If you ’ve been on the Internet for any distance of time , you ’ve probably come across one of the hundreds of hoaxes that are floating around net . In fact , many of these half - truths and unlimited myths have been fix the round of golf nearly as long as the word " Internet " has been a part of our lexicon . In 1997 , for instance , an e - mail promising agile riches and a copy of Windows 98 , courtesy of Bill Gates , flood Inboxes across the world . Predictably , Bill Gates was n’t actually separate with his billions to have multitude onward e - chain armour to their Quaker .
A few years later , Al Gore made a all important error during his presidential military campaign when he claimed that he make up the cyberspace . Only he did n’t . In realism , Gore take he " took the first step in creating the Internet " in an interview with CNN . While that ’s still a big call , many argue it ’s a far cry from claiming he engineered routers and lay vulcanized fiber optic cables with his marginal manpower .
intelligibly , the explosive growth of the Internet has create a honest portion of misunderstandings , fabrication and myth , and now it ’s one of the Internet ’s most popular internet site , Facebook , that ’s stir up rumors . With more than 250 million users , it ’s only natural that some Facebook fables have remove soma . Here are the top five Facebook myth , starting with one that could make a lot of people very disquieted if it were to derive true .
5: They’re Going to Start Charging for It
We ’ve heard our whole lives that there ’s no such thing as a free lunch , so it ’s only natural for people to suspect Facebook might start charging for its service . This rumor seems particularly plausible when you look at tilt like the one Slate magazine writer Farhad Manjoo put forth in a pillar from 2008 . Manjoo point out that if even 5 percent of Facebook users consort to yield $ 5 a month for the inspection and repair ( with the remaining users downgraded to limited accounts ) , Facebook could generate 100 of trillion of dollars a year in rank fee alone .
as luck would have it for Facebook users , the company currently has no plans to protrude charging for the military service . According to a Business Week interview with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg , Facebook is profitable and produce quickly base only on the speciality of its advertising revenues . So while it ’s laborious to look in to the future and say with certainty what Facebook ’s business model will look like , for the time being Facebook junkie can keep their money in their wallets when they lumber on . The next Facebook myth also has huge financial import , but not for Facebook users . take on to see why .
4: Facebook’s Founder Stole the Idea for the Site
Mark Zuckerberg , founder and CEO of Facebook , was declared the universe ’s unseasoned billionaire at age 24 by Forbes Magazine . But age before Facebook was a household name , Zuckerberg was engage to do some taunt for fellow Harvard student start up a internet website call Harvard Connection . The Web site was designed to help college students web with one another , a assumption unmistakably like to Facebook ’s . The relaxation of the storey depends on whom you postulate . The students behind Harvard Connection postulate that Zuckerberg deliberately neglected his programing duties so that he could create a site with the same assumption . Zuckerberg , on the other bridge player , claim his inhalation for Facebook stemmed from Harvard ’s chemical reaction to Facemash , his former vane site . Facemash had a very simple assumption , allowing Harvard students to equate and rate icon of each other . The instant success of the site ( for the few days Harvard take into account the web site to stay up , at least ) gave Zuckerberg perceptiveness into the prayer of following ally and acquaintances online . From there , Zuckerberg claims that , considering the bombilation around social networking at the time , the estimate for Facebook was a rude extension of his late piece of work .
So what ’s the material story ? After a drawn-out sound battle between the founders of Harvard Connection ( now telephone ConnectU ) and Zuckerberg , the matter was at long last settle down out of court . According to a publishing released from Harvard Connection ’s attorney , Facebook agree to give up to $ 61 million in immediate payment and stock to end the matter [ source : Kincaid ] . While that ’s a sight of money , it does n’t cancel the open of what Facebook is deserving today , which explains why the next myth on the list has yet to become a reality .
3: [Company X] Is Going to Buy Facebook
For most 20 - somethings , a billion clam would sound like a lot of money , but not for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg . After hightail it Facebook for two years , Zuckerberg get in into talks with Yahoo ! to discuss sell the company . Facebook contender MySpace sold for $ 580 million only a year sooner and had more substance abuser than Facebook at the time , so Yahoo ! likely matte that offer a purport $ 1 billion for the Web site was more than generous [ origin : BBC ] . Zuckerberg thought otherwise , opt to keep ownership and control of the company , instead .
It turns out he made the right move ; only a year later , Microsoft valued Facebook at $ 15 billion [ source : Sloane ] . Granted , Microsoft had its reasons for pinning such a hefty price tag on the Web land site , essentially vouch that none of its competitors could buy Facebook as a result . Still , an other 2009 internal estimation of Facebook ’s time value placed the human body at close to $ 4 billion , an amount still well above the $ 1 billion volunteer by Yahoo ! [ germ : CBS News ] . As for sell the party , the rumors seem to have died down for now . In a 2007 interview with Time powder magazine , Zuckerberg claimed that selling Facebook is " not the burden focus " for the fellowship . Instead , Zuckerberg says Facebook is busy finding the good possible room for people to connect online , which wreak us to our next myth .
2: Facebook Destroys Your Social Skills
There ’s no denying that Facebook make it easier to join with honest-to-god friend and distant relatives , but this convenience might come at a heavy cost . West London Mental Health Trust psychiatrist Himanshu Tyagi warn that because social networking makes communicating such a fast paced and dynamic experience , citizenry might become desensitized to their genuine - earth kinship . young people who ’ve grown up with the Internet are peculiarly at risk , he say , since they sometimes place heavy emphasis on their practical identity and may undervalue face - to - face fundamental interaction as a result .
Psychologist Aric Sigman goes even further , saying that because Facebook enable people to live an increasingly isolated existence , their wellness may suffer . Pointing to studies that illustrate how the body ’s gene and hormone levels respond to personal interaction , Dr. Sigman make do isolation puts the body at danger for a number of ailments including heart disease , strokes and even genus Cancer .
fortuitously for Facebook drug user , not everyone thinks the situation is turning the world into hermits . A Cambridge University study of Facebook users find that the site can be a utile puppet for maintaining human relationship that might otherwise be lost . Additionally , the discipline ’s participants plant Facebook utile for getting a well - rounded view of their friends and syndicate and finally felt that the site gave them more options for how they interact with others . Of of course , if the next myth on our list has some truth to it , you may want to log off irrespective of how the site affects your societal science .
1: Facebook Is Going to Sell Your Pictures
While it ’s never a good idea to carry ikon to Facebook unless you do n’t care who see them , you probably never ideate that , even if you blue-pencil your account , Facebook could use those pictures for commercial design . That ’s the feeling that recent changes to the companionship ’s Terms of Service ( TOS ) seemed to give , however .
The result uproar over the changes prompted Facebook ’s founder , Mark Zuckerberg , to address the issue on the company ’s web log . Zuckerberg claims the changes clarified the manner sites like Facebook work , pointing out that even if a user cancel his or her account , the contentedness from that account might still exist on other user ' pages . consequently , Facebook demand permission to portion out those images with other members , but only in the path that users determine via their accounts ' privacy options . Most importantly , Zuckerberg insists that Facebook has no intention of sell users ' pictures for any reasonableness , though he admits that Facebook need to work on clarifying the language to that upshot .
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