According to a recent study, Americans spend around 14 hours per person per month on Facebook. If all that lost productivity could be directly translated to minimum wage payments to the government, the national debt could be lowered by at least $15 billion per month. That’s definitely a good wad of cash.
That raises a good question: why do we use Facebook that often? I believe that the excuses people come up with to use Facebook will keep it a staple of social life.
Basically, Facebook acts as several tools for social life. First of all, it serves as a news service, but instead of broadcasting global news, it offers news that is more relevant on a personal level. Why would one use CNN to read about news that might only slightly affect his/her life if he/she could read about her friends and stay updated about community happenings? Because each comment and interaction is from an actual, personal relation, these engagements seem more personal and we get more emotional benefit. We give others satisfaction with a simple stroke of a mouse or keyboard through likes and supportive comments, and they return the favor as well. As a result, Facebook functions as a form of entertainment. On this thought, Facebook acts as a sort of gaming platform. Of course, the graphics and level of engagement are lacking, but it is an inexpensive and convenient alternative to consoles. In addition, it offers an opportunity to play games with friends, thus making games more interesting and forging stronger relationships with friends. Due to an ability to post, accept likes, and allow comments, Facebook can resemble a Craigslist-like atmosphere or even an advertising agency. It allows large and small business owners alike to advertise free of charge through posting wall posts to its subscribers’ news feeds. Furthermore, it acts as a contact book by saving the email addresses, phone numbers, and birthdays of friends. Through a few clicks, it is very easy to locate the contact information of friends in the “About” section. By organizing the birthdays and reminding users of friends’ birthdays, it allows users to avoid the guilt and shame of forgetting a close friend’s birthday. Also, the number of birthday wishes increase as a result of Facebook notifying users of birthdays, so users feel more social acceptance by receiving these wishes. Facebook even functions as an agenda (both for past and future happenings) by allowing users to record their past events through locations and updates and to keep track of future events through its built-in events organizer. It goes further to allow users to make events and invite friends to attend through a highly convenient interface.
Clearly, Facebook offers so many services that it is becoming a one-stop shop. Google has been trying to build the same empire and has been fairly successful with developments like a popular search engine, a popular email with Gmail, and a clean calendar through Google Calendars. Facebook has lots of directions to expand in terms of offered services, but Google’s lead in dominating internet usage has dwindled.
Source: http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/11/time-spent-on-facebook-mobile/