This is the text of my speech on increasing use of Facebook and its effects on society. This was my 7th speech since July 2011. The objective was to research a topic and the assigned duration was 5-7 minutes. Some changes I made up on lectern based on Audience reactions. Comments and Suggestions on the speech organization are welcomed.
Facing the Facebook
Facebook is like a jail – You sit around and waste your time … you write on walls … and anyone who comes and goes ... pokes you . What has Facebook done to us? Fellow Members, Guests and Madam TM, today I am going to talk about three effects of Facebook – three effect of Facebook on people like you, me and even Tom, Dick and Harry.
Facebook Effect #1 – Controlling your behavior
Facebook has changed the dimensions of Fun and Friendship. Few years back we used to play real games with real friends on real basketball courts , but now, it is all about playing Farmville with virtual profiles and in the Farm which doesn’t even exist . A survey was conducted this year which quoted a term – Facebook Envy. People tend to post happy parts of their lives on Facebook. Happy moments like a promotion, new car, vacation and the list goes on, but nobody ever posts the “not-so-happy” part of life on Facebook. People who are on Facebook start comparing their lives with the “Happy” life posted by their friends on Facebook and thinks that their life is lacking something. They try to look better, do bigger and post even catchier. People like these are prone to depression and have lower self esteem and this status of mind is what they call Facebook Envy.
May be this is the time to realize who is controlling whom?
Facebook Effect # 2 – A complete … complete waste of time
An average user spends 23 minutes a day on Facebook. Just 23 minutes a day adds to 144 hours per annum. 144 hours – the number of hours you work in the month of February. That means an average user wastes one month worth of Work-life on Facebook, no wonder recession is still going on .
There are 800 million users on Facebook. 50% of these users, when they wake up in the morning -- Look how Andrea is laughing, she is in those 50% people about whom I am going to talk now. 50% of these users including Andrea the first thing they do when they wake up is see how many comments and likes they got on their last status message which they updated last night before sleeping. And user updates – I don’t understand why are people interested in knowing which of their friends is taking a nap right now, which of them took “Which Friends character are you quiz?” and why are you so curious to see the picture of what your friend in Australia cooked today.
May be this is the time to check the time you waste on Facebook.
Facebook Effect #3 – Well, I don’t know what to call it, but I know I am more popular than anyone in the room right now … you know why – because I have 542 Facebook Friends
Yep, the feeling the more Facebook friends I have, the more popular I am. 27% profiles on Facebook are fake. And I would like to share an instance related to fake profile which happened with my best friend. He had a crush on this girl and to his surprise, she added him on Facebook. They kept in touch for few months and then she asked him to meet in a café. He was excited and happily he went to meet her. Do you all want to know what happened in that café? The girl didn’t come is just one side of the story, in her place three guys showed up and …. One of them was me. I created a fake profile to fool my best friend <I had to take long pause because of laughter here>. That profile was created with intention of fun and humor, but who knows the intention of million other fake profiles? August this year, in UK, a common man like you and me, not a hacker, was able to steal money from his neighbor’s bank account just by using info his neighbor posted on Facebook. He shared his DOB, maiden name, Hometown, Family Name etc. Surprised ?? 40% profiles on Facebook have information sufficient to open a new bank account.
May be this is the time to reconsider your friend list, your security settings and your information on Facebook.
Conclusion: Everything I shared with you in last few minutes is just a tip of the ice-berg. If you dig more, you will find more. And definitely, this is the time to reconsider, who is controlling whom?, how much time you spend on Facebook and your security, but more than that its time to realize that …………. You are much more interesting person than your Facebook profile……….. that you are much more beautiful than your Facebook profile picture ….. and that you are much more than just a Facebook profile. Think about it !!
