Help I'm a FACEBOOKAHOLIC: Inside the Crazy World of Social Networking

Omg, social networking is taking over the world!   Facebook was founded by a small group of students at Harvard University and launched in 2004. It rapidly grew in popularity and now an incredible 500 million people from every corner of the globe are registered users. And Facebook is only the beginning—there’s Bebo, MySpace, Twitter…   Social networking has changed the way we flirt, fall in love, get dumped, take revenge, make and break friends, gossip and chat. It’s little wonder that people are spending so long glued to their computers and smartphones.   In this enlightening and entertaining read, Tammy Cohen examines the social networking phenomenon. She reveals some amazing and bizarre facts—including the number of people who update their status on the toilet!—and examines just why social networking has become so popular. It includes hilarious updates, embarrassing stories… as well as some cautionary tales about the dangers of meeting people online.   So give your mouse a break and discover a book you’re guaranteed to "like". Whether it’s a means of staying in touch with old friends or of making new enemies, Facebook—which celebrates its 7th birthday in 2011—is impossible to ignore… In June an Irish MEP called for Facebook to be regulated as a health hazard, in the same way as alcohol and drugs. It’s not hard to see why. According to experts at top addiction clinic, The Priory, one in ten of us is in danger of becoming addicted to Facebook, and in need of psychiatric help to recover. We log on compulsively to keep tabs on our friends (and, more importantly, our enemies), we obsessively acquire "friends," even though we might not actually know them and we develop damaging insecurities as a result of the "perfect" selves our "friends" portray, believing that our own lives don’t measure up. Worst of all, we’re so busy leading our virtual lives that we forget to lead our actual ones. So what makes this social networking site so addictively popular? Well, it’s the way FB has extended into every corner of our lives, changing the way we interact with one another. This book takes a lighthearted look at the site with a mixture of real-life stories, expert comment and useful tips.