Facebook and Its Followers

I have been on Facebook for number of years. In my student advising days a computer sciences major encouraged me to join. Ironically he seemed to be a shy kid. A shy kid introduced me to a club with about 600 million members! I don't use it much. But I see that some people use it all the time. Facebook appeals to those seeking self-expression. But don't we all seek self-expression? The only requirement is the knowledge of typing. You have an audience-- your Friends, or at least those friends who logon. You express a point-of-view. But Marshall McLuhan explains there is no point of view in the electronic world. Information comes at you from infinite directions. There is no margin and no center. What is a point-of-view in a simultaneous world? Everything comes, goes and leaves. The experience of expressing yourself is real. We have become creators of news. The guy, Jason Russell, with the Kony 2012 video presents an interesting case. He felt passionately about Uganda and children and produced a video that got 80 million hits-- possibly a record success. He was overwhelmed by the criticism of his piece, so the theory goes, and had a breakdown. He made himself part of the story and the criticism felt especially personal. So you have to play the internet carefully or be the kind of personality confident enough to weather the firestorm of comments. Andy Warhol warned about that 15 minutes!