Facebook lately has received a great deal of criticism over Privacy Settings and it’s ability to keep FB Users safe… not to mention the ongoing debate as to whether social networking is a Positive thing. This week even saw a “Quit Facebook Day” taking place and it result 34,424 users leaving facebook but it has pretty much been deemed a failure. Despite all the furore around Facebook quitting and privacy concerns, it appears that people are just not ready to part with their profiles, as they have become too big a part of their lives.
I am one of those who enjoys facebook and sees the potential of social networking – I believe it has the potential to be a really positive influence in the world if it used well. Like all things though Facebook has a very dark and sinister side which I have recently fallen pray to myself.
Like most, when I first started using facebook I was very naive to the dangers and didn’t really know much about using FB. In recent weeks my eyes have been opened by what I can only call “fakebook friends”. Somone, started sending me hateful messages, distasteful photographs in what what can only be described as a “Hate campaign”. This person was blocked but it turned out they had other fake profiles which they used to cause me distress. The strangest part was, that once one person began being abusive a few others rallied around and formed a mallicious circle. I spent a number of days dealing with growing sociopathic behaviour. These were people who I had never done any wrong to except for maybe having my own facebook profile which seemed to be the only excuse needed to try and cause me harm.
Inspite of all this I can honestly say I AM LUCKY with the many wonderful people I have gotten to know thanks to facebook… I have had the good fortune to meet numerous good and intersting people I would not have encountered otherwise.
