I recently stumbled upon an article that stated that even though China banned the use of Facebook to its citizens, there are still 63.52 million users in the country.

To begin, why is Facebook banned in the world’s most populous country at 1.3 billion people? Because China is a communist country, it does not want its citizens to have a voice in the outside world. The government aims to control what information people have access to and what information they are able to share. Thus, when people start to question the government over social media sites such as Facebook, the government cracks down and the site is therefore prohibited. Second, Facebook believes that there are too many legal issues for the site to be reopened in China. However, laws aren’t meant to be followed, right? Apparently in China, this is true. The country is being called the most active social country in the world, with 95% of its citizens registered on a social network. The most alarming fact? The number of Facebook users in the country has climbed from 7.9 million people in July 2009 to 63.52 million people today. How do Chinese people get away with it? Citizens use VPNs (virtual private networks), VCSn (virtual cloud networks), or connections that may be routed internationally. As a result, users won’t be registered as being in a Chinese location at all. In addition, Chinese users are the most active mobile Internet users in the world. This makes it much easier to access Facebook, as well as other social media sites such as Twitter. So why is this information meaningful?

What alarmed me so much about these facts is that it proved how far people go to obtain the ability to access a social media site. It reiterated to me how popular Facebook is, and that breaking the law does not stop users from accessing the site. What does this say about society and Facebook? First, it confirms Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. In his pyramid, he states that humans have three basic needs: love, affection, and a sense of belonging. By being a member of Facebook and adding photos, updating status, and sharing links, we are seeking for attention and belongingness, whether it is obvious to you or not. Facebook is helping to fill that dose of worthiness and belongingness, and therefore people, such as Chinese citizens, will take dangerous steps (as in breaking the law!) in order to have access to the site. Second, it allows to people to fit in with society. Who doesn’t want to have what everyone else has? Chinese users definitely do. Further, Facebook acts as more than a social media site. It is also a place where people can discuss the positives and negatives of a government or form a coalition to support or reject a group or idea. Facebook has many more uses today than just stalking the latest pictures from the weekend.

What scares me is that Facebook is becoming too addicting. Is the company becoming dangerous to society in that we are over-obsessing over pictures, status updates, and the amount of friends we have? I love Facebook, but this article and these facts prove that society has turned 180 degrees within a decade. If people are breaking the law now in order to gain access, what will people be doing 10 years from now in order to update their status in life? Scary.

Sources:

http://allfacebook.com/best-free-online-china-infographic_b90711

http://allfacebook.com/globalwebindex-facebook-users-china_b100923