Facebook has
hit a significant new milestone: the social network now has one billion users.
Just as
Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg announced its one billion users on the 14th
of September, the site released its very first advertisement entitled ‘The
Things That Connect Us.’ The advertising campaign will air in thirteen
countries, including Spain, Mexico, Russia, Brazil and the US.
The 90
second advert, made by Wieden and Kennedy (well known for its Nike advertising
fame), aims to reveal the human aspect of social networking and the role Facebook
plays in maintaining and developing human connections.
The advert
compares Facebook to chairs, bridges, basketball and other things that unite
people and states that Facebook is like a “great nation”, a “place where [people] belong.”
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Facebook's new advertisement compares the site to chairs and various other objects which connect people.
“What we’re trying to articulate is
that we as humans exist to connect, and that we at Facebook facilitate and
enable that process,” head of Facebook’s
consumer marketing, Rebecca Van Dyck, reported. “We make the tools and services
that allow people to feel human, get together, open up.
"Even
if it’s a small gesture, or a grand notion — we wanted to express that huge range of creativity and how we interact with each
other.”
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"Helping a billion people connect is amazing, humbling and by far the thing I am most proud of in my life," Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook timeline update on his personal account. "I am committed to working every day to make Facebook better for you, and hopefully together one day we will be able to connect the rest of the world too."
But does Facebook really connect
people? The company is beginning to be acknowledged as dictator like. If we
write on someone’s timeline, who else will see it? If we comment on someone’s
status, whose newsfeed will it show up in? Occasionally, it seems like Facebook
is a hidden microphone, threatening to
expose what we really want to say.
Deprived of the ability to open up, connecting with friends is a challenge.
In the same way, the social network
can create a false sense of community. Everyone is called your ‘friend.’ What
is a ‘friend’? On Facebook, what they call a ‘friend’ is someone who can view
your profile and comment on your statuses and photos, and vice versa. A ‘friend’
on Facebook can be someone you’ve never met. It can be a friend of a friend,
someone you have only heard of, or someone you have only met once or twice. In
the real world, however, a friend is someone you have a deep relationship with.
Generally, it is someone you have looked in the eye and had a conversation
with. It is not difficult to acquire over 100 Facebook ‘friends’ but none of
them ever grow into real quality friends. It is only too easy for Facebook to
replace an old fashioned phone call. The simple person to person approach.
Instead, it is a world where inhibitions are few. People are ever more vocal
about their opinions and ‘friends’ are connecting in a negative way.
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| Despite receiving negative press, reaching one billion users a month is a significant achievement for Zuckerberg. |
In a more positive light, Facebook can
be beneficial to businesses. Samuel Junghenn, founder of the Digital Marketing
Agency, Think Big believes that: “businesses need to stop focusing on the
negative press around Facebook and start focusing on engaging. Facebook has a
massive market share of all online consumers and any business would be remiss
not to use it as a platform to drive traffic and customers.”
In order to solve these conflicting
points of view, Facebook must remember to centre around friendship; focus on building
meaningful experiences with friends. To develop that, the social network can
create an environment of trust, security and of true connections as Zuckerberg
concludes that “the need to open up and connect is what makes us
human. It’s what brings us together. It’s what brings meaning to our lives.”
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