Few days ago i came across an interesting fact about Facebook or rather online social networking. I did some research on it and as a result i have this blog. We all have been using facebook, twitter, myspace etc etc...but apart from being just another social networking site do we actually know the reality of the virtual state we are living in?
Have we realized the true power of social networking?
How big is Facebook? just a website with some users which can be accessed from anywhere?
What if i say " Facebook is bigger than the United States of America?"
What if i say "Facebook is a nation in itself ?"
The first thought that comes to your mind is "What the "f" ( f for facebook). How can facebook be bigger than U.S.A...""The United States of America"" ? How can it be a Nation?"
Well, let me ask u a simple question : "What is a Nation?" A collection of people. People who live in the real world. People who come together ,talk to each other, spend money, eat, consume....everyone knows this.
But have we ever tried to put an insight to what we do on an online social networking site. Have we ever tried to discern the true nature of things. The answer is simply NO because we are busy in making friends, posting status updates, playing nonsense games and blah blah...
Today we are using an online platform where we meet people, talk to them, have our own virtual currency, spend virtual money, have virtual happiness. So, haven't we created our own virtual nation-state. We all spend so much time in ploughing the field , clearing the dung, harvesting crops,robbing our friends, going on mafia missions and blah blah just trying to earn a dollar of two of the game money .... even i am used to it...and i can't understand why. After all here aswell we after after earning money. Thats what we do in the real world...right..!!
As long as the scale was small nobody would have wondered. But look at the scale today- Facebook has 500 million users registered (which went up from 150 million in 2009) which is 200 million more than the population of United States of America. We are a part of a huge group which is beyond anything.
Facebook is a statehood comprising members of imagined communities whose governor is Mr. Mark Zukerberg. In some ways it might be absurd to call Mr Zukerberg as the governor of the facebook state. It has no land to defend , no police to enforce law and order, it does not have subjects bound by rights and obligations. Compared to the citizenship of a country, membership is very easy to aquire.
It is a long-lasting government as no one will be there to revolt against facebook unless they start committing big mistakes. Facebook is unprecedented not only in its scale but also in its ability to blur boundaries between the real and virtual existence. It offers freedom that spurs creativity and is free-for-all.
For now atleast, real government still have some aces; they can simply pull the plug on the service. One day if the government decides "Facebook is illegal "it will just pass an order -->facebook is banned. It will end overnight."
to be continued....
