Information Technology's Influence on Facebook

Casi Flordeliza

IT 103, Section 001

March 3, 2011

Information Technology’s Influence on Facebook

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Abstract

This paper will analyze many aspects of Facebook with support from several sources. As it is one of the leading uses of information technology, it would be helpful to know more about it in some detail. The paper will briefly discuss some background history as well as the development. There will be discussion on the obstacles that were overcome to bring Facebook into fruition. Then it will explain the technology that is involved followed by the mention of legal, ethical and social issues related to it as well as the security of this development. And lastly, it will discuss the benefits of its use.

Introduction

            Facebook is the most used social network out there. It has hundreds of millions of active users, yet most people do not know how it all started or how it works. They just know they use it to stay connected to people. This paper will explain multiple topics from the beginning of Facebook’s invention to the advantages of having one, and everything in between. Some information may be detailed such as the technology section, whereas others might seem as if everyone knows it such as the security issues or the benefits that Facebook can bring to one’s social life. Basically, Information Technology has had such an influence on this development that people consider it to be a significant part of their lives. Active users are on Facebook everyday multiple times a day. And with every significant development comes noteworthy groundwork. 

Background and Development

            Mark Zuckerberg was a second year computer science student at Harvard University when he invented Facebook, and is now the world’s youngest multi-billionaire CEO of the company (Bellis, 2011). However, many people do not know that Facebook was initially and momentarily called “Facemash.” The story behind this had Zuckerberg challenged with multiple charges including breach of security, violation of copyrights, as well as individual privacy for pilfering student photos he used to occupy the site. In addition, he also faced expulsion from school for his behavior but eventually all charges were dropped. In 2004, he re-launched with a fresh website entitled “Thefacebook” (Bellis, 2011). Not even a week later he was in trouble again. Three seniors had accused Zuckerberg of stealing their ideas for an intended social network called “HarvardConnection,” and of using their ideas for “Thefacebook.” They filed a lawsuit against him; however, the matter was resolved out of court (Bellis, 2011). Later in 2004, Sean Parker became president of the company. And in 2005, after a two hundred thousand dollar purchase for the domain name of “facebook.com,” the company altered the name one more time from “Thefacebook” to simply “Facebook” (Bellis, 2011).

Primary Hurdles and then Fruition

            The only foreseeable complications Mark Zuckerberg had were those with which he defiled federal laws and school policies in trying to initiate his social network. Once he got passed all that, the only other difficulties were those with certain school peers who attempted to blame him for taking their ideas and implementing them. Other than these social issues, his idea was interesting to many and was evidently extremely successful in the end. Some of his friends helped him achieve some important tasks leading up to the fulfillment of Facebook including Eduardo Saverin who managed the business aspect, Dustin Moskovitz who was the programmer, Andrew McCollum who was the graphic artist and Chris Hughes another supportive friend (Bellis, 2001).

Technology of Facebook

            In a general sense, Facebook uses a variety of services, tools, and programming languages to compose its fundamental infrastructure. Campbell, a Project Manager at Vayner Media and Staff Writer at MakeUseOf.com, says, “ Their servers run a LAMP stack with Memcache.” He explains the “L,” that stands for Linux, is a “Unix-like computer operating system” that is “open-sourced, customizable and good for security.” The Linux operating system runs on Apache HTTP Servers. The “A” is for Apache and it is free and the most used open source web server. In terms of the database, Facebook utilizes MySQL, the “M,” because it is fast and reliable. And the “P” stands for PHP which is “a dynamically typed/interpreted scripting language.” It makes for a good programming language with extensive support and quick iteration. Memcache refers to a memory caching system intended to speed up dynamic web applications by alleviating the database load. It accomplishes this by caching data and other objects in RAM to reduce reading time. Having Memcache allows Facebook to be as fast as it is at retrieving data (Campbell, 2010).

Legal, Ethical and Social Issues

            We all know that technology is bound to experience some problems at one point or another. And as fitting as it is to have Facebook in today’s society, there are some who have problems with it, especially the security aspect of it. For instance, Lynn Hargrove, director of marketing for Symantec, says, “It’s truly amazing what kids post, not understanding that the Internet is a public forum. If a form asks for their name, address, school and so on, they give it. Unless you go back to the security settings and lock everything down when you set up your profile, all that information is out there for anyone to see” (Winston, 2007). She makes a valid point. The average person does not grasp the idea of potential danger or exploitation when willingly giving out there personal information. Ms. Robyn MacEachern, the co-coordinator for the Ontario Provincial Police Crime Prevention Section says, “It also gives access to other people to take on the young person’s identity and commit criminal acts against them and the friends on their account” (Winston, 2007).  This would be a major consequence to what Hargrove was explaining. People are not careful with the information they place on their accounts; therefore issues like these become burdens for everyone. But Cheney gives some tips as to what parents can do to help protect their kids on Facebook. Cheney, a journalist for Money magazine, recommends: “not to post the full birth date or address and to change the privacy settings to “friends only,” and do not post anything that will “make a bad impression such as posts or photos of sex or drinking as well as disparaging comments about companies or colleges.” (Cheney, 2010).  This is excellent advice from Cheney. If more people would better manage what they choose to post on Facebook as well as properly adjusting their privacy settings, many more people would experience less trouble in these areas of social concern.

Benefits of Facebook Users

            Those who are cautious about their personal information on the Internet experience a much more positive side to using Facebook. Many people, if not all, use it primarily, and generally speaking, to keep in contact with distant family members and friends. People can also search for long lost acquaintances, make new friends, chat with people on their account and schedule events as a means for advertisement. But many do not know there is a benefit of having “Facebook friends”  (Ellison, Steinfield, Lampe, 2007).  For example, those who have lost contact with old high school classmates can find them in a search and be reunited with them. That said, people are capable of being apart of established social networks such as their graduated high schools, colleges, or even companies or other businesses. Then there is also something called Social Capital (Ellison, et. al., 2007). This plays a big role in the benefits of having a Facebook. Social Capital refers to “resources accumulated through the relationships among people.” This means “social capital allows a person to draw on resources from other members of the networks to which he or she belongs” (Ellison, et. al., 2007). This is a positive effect of interaction among participants in a social network such as Facebook. Thus, Facebook has many social advantages.

Conclusion

            Throughout this paper, the history was explored, setbacks were unmasked, technology was explained and the legal, ethical and social issues were discussed, not to mention the benefits of having a Facebook. However, more importantly, Information Technology has affected the way people view telecommunication and also how much it accumulates their time in a day. Some of the more active users can’t go a day without seeing it. Nevertheless, as with any development, there will be predicaments on occasion. Some users have experienced negative social issues and others have experienced more positive assets. All in all, Information Technology’s influence of Facebook has made it the latest and most populated social network.

                                                                   References

Bellis, M. (n.d.). Who invented Facebook? The history behind the number one social media             network Facebook. About.com. Retrieved from             http://inventors.about.com/od/fstartinventions/a/Facebook.htm on February 24, 2011

I chose this article because it is a fairly detailed description as to how Mark Zuckerberg founded his business. It provides me with information about the hurdles he had to overcome to be able to finally bring Facebook into fruition.

Campbell, S. (2010, February 27). How does Facebook work? The nuts and bolts [Technology             explained]. About.com. Retrieved from http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/facebook-work-nuts-bolts-technology-explained/ on February 25, 2011

I chose this article because it goes into extensive detail about the technology that goes into Facebook. It is very informative and breaks down the information to be able to better understand it. 

Cheney, K. (2010). Protect your kids on Facebook. Money, 39(11), 42. Retrieved from             EBSCOhost. On February 25, 2011

I chose this magazine article because it was a good focus on common social issues with security that some Facebook users face. It was a fair way to incorporate some negative aspects with positive ones later.

Ellison, N. B., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook "friends:" Social             capital and college students' use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer-           

            Mediated Communication, 12(4), article 1.             http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol12/issue4/ellison.html on February 25, 2011

I chose this journal because it brought up an interesting point about social capital that the reader might find valid or applicable to their situation with Facebook. It helped bring my argument for benefits to another level.

Winston, I.  (2007, December 6). Web-wise youths run risk of ID theft; Easy To Access :[National Edition]. National Post, p. SR1.  Retrieved February 28, 2011, from Banking Information Source. (Document ID: 1395366361). On February 25, 2011

I chose this article because it was a good supportive article for the magazine article. I was able to incorporate each and discuss some common social problems as well as solutions and steps toward protection.