Facebook, the distraction of many, the bane of few. Many have referred to their time with Facebook as an addiction. They claim that they would be lost without it. This begs the question, why is Facebook so powerful? “If it is not on Facebook, it is not official,” seems to be the motto for dealing with relationships. When out in real life, users will say to their “friend” to “Facebook me” rather than to call. It is a consuming entity, after all, it is designed to encompass so many aspects of our lives, it only makes sense. I would contend that Facebook draws its power from us, after all, the technology is fun, but we are what give it meaning. I’ll expand on this using the barrel model, which includes the Superstructure, Social structure, and infrastructure.
First off, I’ll delve into the world of Facebook relationships, a world that is categorized into 6 options: single, in a relationship, engaged, married, in an open relationship, and it’s complicated. Sometimes, those six options do not do justice to the user’s real relationship situation, so they may choose not to display their relationship status. Relationships are hard to quantify and put in boxes. This of course all plays in to the social structure in that deals with relationships shared with others, or a lack there of. It displays the closeness that two individuals share. After all, if they are in a relationship with one another, there is a direct link from one user’s site to the other, which is a vivid visualization of the bond that they presumably share. It also deals a bit with the superstructure, closeness and emotional intimacy is something that we value, and being relationships is one way that can be achieved. Also, the infrastructure can be seen in that it deals with technology. When a relationship meets its end, one of the steps that must be taken is to remove that relationship from the user’s page. After all, if it is not on Facebook, it is not official.

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