Facebook: Article Analysis

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/facebook_inc/index.html

This is a recent article about Facebook. Obviously with the coming out of the movie The Social Network even people who didn't know about Facebook are wondering about it now. More and more people are signing up for accounts all the time. According to this article, Facebook now has more than 500 million users. Crazy! So what does this have to do with PA? Well, obviously Mark Zuckerberg had ambition to pursue this idea of a social network that could basically connect the world. However, were political and legal consequences considered? Doesn't seem so. This article discusses how there is still dispute over the origins of Facebook and that the new movie is adding fuel to the fire. Facebook is a prime example of how personal, professional, and private spaces intermingle because people who work together can become friends and discuss both personal and professional issues via Facebook. Some things can be written more privately (using individual person-to-person messages rather than posting on someone's wall), but virtually everything in Facebook is published and available. I know many companies (even where I work) have made policies regarding the use of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter not only while at work but anytime. For example, any tweets or postings on blogs or walls can be traced back to the employee, so people will want to watch what they say. Negative comments could be cause for termination depending on the company policy. Thus, the three spaces can mix. I think other students in this class will find this article interesting because Facebook continues to grow. As it does, we should consider the possibilities that the intermingling of these three spaces will bring. In the case of this article, the key players are still arguing a real-life battle on a personal and professional level about digital space on the Internet--an idea that started somewhere, but because it was secret and the origins are debatable, the fight could continue for some time.