Undeniably Facebook is one of the most recognised brand names in the world and is listed in the top 20 world’s most valuable brands by Forbes. The power social media site which has captured over a billion users worldwide was only founded 11 years ago and has continued to grow on a massive scale since its launch in 20 accumulating over 800 million active users per day and over 1.3 billion monthly active users.

The social media site has grown from its humble beginnings as a platform for individuals to keep in touch, share images, videos and instant chat with friends and family to a global branding and marketing tool for businesses to increase awareness and engagement. The past four years has seen Facebook launch its translation tool allowing users to read posts and comments in different languages including Spanish, French and Italian. Furthermore Facebook’s success has seen the online social media site turn into a public company and its growth is still looking stable despite fierce competition from other social media sites such as Twitter.

On the controversial issue of privacy Facebook has seen its fair share of backlash from the public about how user’s content is handled.

Facebook has been criticised by some regarding how easy it is to make a Facebook profile. When signing up to Facebook all you need is a name, email address and password. With this simple account set up process Facebook has seen the creation of 83 million fake profiles according to CNN despite strident process of requesting proof of identification for suspected fake profile users. Shocking? With such a huge number of fake profiles do you really know who you are talking to on the other side of the net? Well for the most Facebook is used as a means to keep in touch with people they already know, however some use it as a platform to meet other like-minded people. On the other hand Facebook utilises face recognition software allowing them to close in on fake accounts.

A privacy concern among users involves third party companies having access to your information. We have all received the Candy Crush invites or clicked on apps which ask for permission to have access to our information, even going as far as asking permission to post on your behalf in order to use their application. For many wanting to use these apps it simply is a non-starter as you have limited to none access if you do not agree to such terms. In some cases Facebook is obliged to give information to third parties such as the government upon request.

One major subject which has hit headlines in recent years is that Facebook owns rights to your photos and videos. In that respect Facebook has a right to use your content in any way it sees fit. A report by The Telegraph highlighted that:

“Specifically for photos and video uploaded to the site, Facebook has a license to use your content in any way it sees fit, with a license that goes beyond merely covering the operation of the service in its current form. Facebook can transfer or sub-license its rights over a user’s content to another company or organisation if needed. Facebook’s license does not end upon the deactivation or deletion of a user’s account, content is only released from this license once all other users that have interacted with the content have also broken their ties with it (for example, a photo or video shared or tagged with a group of friends)“.

With the vast amount of information people share on social networking sites some even sharing their home and work addresses it is always a concern as to who has access to this information.

Another feature of Facebook is that it automatically sets your profile photo to be seen by the public when uploaded despite you having only friends or individuals set to see your updates. This is missed by so many people who think ‘all’ their photos are private. Although that is the case it is easy to revert your profile picture to private once uploaded.

Overall Facebook has captured our attention and its addictive nature will sure continue for the foreseeable future as it continues to implement new ways for people to be engaged whether it’s the buying up of other social media platforms such as Instagram or WhatsApp, Facebook has a mission to remain among the top social media sites for a long time and remains a force to be reckoned with.