After reading the article “Help I’m Addicted to Facebook!” by Tara Stiles, I started to think about how my life has been affected by social media.

I am not new to the phenomenon, and have actually had my Facebook account since my sophomore year of college.  In the 5+ years I have had my account, I would say that I have gone through several stages of the site architecture and levels of addiction.  Which seems to be typical for most Gen-Yers, like myself.  Many of my symptoms are similar to those addressed in Stiles’ article as well.

My addiction started off as a simple way to keep in touch with classmates and to learn more about the ones I hadn’t yet spoken to.  It soon transitioned into a way for me to post pictures and share them with friends. It made it so much easier to keep in touch with important people in my life who had moved away for school. 

As time went on and the network and its offerings grew, so did the amount of time I spent on the site.  I feel as though the Facebook beast really reared its ugly head when it introduced many of the new features novice users take for granted. The news feed, status updates, applications, video offerings, etc. have made it even harder to avoid the attractiveness of Facebook.

This is when marketers also started to take notice of the potential opportunities Facebook has to offer.  The options for marketers in the beginning were limited, but Facebook has finally tried to embed advertisements on the sly.  It has disguised them by making them gifts, part of the news feed, groups, etc.  This provides a great opportunity for us as marketers and for our clients as well. Although it also proves to be another way my Facebook addiction is manipulating and controlling my life!

Whether you are a user, hater, novice or addict like me, it is important to understand the significance Facebook has on popular culture, and for marketers it is important to learn how to blur the lines of content and advertising to maximize the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.

My Top 10 Facebook Addiction Symptoms

1. I have downloaded Facebook to my phone, which means I am ALWAYS connected
2. I check my Facebook before I get out of bed in the morning (along with the weather and my horoscope… a bad combination of the three could mean I stay in bed all day!)
3. Facebook creeping/spying has ruined my last 3 relationships (and caused many lapses in sanity)
4. I work on the MSI Social Media Team.  My addiction has become part of my job… living the dream!
5. I update my status at least 3-5 times a day
6. Cocktails and Facebook don’t mix! (enough said)
7. I have friends that are afraid to end relationships because of the inevitable barrage of questions they will have to answer after changing their relationship status on Facebook (by friends I mean me)
8. Facebook is my homepage on my laptop
9. I no longer say “CHEESE” when taking pictures, instead I say “Profile Picture”
10. I wrote this post in PMS Facebook blue