How Facebook Impacts Member’s Lives

By Carolyn Abram from Facebook For Dummies, 4th Edition

Facebook doesn’t replace real friendships — it supplements them. You can still communicate and share information with your friends without Facebook; however, it’s easier and faster to do it with Facebook. Here are some of the ways to use Facebook in your life.

Keeping in touch with summer friends: For thousands of high school students, the best-friends-for-the-summer — who had a tendency to fade away as school and life took over — are now a thing of the past. Camp friends immediately become Facebook friends, and on Facebook, no one gets lost. Plus, it's easy to share the memories of a fun summer via Facebook Photos
Preparing to head off to school: Whether they’re dropping off a child or an older sister or heading off themselves, people remember some form of anxiety, nervousness, or blinding fear of the unknown. Who were these people in the hallway or sharing the bathroom? Who was this so-called roommate?

Now, college students go off to school having been introduced to their future dorm mates, roommates, and residence assistants via Facebook. Students can list their residences and easily pick out the people they’ll most likely meet on the first day, thus dulling the fear that they won’t know anyone.
Going on blind dates: Ever been a matchmaker? Ever been embarrassed because you didn’t realize just how picky your friend was until after the date? Enter Facebook. Now, “He’s smart, funny, has a great job, lots of cool hobbies, a nice family, and nice friends” can be condensed into a Facebook message with a shared timeline. From there, both parties can decide based on the timelines — looks, interests, or the combination of all the information — whether they want to go on a date.
Meeting people in your new city or town: When you move, whether across the country or across the world, Facebook makes it easier to connect with local people who share your interests.
Reconnecting with old friends: No matter why you lost touch, finding people is easy on Facebook. Many recent graduates exclaim that going to a reunion is unnecessary. They already know what everyone is doing five years later; you found out from Facebook. But even for the not-so-young alums, the Find Classmates and Find Coworkers features provide a direct line to search anyone who’s on Facebook that you remember from way back (or not so way back) when.
Keeping up with family: Facebook Photos and Video applications are two of the best ways to easily and quickly share your life with family. Because you can upload photos so quickly, they can feel as though they are present.
Finding a job: Although finding the right job hasn’t gotten any easier with Facebook, a lot of the intermediate steps have. Asking your friends for their friends’ info is as easy as writing a note. Better yet, scan through your friends’ networks to see whether any of them are working at companies that interest you. After you receive some names, send them a Facebook message (or e-mail, whichever is most appropriate) to set up the requisite “informational coffee date.”
Facebook for freedom: If you were watching news articles about the “Arab Spring” sweeping through the Middle East in early 2011, you would have heard frequent references to Facebook and Twitter. Young people in Egypt did a lot of their communication and coordination through Facebook. Although Facebook wasn’t the source for the revolution, it was an invaluable tool in making it successful (and helping people stay in touch with family across the world who might be at risk of violence).
Announcing major life events: Facebook has become the fastest way to spread a wedding announcement to extended friend groups. Of course, people still call their parents and their closest friends, but everyone can find out and share in the happiness via News Feed. Congratulatory timeline posts ensue, as do copious numbers of photos with the ring tagged front and center.