What Would We Do if Facebook Shut Down?

When Mark Zuckerberg founded the site Facebook (then 19 years of age), little did he think that the network would expand abnormally and engage the world over. Neither did his college roommates or fellow University students give a thought that the web world would witness a sensation like never before. What was once ‘thefacebook.com’ (2004) and became an instant hit is currently the much hyped FB! No less than 400 million people have accounts in one of the most popular sites of the world that actually brought the term ‘social networking platform’ to the fore. Of course, Facebook has companions (rather competitors) like Twitter, Whatsapp, Instagram, Snapchat, Hike, Viber and so on, but late entrants.
Imagine one fine day you wake up from your slumber and the first thing that you usually do (you guessed it right!)- browsing through the net, or rather FB to be precise, fails to open. You keep signing in but for some reason, your mobile phone or laptop proves incapable in showing the familiar blue and white layout. Temporary shut down or repair work is definitely a relief, but what if it’s a permanent one? In fact, the next thing you do to ascertain that your worst fear has not turned true is open another social app to get news about the same. To your misfortune, Facebook is gone forever.
Reality said, we have become so dependent on FB that we dread thinking it might just close one day. In the age of technology where each social app tries to outperform the other in terms of gaining a terrific fan following, Facebook has not lost its charm. Despite new platforms coming up with innovative ways to appeal to the masses, there’s something about FB that keeps account holders hooked. Even after a decade, it’s not surprising to find someone choosing to become a new member here.

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So the question is what would you do upon finding that your favorite social networking site has shut down? Sit and weep copious tears? Or bang your head against the wall?
There’s no doubt that Facebook has changed the very way we interact with our near and dear ones almost daily. So it’s quite evident that we would revert to our traditional networking skills (though it’s highly unlikely that our present habits would dissipate suddenly). Forget maintaining relationships, browsing through multiple sites, playing innumerable games and being proactive will take a backseat, for many of us have discovered the world of web via this site. It will not be wrong to say that FB is akin to a crutch that we use to pave our way for maintaining our social life and also to gain knowledge about the internet, in general. Strange as it may sound, for many, doing FB is the same as internet browsing.

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Social media has plenty of other sites that can take over. Although it’s difficult to guarantee, but who would have thought that the once-famous-now-forgotten Orkut would be taken over by Facebook? One can estimate that the next in line, Twitter can witness tremendous popularity and our generation can take an avid liking to it. After all, Facebook saying bye-bye doesn’t necessitate the others following suit too.
Our ‘technological dependence’ is understandable and we would naturally fall upon something that can give us an outlet to share our thoughts and connect with the rest of the world. Even if it’s not something as large as Facebook, but definitely worth falling for! Or you never know, something new might just make its entry and surprise us.
We would certainly hope that our premonition doesn’t turn true, but till such time it’s wise to ponder whether we have actually become so crippled that life loses its meaning without social networking. Maybe someday we’ll witness ‘social media rehabilitation centers’ and it’s not too far away.