It鈥檚 time to celebrate a huge milestone.
Believe it or not, it鈥檚 already been a decade since we first started sharing pictures, videos and of course those attention-seeking status updates that seemingly bear no importance to anyone but yourself. It鈥檚 been a full decade since we first realized that we really have hundreds of 鈥渇riends.鈥�
Yes, Facebook is turning 10.
And statistics show that in just 10 years, Facebook has accumulated 1.23-billion monthly users, or about one-sixth of the world鈥檚 population.
To celebrate the milestone, we鈥檝e compiled a list of some of the best and worst things about the world鈥檚 most used social network.
Best: Sharing music
There鈥檚 nothing like going on to your news feed and discovering a new song. For a lot of people, that鈥檚 the best part of Facebook. And according to Unruly Media, a global technology platform that keeps statistics on the most viral videos on the Internet, Jennifer Lopez鈥檚 song 鈥淥n The Floor,鈥� featuring rapper Pitbull, has 38 million Facebook shares, making it the all-time most shared video on Facebook. In fact, the top 100 most shared videos ever on Facebook are all music videos. In case you鈥檙e wondering, Gangnam Style came in at third, shared more than 36 million times.
Worst: Too much information
While videos are great, more than 36 per cent of Facebook users dislike when people share too much information about themselves, according to a new study by the Pew Research Centre. We all know those posts: They鈥檙e often nothing more than people sharing trivial details about the current activity they鈥檙e doing. But often it can easily border on the dreaded 鈥渉umble brag.鈥� An example: 鈥淯gh, the wait at the airport here is so bad. Terrible start to my 10-day trip to Europe.鈥� Here鈥檚 another one. 鈥淚鈥檓 kind of bad at this stuff. Does anyone know what to wear for a med school interview?
Best: Sharing important pictures
Facebook has become a hub for people to share some of the most important pictures coming out of every corner of the globe. That can be anything from the devastating impact of a tsunami, to the wife of a soldier lying beside her husband鈥檚 coffin the night before his funeral, refusing to leave his side. One of the most shared pictures of all time on Facebook was a picture of U.S. President Barack Obama embracing First Lady Michelle Obama shortly after winning the White House in 2012, with the caption 鈥淔our more years.鈥� More than 500,000 people shared the picture, which also got more than 4 million likes.
Worst: Baby pictures
There鈥檚 perhaps nothing worse than the dreaded baby picture. According to the Pew study, 57 per cent of Facebook users with children under 18 strongly dislike other people posting pictures of their children. While that鈥檚 a bit reassuring, that leaves a large percentage of people who still think there鈥檚 nothing wrong with posting baby pics of their kid鈥檚 first steps or little Johnny or Suzy doing something funny during snack time. It can sometimes make the parent look a bit foolish for showing off their family -- many people have children -- but also raises ethical questions about posting pictures to a public forum without the consent of the child. The Internet is forever, and it鈥檚 hard to get rid of pictures once they鈥檙e online.
Best: Sharing GIFs
Gifs have become a dominant force on Facebook. A GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) is a compressed file format that allows people to take static images, or video, and splice them together in an endless loop. In other words, they鈥檙e extremely short videos -- one to three seconds -- often displaying an incredibly funny action. Click to see some of the best.
Worst: Being unfriended
Being unfriended on Facebook -- meaning someone you were 鈥渇riends鈥� with has chosen they no longer like you -- can often be one of the most perplexing things to happen on Facebook. If you have a bad breakup with someone, certainly getting them out of your life also means getting them out of your Facebook feed. But what often leaves people confused is when someone unfriends them on Facebook when you weren鈥檛 really friends with them in real life in the first place. And according to the Pew study, more than 12 per cent of Facebook users have actually been asked by someone else to unfriend someone in their own network.
Best: Never-ending party life
One of the biggest advantages of Facebook is that since you鈥檙e 鈥渇riends鈥� with so many people, you end up getting invited to seemingly countless events. Facebook is often an endless stream of invitations to shows, parties and a variety of other happenings. And according to the Pew study, only five per cent of Facebook users dislike the fact that the site allows them to see others partaking in social activities. So in other words, your amazing social life is offending few people.
Worst: A huge waste of time
We鈥檙e now so engrossed with Facebook that it feels like we couldn鈥檛 live without it. But the reality is that Facebook, in large part, is often an utter waste of time. Have you ever caught yourself scrolling down your news feed in a complete daze, not even thinking what you鈥檙e actually doing, simply on the site now because of sheer habit. Some estimates say that the average time someone spends on Facebook per day is about to 20 minutes, which translates to roughly five full days per year. The question you have to ask yourself now is whether it鈥檚 still worth it.
