French finally catch on to Facebook
Ever since Facebook waltzed on to the social scene back in February 2004, there have been more than 22 million users added to the network in the United States alone. Not to mention the millions of others who add friends, 'write on walls' and display their favorite music hits in another thirty countries across the world. A mixture of corporate groups, student societies and keen, often hysterical and narcissistic individuals have joined the Facebook ranks creating the world's first intellectually advanced virtual community.
I say intellectual not to belittle other social networking sites like MySpace, but to highlight Facebook's specific target audience of students and corporations.
According to an internal survey conducted in September 2005, approximately 85% of the students in the supported colleges had a Facebook account with 60% of them logging in daily. A survey conducted by Student Monitor revealed that Facebook was the most "in" thing after the iPod, tying with all-time student favorites like beer.
Ever since the internet began to spread its wings and connect us all in ways previously unimaginable, English speaking countries have clung to the idea of continuous virtual communication methods like a barnacle to a sea rock. Countries like France, however, have not taken to the idea quite as readily.
One reason could be that these websites are inherently always in English. Another could be the fact that the French youth chooses to communicate through completely different means, banishing the internet for more direct, eye-to-eye methods.
Nonetheless, things in France, like its political landscape, have rapidly evolved in recent times. According to official figures, the number of French Facebook users in October stood at 429,540; a number which rose by 86% to 802,360 in the following month. This is a clear sign that the French are beginning to give in to their long standing resentment towards using social networking programs as a bonafide method of communication.
Nevertheless, they still have a long way to go until they catch up with Great Britain, who have over 7 million registered ‘facebookers’ according to last month’s figures, or Norway whose tiny population still generates a Facebook community of nearly a million people, a quarter of its entire population.
This, I feel, is all symbolic of the rise of a new generation of French youngsters who are spending more time adopting society’s most recent trends: consumerism, enjoying technology’s latest advancements and communicating with heightened continuity. The opinion of many older generations in France is that the French youth – bar a proportion of those studying in dye-hard socialist universities – are becoming more pragmatic and less likely to spend hours talking and analyzing about the future of civilization.
The rise in the popularity of Facebook in France is a sign that the French are finally experimenting with new ways to communicate.
