For the past four and a half years, the social networking website Facebook has been growing in popularity and has become part of the American culture. According to comScore, an Internet marketing research company, Facebook has had 132.1 million visitors as of April 2008. It generates hundreds of millions of dollars each year and is becoming a bit of a revolution in our society. In 2004 Facebook was created for college students only; four years later it is open to anyone who wants to join. Five years ago Facebook didn’t exist; now, people have Facebook cravings if they can’t check it for a day. We have become Facebook addicts, quite literally and metaphorically. So what do other cultures that are Facebook-less, or even Internet-less, see us as? I could see someone studying our culture thinking something along the lines of this:

It is 7:30 on a Wednesday morning. Our young specimen—we shall call her Jane—wakes up slowly to start her day at the university she is attending. She has an 8:30am class on this particular day and always makes sure she is at least 10 minutes early. She quickly grabs a bite to eat before heading to her lecture hall, but before this, the young girl must take some time to better prepare her physical appearance before stepping out into the public realm of human beings in the typical 21st century America. However, even before this very important step in her morning rituals, is an even more important step she must remember each morning, or she could become the center of complete public humiliation.
Our young Jane hops out of bed and shuffles over to her computer. A screen opens and she enters a magical code that allows her access to one of the most essential realms known to man at this time: Koobecaf, made possible by the World Wide Web. Jane searches this world religiously, clicking left and right, scrolling up and down, typing vigorously. She then leaves her magical world behind to move onto the next vital life step: the enhancement of appearances. We see on the screen she has just left, many different things that could have multiple meanings behind them, but one thing particularly sticks out. At the top of the screen are five bolded words that read, “Jane is going to class.” This phrase is part of the category that Koobecaf humans like Jane call, Status Updates.
Yes, it is a difficult concept to understand, but this Status Update is just one of the few odd entities that Koobecaf entitles. It is part of a whole meaning of Self-Image and Individualism, two very critical beliefs in the superstructure of the American culture that Jane lives in. For instance, as we explore this magical world that Jane has left available to our curiosity this fine Wednesday morning, we can learn so much more about this culture. To the left of Jane’s Status Update you can see a very colorful image of what appears to be in fact, our specimen Jane. This image loudly declares that this particular room in the magical world Koobecaf is rightfully Jane’s, and only Jane’s. Directly below Jane’s Status Update are five different tabs that read Wall, Info, Photos, Boxes, and Video. These too are Jane’s personal Koobecaf rooms where she practices the art of “creating self.”
Through the Wall tab, we find a long list of icons and phrases that all help create the individualistic image of Jane. Other human beings, that are Koobecaf members as well, write their feelings about Jane in this section of Jane’s Koobecaf room. You can even see what they say to each other by clicking on the link, Wall-to-Wall. Note that this is a feature that Koobecaf Stalkers find very handy in their odd practices daily. Also found on Jane’s Wall are small icons indicating new Koobecaf Friends. Jane is currently friends with 938 people. We have calculated that of this very large number of Koobecaf Friends, Jane talks to 22 of them on a regular basis, dislikes 87 of them, has dated 6 of them, and does not even know 35 of them. This is part of Jane’s quest to “create status.” The more Koobecaf Friends Jane has, the better she feels. To aid Jane in this process of creating status, the Koobecaf world offers many other facets such as Honesty Box, Bumper Sticker, Groups, and Relationship Status. Jane reads messages from Honesty Box to help her reach her goal of being the best out of all her friends, the most popular. Often though, Honesty Box upsets Jane and she begins to cry and type angrily. We believe this act is the response of Koobecaf rejection. Jane must try harder if she wants to be the best. To try and win others loyalty, Jane sends magical peace icons through Bumper Sticker. Many gifts from Bumper Sticker seem to make fun of very important leaders or icons of Jane’s country. Jane enjoys having her political views expressed publicly, in her self-image she creates on Koobecaf. She has become a Fan of several politicians and musicians to prove her loyalty. She also joins Groups that allow her to come together with other humans in the Koobecaf world. The more Koobecaf Groups you are in, the higher status you have.
Jane has just returned from class and she quickly returns back to her Koobecaf world briefly before her next class. She goes Home and checks out the News Feed to catch up on anything she has missed within the passed hour. “Billy and Kayla ended their relationship,” reads Jane. Believe it or not, this small bit of information will soon be the talk of everyone who is Koobecaf Friends with this Billy and Kayla. Jane continues exploring the News Feed. (This is another favorite feature of the Koobecaf Stalker.) Jane spends countless hours in Koobecaf each week. It is her way of communicating and connecting with those around her, an important point in the social structure of American culture. Since Jane is away at her university, she keeps in touch with her friends and family around the globe. Everyone can see how she is doing by viewing Jane’s Koobecaf Photos. Like everything in the Koobecaf world, this too helps create an individualistic image and status. Jane gets feedback from her Koobecaf Friends through Photo Comments. Out of the 60 photo albums with 1,000+ photos Jane has uploaded, she has had 567 Photo Comments. She needs to work a little harder on creating that status she wants. After this next class she has she has decided she will upload even more pictures of herself, which she thinks is “pretty hot.” There will be Photo Comments for sure.

This viewpoint demonstrated just a fraction of everything Facebook has to offer our society. As you can see, in a way it has overtaken our lives. Facebook has not only become a noun in our languages, but also a verb. “I’ll Facebook you today” and “Just Facebook me later” are only a few of the phrases that demonstrate it in our speech. Facebook truly has become embedded in American culture, and many other cultures as well. Who knows what new things Facebook will have to offer us in the years to come and how we’ll react to them. Maybe something new will arise in competition against the revolutionary Facebook.