On february 4th 2004 a young
website with a baby-blue banner was born. Founded in a dormitory at
Harvard, TheFacebook.com tapped into people’s instinctive desire to
see and be seen. Few guessed how successful it would become. In
2008 Rupert Murdoch, the media mogul who had bought the
social-networking rival MySpace, called Facebook the “flavour of
the month”; the following year this newspaper warned in an article
about Facebook that it is “awfully easy for one ‘next big thing’ to
be overtaken by the next.”
Instead Facebook has stayed on top by spreading wildly across
America and the world and buying competitors, including the
photo-sharing app Instagram and the messaging firm WhatsApp. Around
two-thirds of American adults use its original social network. At
its peak, the average user spent nearly an hour a day on Facebook’s
platforms. Few companies have exerted such a strong influence on
society, changing people’s communication habits, reuniting lost
contacts, shaping their perception of world events and redefining
the meaning of the word “friend”. “Every once in a while, changes
in technology come along which are so profound, that there is a
before and an after. Facebook is one of those,” says Roger McNamee,
author of a forthcoming book called “Zucked”.
Birthdays are an occasion for reflection. In the 15 years since
its founding, Facebook has altered America in three notable ways.
First, it has shaped what it means and feels like to be young. The
company has done this twice: once with its flagship social network,
which became the pastime and addiction of college students and high
schoolers in the mid-2000s, and again with Instagram, which is the
digital drug of choice for their successors today, along with the
rival app Snapchat.
The company has fostered a virtual “me-conomy”, where people
(over)share their feelings, photos and comments. Some blame
Facebook for fanning teenage narcissism and for short attention
spans. Others say it has caused anxiety, depression and insecurity.
Researchers have shown that people who spend more time on Facebook
are more likely to think other people have it better than they do
and that life is unfair.
The lasting effects of social media, and Facebook in particular,
on young people’s psyches will not be fully understood for years,
but it is clear that Facebook has changed human interaction. At the
safe remove of a screen, bullying on social media has become
painfully common; some 59% of American teenagers say they have been
bullied or harassed online. Facebook has cultivated far-flung,
online friendships, but it has changed the nature of offline ones,
too. According to research by Common Sense Media, a non-profit, in
2012 around half of 13- to 17-year-olds said their favourite way to
communicate with friends was in person. Today only 32% feel that
way, with 35% preferring texting.
Second, Facebook has changed attitudes to privacy. The social
network thrives through trust. After Facebook was launched, for the
first time people felt comfortable sharing intimate details online,
including their phone number, relationship status, likes and
dislikes, location and more, because they felt they could control
who had access to them. Users were vaguely aware that Facebook was
starting to make a fortune mining this data and selling advertisers
access to specific types of users, but they mostly did not
object.
Opinions about privacy may be shifting again at Facebook’s
hands, this time in reverse. Public scandals about outside firms
getting access to Facebook users’ data, including last year’s
Cambridge Analytica fiasco, have shone a light on the firms’
massive data collection. Around half of American adult users are
not comfortable with Facebook compiling such detailed information
about them, according to a survey by Pew Research Centre. Concerns
about privacy and lax oversight probably played into the beating
that Facebook’s reputation took last year. According to the
Reputation Institute, a consultancy, Facebook’s standing among
Americans fell sharply in 2018, and its score ranks significantly
below other technology companies, including Google. A fresh scandal
over Facebook spying on users’ online activities in the name of
research may further dent the company’s image.
Third, Facebook has left a lasting mark on politics. The
social-networking firm has become an invaluable tool for
politicians seeking office, both through paid advertisements to
reach voters and free content that spreads on the social network.
“You’d be hard-pressed to find a politician who’s been elected in
the last ten years who didn’t use Facebook,” says David
Kirkpatrick, author of “The Facebook Effect”, a history of the
social network. Two presidents, Barack Obama and Donald Trump, won
election in no small part thanks to Facebook. In Mr Obama’s case,
Facebook helped him fundraise and drum up support. In 2016
Facebook’s role was more controversial: false news spread wildly
and Russians meddled with messages on social media, which may have
helped Mr Trump gain an edge.
The rise of fake news and spread of filter bubbles, where people
see their pre-conceptions reinforced online, have probably
disillusioned many voters. Facebook has had a hand in spreading
misinformation, terrorism and ethnic violence around the world. But
it has also spurred civil engagement. Black Lives Matter, a
campaign against police violence, began with a Facebook post and
quickly spread through the social network. Much of the grassroots
opposition to Mr Trump, from the women’s marches to groups like
Indivisible, use the platform to organise themselves. Many other
campaigns and movements have attracted members through Facebook and
Twitter. “They give ordinary people a voice. That’s a net positive
for society,” says Mr Kirkpatrick.
Can the social-media giant stay as influential in the next 15
years as it has already been? At the risk of being wrong about
Facebook again, that seems unlikely. This is partly because its
impact has already been so extensive. But it is also because of
growing unease with the platform. As with all new technologies,
from the printed book to the telegraph, social media can be used
both for good and bad. Critics of Facebook are increasingly vocal
about the harms, pointing out that Facebook is addictive, harmful
for democracy and too powerful in making decisions about what
content people see. “Big tobacco” is what the bosses of several top
tech companies have started calling the social network, and
politicians are speaking openly about regulation.
Though it has just posted record quarterly profits, it seems
unlikely that Americans are going to increase the time they spend
on Facebook proper. Time on its core social network is declining,
probably because users are questioning whether it is as enjoyable
as it used to be. Adults in America spent 11.5% of their online
time on Facebook’s main platform, a fifth less than two years
earlier, according to Brian Wieser of Pivotal Research. Instagram
use is rising, but not enough to make up for the core social
network’s decline. As more people question whether social media are
good for them, Facebook could loosen its grip on America. The
relationship with Facebook continues, but the love affair is
over.