while most would use Facebook to get and keep in touch with others. For example, Facebook will suggest a couple more similar themed articles once you have liked one, and while the suggestions are not always 100 percent accurate and it is pretty useful once it hits the mark. The group’s feature of Facebook is a useful tool for learning new things and you can also join groups centered on what interests you and from there participate in discussions and even make new friends.
2) Deeper relationships:
It’s true you can chat with your friends and colleagues in personal chat and while some may claim this to be useful, to me personally it is not. First, I am not on a webcam and chatting on a text messaging platform is an impersonal thing and it can be a bit depressing when you are in a conversation with someone and you can only have a text conversation.
There are many things which I want to discuss but the whole point is it’s not possible to carry on a proper conversation.
3) Facebook Groups are useful for promoting interests.
You may be aware of the fact that Facebook has different groups. From parenting groups, to news groups, many groups exist on Facebook and they are very useful for promoting interests and other related topics. Some of the most useful groups for me are those that focus on finance, politics, entertainment and many more.
4) You can stay in touch with family and friends and old school friends easily.
This one is really huge. I am not talking about distant family and friends, but my own friends and distant family as well. My parents and many of my distant relatives (atleast I thought so) are on Facebook. They can keep track of my activities, for sure, and can share it with them.If you can connect with your extended family and friends and keep them updated about your whereabouts then it is one thing, but Facebook provides you a platform where you can be able to stay in touch with your current friends too.
5) Allows you to choose and connect people:
The whole purpose of products like Facebook is you decide which people you want to communicate with and those updates appear on your feed and some people take offense of rejected requests.
The network also has listed with and whose updates appear on your feed and then you can see people from your favorite people or brands. And there is a chance that you will miss this because the algorithm decides what will appear on your newsfeed.
6) Connects us to people:
It is not usual for people to have friends and family all over the globe these days and the power of Facebook lies in being able to bring all those you love. It also enables you to care about people being together and even if it is digital space.
In the past, the chat feature of Facebook was one of its popular tools and now the social media allows you to communicate through video. Using all these options now it is easy for us to know activities sometimes even daily and of people, we know.
7) Business promotion using Facebook:
It is one of the biggest pros of using Facebook and through Facebook ads and fan badges you can advertise your business. It also helps you to build better relationships with customers and this is as important as the business you can sell or promote your product or service to the target audience. It also increases your brand value and social media presence for your business. There are billions of active users on Facebook, so it is the best platform to fetch the right kind of customer for every business. You can now make Facebook pages for a company or brand and can earn money by getting benefits from these pros.
8) Free and platform to share feelings:
The best part about Facebook is that you don’t have to pay money to use it. It is the best medium for communication on social networking sites. Messaging, video calling, chatting, uploading pictures and videos without any charges are the amazing feature of Facebook. Most of the active users use Facebook as a personal diary where they upload and post their day-to-day life events. Facebook also allows its users to post valuable notes with social friends. Using Facebook, it is very easy to share your feeling, opinion, and what is happening in your life. It is just a platform that you can use in your way what is running in your mind. Your achievements, sorrows, happiness, and pain can be easily expressed using Facebook. You will also be able to take guide, support, and help from your generous friends.
9) Newsfeed, pages, and groups:
These features of Facebook are most amazing and especially due to its several applications and features under one roof. Newsfeed plays an important in getting the new and latest information and while in the case of fan pages, the admin or users publish the post, news, info, photos, videos and you can be regularly connected to stay here and being engaged with their fellow followers.
Cons of Facebook:
There are also some good cons of Facebook. However, there are millions of Facebook users who uses the platform to connect with their family and friends and find inspiration from their friends and admirers. The quality of comments from a person, the time that person takes to interact with the users is one of the big pros of the social media.
Facebook has many security issues like fake news, spam, and piracy are the major threats that are creating a nuisance for the users. Facebook makes it easy to share and post a website, a podcast, and live videos and also make a group of people. While we say it is a good thing, it is a pain also to find the value in the posts and if the user doesn’t pay much attention, some posts could contain some spam and viruses.
1) Newsfeed is based on the algorithm:
The posts on your feed are based on what you are interacted with and however just because you have liked photos of babies does not mean you should be bombarded with them. Admittedly, this throws off some users and that’s why the straightforwardness of Twitter presenting updates in reverse chronological order. Sometimes it is very difficult to get out and you can fall into the rabbit hole. Facebook offers games too much which might be addicting and as such using Facebook is an exercise in self-control.
2) Privacy of information:
There is one issue, which it tries to address. This is not what it is actually doing, but something which we are able to prove with our own data. The social network is required to let people know that they are seeing posts from their friends and business pages. However, there are times when you might not know that you are seeing posts from an acquaintance, business or customer. This could make you believe that that person is stalking you or something inappropriate is going on. You have the choice to unfollow this person but this doesn’t mean that you unfriend them. However, you are in a position to request to know why that person is posting stuff on your profile that you don’t want to see. A better solution might be a dialogue. Facebook is not alone in this, as Google and Twitter do the same too. But again, you can ask to see information from people you don’t know, something which Facebook won’t give you unless you ask for it, at least not without some sort of dialogue.
3) Target from trolls and mean people:
The idea of being able to express is the thing that we value as humans and but doing so also opens up the possibility of being targeted by people who want nothing more than to inflict harm on others. The great news is that you can report abusive accounts and hope Facebook responds accordingly.
4) Design and Features:
The design of the platform is becoming a challenge as it changes with the tide and can be really confusing to the user. For example, if you have a profile picture with the likes of #fbf, you are likely to get a message from Facebook that you don’t have the profile picture in your profile, but instead your profile picture has been saved to the wall. If you have an album with the #happynewyear, chances are that they will ask you to verify your profile and make sure the post is actually yours. But this is a good thing because it forces people to change the way they communicate and engage with the platform.
5) Facebook an addiction:
Many people are addicted to Facebook and people start living in this virtual world and spend hours and hours on Facebook and a new type of disorder came in our life is Facebook addiction disorder. In Facebook addiction disorder, people spend too many hours on Facebook and there is no way to go out.
Facebook is a great tool for communication and connecting with friends and family but peop
6) Scams are spreading:
Messages, suspicious emails, and notifications are the most widely used tricks to hack your account and personal information by using the phishing site. People receive various scams from scammers that you have won prize claim your price by providing your bank details. These kinds of activities are common on Facebook. Now it is dependent on you how you secure your information.
7) “Virtual friends” become false friends:
You can befriend someone who is impersonating someone else, by pretending to be them and start chatting with them. Some people even think that they are communicating with their virtual friend. You cannot judge a book by its cover as it is true with human beings, so before you accept a “friend”, you have to look into the other person’s account. Make sure you are on the other profile, then you can accept their request.
8) Instagram for Facebook :
Ever since the launch of Instagram, Facebook has been looking for ways to engage with people and to be fair, it has been fairly successful with a number of features on Instagram such as Instagram stories. But its efforts have been met with skepticism and derision by the users. This is because the features have been added in as a replacement for something that Facebook was doing a good job at and the users have not accepted this. One such feature is the stories. Before Instagram, most people were using Facebook to post photos. For a lot of people, this was a better option as there was no need for posting them to Facebook. So, Instagram stories became the thing and they are increasingly starting to see the numbers decline as a result. The one thing that is clear is that Facebook has not really invested in Instagram as a whole and the growth numbers are not up to the company’s expectations. This has to change for the company to see the results it wants and for Instagram to grow in the same manner.
