The History of Facebook

In reviewing a pair of books on Facebook and the landscape of social networking, Charles Peterson of New York Review of Books has written a fascinating history of Facebook and social networking.  He talks about how the site was essentially stolen and has now evolved into the most widely used social networking site on the web.  He also explains Facebook Connect and its potential to forever change the way that we use the web.  As one who has been on Facebook since 2005, I think this account is accurate and the social commentary Peterson shares concerning Facebook is apropos.

In the end, however, what he says is Facebook’s greatest is also its greatest strength:

It’s true that Facebook can lead to a false sense of connection to faraway friends, since few members post about the true difficulties of their lives. But most of us still know, despite Facebook’s abuse of what should be the holiest word in the language, that a News Feed full of constantly updating “friends,” like a room full of chattering people, is no substitute for a conversation. Indeed, so much of what has made Facebook worthwhile comes from the site’s provisions for both hiding and sharing. It is not hard to draw the conclusion that some things shouldn’t be “shared” at all, but rather said, whether through e-mail, instant message, text message, Facebook’s own “private message” system, or over the phone, or with a cup of coffee, or beside a pitcher of beer. All of these “technologies,” however laconic or verbose, can express an intimacy reserved for one alone.