Cultural Impact

Facebook has also seen some criticism from teachers and classrooms as it is seen as a distraction. Many students are members of groups that read “Addicted to Facebook”, as well as other variations [2]. University students are almost, if not, required to own a laptop in 2011. This boasts a change in focus from textbooks to online resources for research and studying led by modern information technology. Michael Tracey, a journalism professor at the University of Colorado, recounts a class  discussion during which he asked how many people had seen the previous night's NewsHour on PBS or read that day's New York Times. "A couple of hands went up out of about 140 students who were present," he recalls. "One student chirped: 'Ask them how many use Facebook.' I did. Every hand in the room went up. She then said: 'Ask them how many used it today.' I did. Every hand in the room went up. I was amazed” [2].

This level of use in the classroom led many universities to restrict access to the Internet in the classrooms to ban Facebook as a distraction. Other reactions include barring the use of laptops in general. Campus-wide bans on Facebook are rare but have been put in place for security reasons [2]. Those restrictions do little to limit the use of Facebook out of class, but the teachers do what they can to keep students focused and learning in the classroom.

It is undeniable that Facebook has changed the way that millions of people interact with each other online and offline. New friendships can be formed via the website as well as strengthen current ones. The various ways users can communicate are staggering, such as Facebook chatting, wall to wall conversations, private messaging, and status updates. But Facebook’s social impact is off the web site as well. In 2010, the film The Social Network was released to widespread critical acclaim and box office success.

The Social Network follows young Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook, through the creation of the site and the influence it has on his business partners. Two of which sue him for allegedly stealing the idea for the website, while Mark is juggling trying to save his friendship with one of the creators. The film gave viewers a look into what the potential for current information technology has to offer and letting viewers know the challenges the creators had to go through to create such an important and massive website.

The website defied even the farthest reaching expectations of the creators and brought new interest towards the occupation of being a software engineer and information technologies in general. In mid 2011, famed hacker of the iPhone and PS3, George Hotz, was hired to Facebook because of his extensive computer cracking skills [7]. This interest in information technology has created careers for many people and Facebook is many of the job opportunities.