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Facebook outage spotlights social media addiction
Frustrated Facebook users find themselves jonesing for updates when site crashes
By Sharon Gaudin
September 24, 2010 03:32 PM ET
Computerworld - After Facebook went down on Thursday, one thing was certain: People don't like to go without their favorite social networking site.
And industry watchers say the two-and-a-half-hour site outage was like watching drug addicts go without a fix. Facebook's more than 500 million users have grown accustomed to posting updates about their cats and colleagues, and funny pictures of drunken friends and kids acting silly. And they certainly don't like it when the social networking site goes down.
"This shows how integrated these tools have become to our everyday lives," said Rob Enderle, an analyst with the Enderle Group. "It has become nearly an addiction, and it is difficult for most of us to turn them off. Social networks have a status aspect to them and we are hardwired to need status so they are very easy to become addicted to."
More:
http://www.computerw...media_addiction
Frustrated Facebook users find themselves jonesing for updates when site crashes
By Sharon Gaudin
September 24, 2010 03:32 PM ET
Computerworld - After Facebook went down on Thursday, one thing was certain: People don't like to go without their favorite social networking site.
And industry watchers say the two-and-a-half-hour site outage was like watching drug addicts go without a fix. Facebook's more than 500 million users have grown accustomed to posting updates about their cats and colleagues, and funny pictures of drunken friends and kids acting silly. And they certainly don't like it when the social networking site goes down.
"This shows how integrated these tools have become to our everyday lives," said Rob Enderle, an analyst with the Enderle Group. "It has become nearly an addiction, and it is difficult for most of us to turn them off. Social networks have a status aspect to them and we are hardwired to need status so they are very easy to become addicted to."
More:
http://www.computerw...media_addiction
