Facebook and others are pretty powerful

Recently, I learned just how powerful social networking can be.  A long lost family member of mine was found on Facebook.  People make snide remarks about Facebook and Twitter and how they've killed human interaction,  and in a way, they're right.  People don't interact face to face as much, but these tools can be used for so much good.

In the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake, people were using Facebook to find family members and to let everyone know they were alright. There have been numerous stories of couples meeting on  Facebook, including a couple who shared the same first and last name and ended up getting married (after they made sure they weren't  related of course).  The fans of 88-year-old Betty White launched a campaign via Facebook in support of her hosting Saturday Night Live--and it worked.

Facebook has allowed me to keep up with the lives of family members who are spread across the country.  We get to share pictures and stories of the happy moments in our lives and grieve with each other during the sad times.  I have found friends and classmates from high school and all the way back to kindergarten who I had lost touch with.  It's also become a way for me to express my opinions, likes and dislikes, individuality and engage in some heated political debates.  It also become a source for news because people post stories to their profiles and you can also subscribe to journalists' and news ogranizations' Facebook pages.

There is a downside to Facebook.  People have been fired because of pictures and other information on their profiles and it's allowed kids to continue to bully their targets outside of school.  People also never write letters or handwritten notes anymore.You can just post your event on Facebook and have people RSVP.  My entire high school reunion was planned using Facebook.

Since social networking is so new, we don't yet know how else it will affect our culture.  It will be interesting to see in 20 years if Facebook is still around and how it will further change the way we communicate and interact with one another.

Contact Cicely Tutson at tutson@marshall.edu.