An idea germinating in the head of a software prodigy, cultivated with the intent of discovery, blossoming into a raging epidemic affecting half the earths population regardless of age, creed, sex, etc; Facebook is no passing fad. Its supporters site it as a platform uniting all populations while giving facebookers their own individual platforms to air their views through image, text, video etc.

In a way it can be termed the new 'shared' electronic journal complete with photo montages, seeing that instead of a lock and key it requires a password and username and allows you to share your musings with 'friends'; people that you add and allow to view your profile as well as interact with you.

It uses wall posts, statuses, note posting, information & favorite quotes as a means of communication for the user. Its security also depends on how well the user wants to keep his profile hidden, with customized settings available for profile visibility (affiliating with networks and opting to 'appear' in a search), communication visibility (selective inboxing options) as well as albums and videos visibility. Even certain statuses kept by the user may be hidden from certain 'friends' by locking the post to few select people. Secret groups and communities may be formed, accessible by invitation only.

There after, it would appear that this site comes with its own air tight locker, allowing not a single peep. However critics beg to differ, pointing out the increasingly commercial ventures undertaken by Facebook that have apparently compromised the privacy of millions of users by allowing third parties open and unlimited access to the info of its unsuspecting users. More over the website has claimed control over any information whatsoever uploaded or posted on any users profile even after the account has been deleted, thus keeping a permanent log on all its users electronic life. China has used its internet firewall to block this social networking site as of 2010. Despite much negative propaganda, users all over the world continue to log on daily spending hours harvesting their e-farms and commenting on wall posts, and ‘sharing’ interesting videos etc.

It is not merely an idle pursuit though. Many a small business have been launched under the fold of Facebook, taken hold of the Facebook community through the mass communication medium, both cheap ad easy, and thus bloomed into full fledge businesses. Especially noted among these are photographers, home based bakers, especially women, inspiring may fans and becoming one of the several charms of Facebook that serve to increase its traffic.

Its obsession is such that at a single given time, Facebook receives 40 billion page views a month with 4.1 billion photos uploaded-clearly MANY people are actively logged on. Although given the option of deactivating on deleting accounts quite easily, yet few are able to quit without severe withdrawal symptoms, prompting cravings once again. And addictive it may well be termed, as the number of people in its fold, keeps increasing. According to Mark Zuckerberg, founder, CEO and president of Facebook, its growth is doubling every six months resulting in about 500 million users to date; leaving only Russia, China and Japan as the only countries where it isn’t the leading social networking site... yet.

The various interesting features(the 'Like' button, poke, farm ville) added recently have resulted in the Facebook written text finding its way into everyday conversations, becoming a sort of a Facebook exclusive jargon and sometimes rendering it incomprehensible to people outside the fold.

Facebook has so piqued the interest of the public that a movie has been made entirely on its conception and the trials faced by its creator, introducing a more humane aspect to this otherwise unique, yet controversial invention.