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Facebook: The New Public Square

By Tom Ehrich
"Facebook" illustration via Wylio http://www.wylio.com/credits/Flickr/3185202042
"Facebook" illustration via Wylio, http://www.wylio.com/credits/Flickr/3185202042.
Feb 7, 2012
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Even though I use Facebook frequently, I doubt my usage pattern will justify a $100 billion valuation for the company or send a new crop of Silicon Valley paper millionaires to Ferrari dealerships.

I never click on sidebar ads, I immediately block all games, and I have no intention of using Facebook's virtual money. I've done some advertising -- to little effect -- and will do more, but not much.

On the other hand, I find Facebook intriguing, sobering and oddly encouraging. To me, Facebook is an intriguing window on the world. It's the raw stuff of human diversity, not filtered through self-serving politicians or media summaries. When I decided to "friend" people whose views differ from mine, little did I know how much we differ.

Name an issue — say, the recent dust-up over breast cancer funding for Planned Parenthood — and I read not only the rage and indignation of fervent extremes, but deep divisions within the sensible middle. The hope that we could find common ground by moving to the middle could be delusional. Divisions are still there, but maybe they're just calmer.

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"Facebook" illustration via Wylio, http://www.wylio.com/credits/Flickr/3185202042.
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