"Life goes on when it ain't so sweet" -Shwayze: Facebook = Life

Facebook has modernized inter-human relations, making it easier to maintain friendships.

Facebook is a way for people to facilitate socialization with others. Usually, when we spend time with friends, we don’t mix together people of different subcultures. It is unlikely for a person to be seen hanging out with co-workers and classmates at the same time unless they had class with someone they worked with. Facebook helps collapse those social borders, while at the same time allowing people to be themselves as they lose the notion of the need to behave a certain way according to what subculture they’re dealing with. Collapsing these social borders can sometimes be problematic according to the content you choose to display. You might post information that is not meant for some people to read. For example, posting your cell phone number on your information page with the intention of helping your good friends reach you, when the “creeper” you met at your friend’s birthday party can have access to it. Hence, it is up to the individual with what he or she decides to reveal to the world. Also, the lack of social borders can arouse conflict among people of different beliefs as what is being publicized is not being filtered depending on a specific audience, because such thing doesn’t exist. When we compose visual or written material to display on Facebook, we don’t particularly think of someone in specific to dedicate our message to, instead, it’s like there’s an unknown audience—the world.

“I personally had an experience where several costumers from my job added me as a friend on Facebook, I didn’t find it weird at all, but when one of them crossed the boundaries and called me to a phone number they found on my info page, I realized it was time to take better precautions with what I post.”

“I actually did have a class with one of my co-workers in the past. But when I decided to host a lasagna night and to invite my neighbors, best friends, and roommates, I found myself in an awkward situation, in between people that I shared different interests with. I have to say that social borders are easier to break on Facebook.”

Facebook is a form of memory making and tracking. One of the most significant advantages that “Facebooking” has over other forms of self-expression, like scrapbooking is that it is cost-free. Putting together a scrapbook might cause you about a hundred dollars, if you do a job well done. Posting pictures on Facebook is free, and while you have a limited amount of pages to work with during scrapbooking, you can upload as many images as you want in seconds through Facebook. If for unnatural causes you lose all of your photographs, digital ones will forever remain on Facebook, and they do not take up any space. Also, pictures can be looked at and appreciated by other people. Friends with mutual pictures can share them without having to print out multiple copies and can comment on and cherish special moments together without the need of physical presence. This feedback, among other virtual conversations, whether it be through written text or video, creates new memories for friends to look back at through the Facebook “Wall-to-wall” setting.

“My guy best friend and I used to passionately dislike each other before we became friends. We had a big argument and insulted each other through Facebook. Sometimes I look back at our ‘Wall-to-wall’ and laugh at the stupidities we said. Back then, I would have never imagined that a great friendship was about to blossom a post away.”

“The best roommates I’ve ever had were the ones I had sophomore year. Lisa was out of her mind and well, Allison and I became best friends. Writing and posting crazy videos on each other’s walls were the greatest moments we shared while being bored at home. When we went out, Lisa would always be the designated photographer, and before the night ended, we all had pictures to comment on and ‘untag’ ourselves from.”