It is a billboard not a diary

It is now public knowledge. It has been announced and it was celebrated. There were one billion people who logged into Facebook April of this year.

The Associated Press says: “For the first time, a billion people used Facebook in a single day on Monday.”

Marc Zuckerberg has already publicly revealed there are now 1.32 billion people (perhaps even more today) connecting on Facebook each month, and 63 percent of them visiting the social media site daily.

Facebook has become the dream of every technology company for having 829 million people using it every day, with more than 650 million people using services on mobile daily.

One out of seven people in the world use Facebook.

That is an equivalent of 968 million daily average users and they are not just scanning it, they are aggregately spending an average of 46 minutes per day on it.

In other words, people are hooked on Facebook.

Contrary to what others say about young people not joining it, the fact remains their new users increased by 13 percent last year.

It is now rare and uncommon to meet people who still do not use the service. They are laughed at and become subject for jokes, which in my opinion should not be.

Facebook is an effective medium that reaches out to people all over the world, that’s why I spend a lot of time posting stuff on it.

Every day, I post something positive on my Facebook page so people can go to work equipped with a positive boost, post some tips on money management so young people may know how to save, and also post tips and thoughts on practices and behavior that are designed for work performance enhancement.

The positive feedback I get is very encouraging, but the most rewarding experience I ever had was that Facebook allowed me the privilege to persuade five (5) young people to change their minds towards ending their lives. I met three of them in person.

Facebook can be used for good, but sadly can also be used to harm people. A lot of people express their angst and do all out insulting, offending and slandering. Meanwhile, there are many innocent and ignorant young people who get bullied and allow the comments of their friends and enemies to affect the way they live.

A lot would check other people’s Facebook accounts and would feel so bad seeing pictures of their travel experiences, new stuff, broad smiles and claiming how happy they are while the poor reader feels miserable for not experiencing the same things or having the same life as well.

This is really dumb.

You and I need to understand one thing: FACEBOOK IS A BILLBOARD, NOT A DIARY!

In general, a lot of people post their best stuff and never reveal the troubles and the problems they are facing so others will never know. Others exaggerate simply just to impress and not to express the real things happening.

This is not to discount the fact there are still a lot of honest Facebook users, but then again the lesson here is that envy or jealousy should not be the result of doing it.

Having a warped sense of wanting to frustrate others is an act of immaturity. When a person is young and life experience and wisdom rare, you cut the person some slack as these trying hard individuals utter endless clichés and emulate the people they trust and admire. This is understandable. This is a normal stage of the person’s adolescent life that needs time and experience in order to season that person into having his or her unique identity.

But we need to be reminded that expression of self is not the only instinctual aspect of “Liking.” Another is the human imperative to share, and it’s easy to understand why that is hardwired; families and communities cannot thrive without it. This is what makes FB powerful.

I have promoted my learning sessions and seminars through FB and many have responded. I have offered free seminars once in a while exclusively to my FB friends and the last time I did, some 800 registrations happened in less than half an hour. I did the seminar, met people and cultivated new friends.

I have met friends I have not seen for years through FB and it was a wonderful experience. I have also learned from the sharing of thoughts and insights from others. These things make the FB experience worthwhile.

FB is a wonderful tool if it is to be used for positive purposes, but it can be a painful thing if it leads to envy and frustrations, and it should never be used to slander others.

Many people still are not aware that whatever they post, on it becomes permanent digital footprints that may work for or against them.

So use FB with care. I think it will be around for a long time.

You might want to look at my page as well and see what I mean. (www.facebook.com/franciskong2)

(Start the new year right with Francis Kong. Sign up to update and upgrade your leadership and life skills with his highly acclaimed “Level Up Leadership” workshop seminar Jan. 13-14 at EDSA Shangri-La Hotel. For further inquiries contact Inspire at 09158055910or call 632-6310912 or 6310660 for details.)