December 23rd, 2010
03:18 AM GMT
 Hong Kong, China (CNN) – There is something plainly fascinating about Paul Butler's map of the world. The Facebook intern used data from the social networking site to create a map of people's friendships across the globe and to see how they related to geographical and political boundaries. After experimenting with different techniques, he ended up using arced, weighted lines to connect cities based on the volume of the Facebook friendships between them. In Butler's words, the result is "a surprisingly detailed map of the world. Not only were continents visible, certain international borders were apparent as well. What really struck me, though, was knowing that the lines didn't represent coasts or rivers or political borders, but real human relationships." The lines also map out, to a large extent, Facebook's global penetration. One is struck by the fluorescent clusters in the United States and Europe, where Facebook is widely used; the clear contours of Indonesia, home of the most Facebook users in Asia; and the giant hole where China should be.
Blocked by the Great Firewall, Facebook can boast few active users in China. Local social networks like Renren, Xiaonei and Kaixin001 dominate the market. Instead of connecting through Facebook Chat, millions upon millions of users chat away their work days on Tencent's QQ and MSN Messenger. The absence of China on Facebook's Visualizing Friends Map did not go unnoticed among China's microbloggers, as Wang Xiaojie and Jo Ling Kent from CNN's Beijing bureau found when they combed the Chinese web. "At first sight I wonder why China is not on the map; but after seeing the Facebook logo at the bottom, I know why," says one user. Another asks: "When can China shine on this map that includes 500 million other people?" One savvy netizen even spots an additional reason for China's absence from the map. Chinese users who circumvent the country's internet restrictions by using a VPN server appear as users in foreign cities. "So even if we use Facebook in China, we still can not be seen on the map. Haha!, " he writes. Also under discussion online: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's first visit to China. It may be a personal vacation, but he appears to be making the rounds at the country's top Internet companies. He toured Baidu headquarters with Robin Li, founder of China's dominant search engine, and has since been reportedly spotted at the offices of leading web portal Sina.com. Employees at the Chinese companies have been snapping pictures of Zuckerberg and posting them online. It's the closest they'll get to the Internet Wunderkind. After all, they can't friend him on Facebook. |
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Who cares Facebook is so stupid and a waste of time. People need to get lives and stop bothering with social networking. It wont be long before China passes us by and since we waste so much time here it wont be hard to believe why.
Never mind China - we expect them to be missing. Where is Russia?
where is canada on this?
Tony: Russia is using 'odnoklassniki' and 'kontakty', two competing programs which are sure to be bought out at some point. a: the vast majorjty of canadians live relatively close to the US border. however, biff wins the prize: cnn should stop doing puff pieces on facebook. we see puff piece after puff piece without any attempt at analysis of the potential dangers of this one highly autocratic company controlling so much information. instead, we recently got the absolute nonsense piece from cnn whose thrust was that 'kids know what info to put and not to put on facebook.' ya, right.
A: Canada has some 33 million people living in the 2nd largest country in the word. Beyond the fact that most of the north would make even the most hardy of our species shudder, there just isn't the density to fill a map like this. If you look at the map, most of light above the great lakes is in Ontario, Canada. They cut off the west as well, you'd see a bit more of a separate cluster of population in Alberta because their development is farther north then most of the rest of Canada, and in an area of relatively low population density in the USA. Hope that helps.
Amazing how people can connect using technology. Do we still need governments and boundaries.
well China is busy killing dogs and cats..they dont need Facebook !!! They need FUR.
this map is a very good show of developed and are developing countries and most active users of internet around the world with the exclusion of few countries which has restriction to access the site,
Abhi i am absolutely agree with you soon Earth need just one good government without any boundaries,
Wow Biff still polishing cars for McFly?
It's all about people and their personal lives!
Might try to tune in to what's really happening in our world. The computer has brought us closer together than ever! The politics are changing and people find that they have more in common than differences. CNN puts together interesting array of information including a look at an invaluable study of Facebook and the way people all over the world are using it.
I'm amazed that you read the article and took the time to comment. Must really impose on your time! Now get back to work Biff, McFly might find you using his computer!
Keep up the good work CNN!
I won't mind to live in one of the darkened areas of the map, where friendships are real and tangible, not some silly automated list on Facebook.
I looked it a bit differently, I feel with the exception of Indonesia most of the muslim countries are also missing from Facebook.
I have noticed many muslim has just stop using Facebook after a Blasphemic cartoon competition. Facebook has the power to change the perception of the interlinked people and it can be used both positively and negatively.
Canada? It's there, it just blends in with the US.
Um, where is New Zealand? We have some of the highest facebook/per capital ratios in the world. As per usual no one cares about us so just take them out of the picture.. haha!
Butler states "...that the lines didn't represent coasts or rivers or political borders, but real human relationships", which as anybody who has been on facebook knows, is patently wrong. The relationships are virtual and, in my estimate, 75% inactive other than the initial click to become "friends". I have deactivated my facebook account, as have many of my friends here in Switzerland. The platform has undeniable social utility but the way it is being used by a vast majority (pic surfing, wittiness contests, etc.) seems to be a waste of valuable time in the long term. I've written a lengthy article on this: http://themzini.wordpress.com/2010/11/20/life-after-facebook-pt-1/
Wow! The Philippines is so visible on the map :D Thanks for freedom of speech!
this is kind of interesting, surreal, an image of a http request trying to escape the Great Firewall: http://littledebbieoatmealcookie.wordpress.com/explosion/
Facebook advertisement or over-paid CNN writer? You Decide
Most of Canada and Russia are pretty desolate, the cities are there. Canadian cities look like the northern boundary of US... boundaries of the Great Lakes are circumvented by users so are clearly visible.
@ Biff
Great you think Facebook is a total waste of time. Just on the other hand, if you're so concerned about using your time for improtant stuff.
WHY THE FCK DO YOU POST ON MSG BOARDS LIKE THESE!!!!
@Tony The reason why Russia isn’t completely there is because Siberia is mostly uninhabited you can see western russia is illuminated but the east is like northern canada, barely anyone lives there.
So why don't start a new democratic government on the internet and elect a President
I LOVE FACEBOOK SO MUCH!
Dan: Canada may be the second largest country in the world by size but not by population. Canada doesn't even rank in the top 25 Countries with the Largest Population. That is why you don't see many Facebook users coming from Canada as a whole, only from the most populated cities.
In this specific context, couldn't we substitute another word for "friend"? How about "twit"?
I don't like Facebook. It's further distancing us from each other. Suddenly a person 10,000km away is 'closer' to us then a person living next door. Sad!!!
why focus on china when so many countries are not mapped out here? where is russia? central asia? central africa? middle east? this news writing is heavily biased and US-influenced. media is supposed to give non-biased facts, not opinions.
cnn has posted a lot of pathetic pieces before so i'm not so surprised to hear about facebook again. honestly, i've tried facebook for 3 months and it was a horrible experience. i only wanted to stay in contact with my family members and close friends. then it became a popularity site, gossip, and a daily routine. it seemed addicting at times; then again it was isolating my personal beliefs and bashing my image. didn't like the fact of it being public and never private. i work abroad so it's hard not to hop onto facebook but fortunately i was smart enough to deactivate my fb account recently. i feel better... and i thought to myself that i can always wait to tell people my adventures when i see them face to face in the future.
so yea, facebook does have benefits but also a cruel side indeed. i agree with most of you that in the long run facebook is going to fail like every other online social network. stay sharp everyone! =)
I don't disagree that we probably spend too much time focused on social networking...but everything in moderation is a good thing. Let's truly think about what this site had promoted...Friends distant over years have reconnected and become part of each others' lives. Family separated by miles have an opportunity to be connected through chats, photos and video sharing. What a powerful tool for communication. Yes, we need to balance it with person to person contact and build healthy relationships in multiple ways. But, if we ignore social media...we will not be connected to the reality of our time.
FACEBOOK has a lot of explaining to do...the other day they sent me a message complaining about a certain post which they said was racist...I checked my privacy settings and they were to friends only. So the question is – is FACEBOOK not just another tool for social control? I am leaning toward my final statement each day.
http://www.pszulu.blogspot.com
FB is creating gaps in minds of most Nairobi chix, FB+Pills=fatbraindrainedprimitivehumanoids
This is a disgrace as the only thing that is really missing is NZ !!!
Indeed, more than China alone is missing. Apparently in some countries people use other tools and/or have real friendships.
It is a bit like being proud to dine at McDonalds. Facebook is just an enterprise and its service is not free of costs.
@Abhi. Yes we need borders not because we want them but because humans are teritorial animals and will eventually build borders no matter what happens.
@Nimma: The idea of one govt sound good but infact it could turn out to be the worst thing. One govt means limited number of people deciding for a lot of people. If you think of it on a global scale it could turn out be a disaster of control over people. Everything would be monitered, regulated and freedom of speech, freedom of press would be thing of past.
Who will teach Kenyan youths 90% of net was not meant for FBooking? over 14hrs in facebook?! gal, your life is stagnant! am moving and I dont think am waiting for you, chances of catching up are very slim! get the Fcuk off FB, I got a home I want to build def wit some one
Syria rocks...a thin line from Turkey all the way to Egypt...not bad Syrians...you are really good time wasters :)
just to say, Renren and Xiaonei are the same one ...
It seems like Turkey, Indonesia and Malysia are the only muslim states that are well connected on Facebook.
well is it me or can anyone not see that Africa is ignored. #no one wants to talk to Africans. sad
Someone asked where Canada was...it's right there. North of The United States. When was the last time you looked at a map nitwit?
@ Faraz You're right, facebook can be used positively, for example helping people exercise their basic human right of freedom of expression.
I think people cry too much about others hurting their feelings.
Example? Why, yes. I happen to have one right here!
Many Muslims cry when someone "blasphemes" their religion, but Muslims say every day that Jesus is not god.
For many Christians (I am not one) that is considered "blasphemy".
But I guess "blasphemy" and respect only work one way, eh?
btw, I am an atheist and my wife is Sunni. Does that hurt your feelings too?
The Canadians are busy shoveling snow, no time for Facebook, hosers!
Russia, they are busy emailing mail order bride scams.
China, um they went to bed early.
I've never been on Facebook, might try some time to look for old friends. Other than that this was a waste of time.
Come on guys ! The problem is not facebook itself, you could use a knife to hurt people, or you could use it to cut apples ! That depends on you ! please don't take it that serious, sigh ~
This map sucks, why is the US cut in half?
@ Sanya My family is over 3,000 miles away and facebook lets me talk to them every day without going broke.
I guess you can find a negative side to anything if you want to, huh?
@ Siya Maybe one of your friends reported you?
as usual to much information stored on all of us, should be banned completely
New Zealand is also missing from this picture.
Those live in dark area are people like Neo, Trinity, Morpheus, Tank and many more. And those who live in lighted area are living in the Matrix system. So sorry to say, I, too, live in the lighted area and waiting for the Blue pill.
Nima
You will get your one world government soon along with the Antichrist.
They will come hand in hand. Read the bible for yourself to understand.
Very interesting map of population density and global wealth. It's no surprise that China, most of Russia, most of Canada and some other places don't show up on the map. In Canada/Russia/Mongolia, etc., most of the land mass is unpopulated (or very sparsely populated) tundra. China may have high population density, but how many of those people are wealthy enough to have computers, internet connections, and spend their time on social networking sites? The same is true for large parts of the interior of Africa and South America.
I wonder how this map would stack up against a map of global GDP per capita? I'm guessing it would be pretty similar.
Russia and Canada are there, if you look at the highres version. China and North Korea are missing. Taiwan is there. Hongkong is there. It's not just a map of economic development, it's also a map of population density, which is why Canada and Russia seem to be missing in the lowres version.
@NV: Yeah Chinese made cats and dogs, pure bred stuff that they can eat without growing cancer, not like the genetically modified and hormone induced fried chickens that the American fast foods chains sell in China!
Facebook?? Waste of time!Cotton candy for the mind! I say Darwin`s theory will prove itself true and people who dedicate too much time to these social websites will fall further behind those who don't.
Where is New Zealand?
Another factoid: Brazil is missing because it uses Orkut
Good for the Chinese. Anyway Facebook is a CIA conspiracy to monitor your life. It wont be long before millions of Facebook addicts in America and Europe will have to be sent to 'Facebook Rehab' centres...with no Wifi !!
wow... how could they forget about russia XD
Facebook is kind of waste of time but is good in spreading information. It exposes you to public, sometimes to dangers also!
It looks like Alaska is cut off the U.S. What do you think Alaskans do in the winter anyway? We use facebook even more now that the lower 48 got ALL our snow :)
And they didnt notice that Russia was missing as well?
90% of Canadians live within 10 miles of the US border.
What about Russia? I don't see it at all on this map and where is Australia and New Zealand?
New Zealand is infested with sheep. The people of NZ are shepards, who do not have the time for facebook, simple. Next question, please?
China is missing ! wondering what gonna happen if 1 Bio people go down the street !! No blood no gain !!!
Facebook, facebook, facebook, facebook....when will this end?
What is interesting is to compare it with the world map of city lights
http://earthscience.files.wordpress.com/2006/12/worldlightmap.jpg
You will see that it more or less follows that pattern except for Russia, China and the middle east. Or in other words If one can subtract all the hot pixels that are there in the world facebook map from the world light map, all we will be left in the residue map are China, Russia and the middle east.... and some parts of Brazil due to popularity of orkut.
Portugal... 3 million users in 10 million people
The complete uncropped map can be found here: http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs1382.snc4/163413_479288597199_9445547199_5658562_14158417_n.jpg
Chinese president will visit white house, Zuckerberg,it is your chance to have a deal.
One source for communication is internet... it can be facebook, skype, e-mail or any other apps.
For those who complain about Facebook or knock it... what is wrong with having a platform to share pictures, videos and general life updates with your friends and family? I live in Eastern Europe yet my family lives mainly along the East coast of the US. So now we can all check out each others lives and keep in touch in a much easier way than ever before. Yet to you Facebook bashers, that's a bad thing? Perhaps you should take less time posting how you think something is bad and take your own advise and get off the computer.
Jeez...
I'd say New Zealand is missing from the map...
Don't understand why people use this site so much... aren't there better things to do in life? :/
I'm an American living here in Kazan, Russia. Like in most other countries, Facebook is really big here. Although Russia has it's own version of it here (Kontakt) the internet is wide open in Russia. Unfortunate for the Chinese people.
People on here who think that facebook is stupid are similar to people who also believed that computers were stupid, that calculators were stupid, etc etc etc. You are all such geniuses that over 500 million people in the planets intellectual centers are not as smart as you, lol! Good luck buddy, if you are a small business owner you might want to list your business so these stupid people can find it, I am just saying!
You dont see Russia becouse most of russians use counterparts facebook like "vkontakte" and "odnoklassniki". For example "vkontakte" use 105 million people.
Now days the world is like a village because of FB, its makes people closer here in Tanzania, Congr Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's
this map also demonstrates the plight of the northern central african continent
Who cares? Facebook is a waste of time. People need to get on with their lives and stop squandering their time with social networking. It won't be long before China passes us by, and our wasting so much time on Facebook will be a reason why.
Philippines is so clearly visible in the FB global map. This shows how addicted common Pinoys are to FB. This does not indicate though that Philippines matches economic and social development in western hemisphere. Yet we are FB addicts....
In Brazil people are missing because they are very busy trying to survived in an corrupt country.
I like face book
Philippines is very visible!...
We growin in naija chinesse needs freedom of speech
Bangkok Thailand is the best attraction for all.
HV；you have no idea of china
Wait until all the world starts speaking Chinese.
Also missing is Greenland!! Or does it not count?
For crying out loud. The reason it's surprising that China doesn't show up is because they have over 300 million internet users. Canada has one of the lowest population densities in the world, that's why they don't show up so clearly. Siberia also has a very low densly population. Northern Africa may be corrupt but that's not why they are not so clear on the map. It's because internet connection is not widespread throughout the Sahara dessert. Yeah, I can just see some Berber sheep herders getting addicted facebook. Come on. Whether you like facebook or not, this article is accurate in pointing out the surprising absence of China. They should get with the program of providing freedom of expression and speach if they want to lead this world in the future.
i am sorry ,the NV
This is an evidence that many of chinese citizens are illiterates based on the use of the general language used mostly in communication-ENGLISH. Surely Nigeria must have been found on the map.
Good to see China Leaving faceslap where it belongs. Pictures like this just show how shallow the west ahs become, very very sad indeed
Canada is on this actually.... Most of our major cities are near the border with the USA. Anything above that is sparsely populated.
If you look closely, you can see the USA looks slightly larger.. that "extra" bit is Canada :)
@Biff - True. While US is worried about who is connected to facebook, China is surpassing us in education and innovation, and will soon be a global leader. Sheeit the US still owes a ton of money to China, so I don't think China is sweating over the fact that their people are not using and/or connected to facebook.
@daniel. Yeah, what else is new. People haven't cared about Africans for a long time. No need to start anything new.
North Korea's missing too.
The border between Portugal and Spain is clearly visible. The map is very detailed and even small islands like Azores and Madeira are clearly visible.
"where is canada on this?"
Most of the population of Canada is along the boarder with the US (not because of the US but probably due to climate being a little better. You don't see upper Canada because fewer people live there and of those that do most probably don't care anything about facebook.
Facebook is a plague that swept across the world quickly. MySpace started it and now Facebook and that gay site, Twitter, are making you all sit at home and depend on it for your happiness and friendships. Yes it is great to meet people from around the world on there (as I have done), but there is more to life than FB. I used to spend hours on FB but got smart and deleted my account. The problem with FB is that there is no privacy even if you think there is. A tool for them to collect data on you and the people you know so they can exploit you when needed. For example, you remember that wacko in Florida a week or so ago that shot at the school board during a meeting because they fired his wife? What was the first thing they said about him? What his damn FB profile said!! So there you go, they use it to gather information on you! China is lucky they don't have FB!
To me it seems the bigger omission is Russia......a growing economic power with a huge "footprint" but not much in the way of social interaction if this map is anything to go by.
I cannot but strongly agree with Biff. What kind of culture or knowhow is social networking bringing to anyone? it is just another way of inciting people, especially the young ones, to waste their brains on useless chit-chat.
I think that facebook is a useful tool for staying in touch with far-away friends, but those that have hundreds of 'friends' or put too much importance on any relationship established principally via social networks
are deluding themselves. Also, the internet can be used for good or evil, and given human nature, the bad inevitably outweights the good (see how self-absorbed and narcistic we are becoming, cyber-bullying etc.)
some American embassies around the world are now starting to link to FB.. there should be a law against this practice..
its funny how clearly wee see the frontiers of a small country like Portugal!
i think you dont know about the iranian people and how they use facebook....most of the iranian in facebook use vpn because fb is filtered in iran....so when they connect with vpn , they excatly connect from usa or europ so if you want to know about the number of users in iran you should search iranian profile and farsi users...tanx
@Alex. You should come live in China and teach in the schools and see how much the Chinese depend on American ideas and innovation. I've been here on the ground for 5 years. Most Chinese parents yearn to send their children to America for education, and not just college but also, more and more, high school. The fact that 300 of the very best, cherry-picked students in Shanghai, a city of 20 million, scored high on a standardized test is not surprising. It would happen in New York or San Francisco, too, if they only picked the best from those cities. Here's the difference: our top students learn to be well-rounded people with opinions who can function at work. Theirs learn to be champion memorizers and math experts who graduate college and then are helpless without their parents. It's a huge problem here, most Chinese see it, and no, they don't report that on CNN.
Alex, are you proud that the Chinese propaganda machine has shaped your views, even though you live outside of China?
i am sure Nigeria have more illiterates than china
i like FB but not so much nowadays. at times its annoying. a friend of mine started updating his status every alternate hour like on the way to office, waiting for bus, watching tv..........yeak....i could not block him but had to restrict any future postings from him...it was annoying
Where's New Zealand?!
What's missing? How about California- is this CNN's way of telling us that "the big one" happened last night?
Blah-blah about China and democracy and stuff. Russia is not shown yet but there are no restrictions. People just don't want to waste time on the useless bs
@ Faraz, Well i do see your point but facebook had nothing to do with the cartoons, its just that the denisty of the populations is in a few major cities, u can easily locate northern Morocco, Tunisia, Parts of Algeria, Cairo, Amman, Lebanon and parts of Palestine and Israel because that is where those countries' population rest
As for the gulf. Saudi Arabia has a small population compared to its area that's why its nearly hidden on this map, while the rest of the gulf countries have a population of less than 5 million which altogether cant form dense enough spots
People focus so much on China! Infact people in mainland of China can use FB though it's a little inconvenient,and they can't be shown on this map...However,the microblogs are rather hot in China now.
Is THAT Afganistan on the map !!! guess who is using so much facebook there :)
you know the china ,i am sad of our democracy
There's always a huge arguement about facebook. If you're not on Facebook then its like you're a social outcast moron who isn't up on the latest and coolest things yet, but yet if you are on it, you should be "smart" and delete your account (usual comment from former FB users –"i got smart and deleted my account."
..I've had a FB account since way back in the day..when just college kids were on it, and if your college wasn't in their database you had to actually request it in order to be able to sign up. After all these years, I still just have like 115 friends....I've had phases where I used it, and also went 2-3 years and didnt ever touch it. In my opinion, social networking like Facebook isn't going to "go away now", so all the people complaining about "everyone using facebook" should probably just get over it now. Of course some ventures will die out (MySpace) but as a concept, its not going away.
I live on another continent from my family, facebook makes it much easier to share photos and stay in contact with each other, and in response to a previous comment on here...yeah, sometimes a person that lives on the other side of the world is more important to me than someone in my neighborhood. What, just because someone lives in my neighborhood or town, we are suddenly besties and we should all keep up with each other right...and all of your neighbors or people that you know personally in real life, I'm sure you get along with all of them and meet up all the time for coffee....
I honestly see social networking as a way to bring people together, not drive them apart. Yes I'm interested in hearing from my Norwegian friends, and my friends in Japan, and the other ones that I don't readily see so often...its like a modern day version of PenPals, kinda, imo. Except much faster and immediate. That being said, I don't spend vast amounts of time on Facebook that I don't get out and do anything...
I just don't ever understand the big uproar...i mean do people really think nations will fall because their citizens are "constantly on facebook"? The people that STONGLY (see some commentaries on this forum as an example) argue for or against the use of facebook...remind me of hardcore religious people who always try to convince you that they have the one true answer and spend all their time trying to convince you that they are right.
This is AWESOME Man !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The only missing thing is – HUMAN LINK !!!
If your a business man, and you market online. This map is a great too to know where to target your ads.. Excellent Article :)
I access Facebook in China no problem – but it requires I subscribe to
a VPN service at 60 USD a year, something few Chinese will bother or pay to do.
Look how Turkey is... We are like an island in our region... Is that a proof of regional power :)) lol
@ the end, I love the map. I hope I can get a higher resolution ones...
i am now in China！ i want to surf the facebook, but there is no chance.
just hope one day i can
Russia has a "Facebook" like service called "vkontakte" It has millions and millions of users and Facebook is simply not used so much. Vkontakte is fully a Russian site unlike Facebook which uses a horrible Russian translator to go from English to Russian. vkontakte has been around long long long before Facebook even hit the internet. Russia also has Mail.ru. Another social networking and email service. Again millions of users who have content that is purely Russian oriented. Why would they use Facebook, it doesn't cater to Russian speaking people or things that Russians or Ukrainians might enjoy.
Ok this is cool.I love Facebook.What I think is cool is you can't make out the difference in political borders especially European,American and Canadian ones. We need to learn that those borders are man made and self imposed .
Where is Canada on this map? Facebook is just as big here as it is any where! Once again, we are left out!
Vince Hancock,
Ontario Canada
renren and Xiaonei actually is a same social network. Xiaonei is the old name of renren. CNN needs to improve its paperwork
I am tired of facebook. I don't really trust their security either.
It's a great way to keep in touch with friends around the globe if used properly. Sadly, a whole lot of people are not very good at managing their public profile and they post things that are truly embarrassingly revealing.
Before they patched the security problems last summer, the company I worked for used to use Facebook to eliminate job candidates prior to interview because it was so easy to see their opinions and activities.
The countries of the former Soviet Union (Russia, Ukraine, etc.) are hardly represented here (with just Moscow clearly visible). This is not because of firewalls, etc. or because of sparse population but because they have their own service which is dominant. It's called odnoklasniki.ru (the Russian word for "classmates") It's almost as prevalent there as Facebook is in the US. I'm not sure that Facebook could ever surplant it there. They'll probably have to buy it.
It's great to be able to communicate with our neighbors but near and far. It's another thing to realize the full amount of wasted energy that sometimes occurs when people have transitioned most of all their talent and personal time toward these kinds of outlets that remove them from a hands-on approach with making a real substantial contribution in their immediate world in terms of directing and coordinating a tangible link between what they think psychologically and what they're able to do physically to improve their own environmental properties and their personal wellbeing! Some people are suspecting a real disconnect in being able to make a positive difference in their own private lives in a physical sense because of the extent of the influence the Internet has had on their daily activities. Many people are being unplugged physically from the social network menu that exists within their own communities and neighborhoods. It's as though a new approach to exercising our skills and talents have taken on a hybrid scenario that voids out our link to our immediate environment in some really basic ways. It's becoming more difficult for many people to apply themselves with a hands-on approach to motivating themselves into dealing with many of the more mandane chores required of them like cleaning their homes, taking out the garbage, feeding the kids, walking the dog, and working in their yards. Finding personal satisfaction in paying their bills. All these little obligations that are in jeopardy of being vanquished from our daily routines are creating pitfalls for our children in their choices of educational curriculums they will entertain and process internally about the world around them leaving many with a work ethic that could one day prove devastating to them in affording and maintaining the life style they have ground accustomed to. It as though we have again elevated our thinking to that next level of excercise equipment for our living room that will support our new clerical and administrative life style promoting an unemployment disconnect in our critical thinking processes and physical activities that made us all that compassionate human being without all the health care issues and emotional baggage we find in our lives today. If you think about it, exercise equipment gained popularity when our life styles started to evolve and change because of increased population numbers and technological advances in economic diversification in areas of finance and consumer freedoms. There's a practical spinoff from working and toiling in the fields, we stay healthier, we produce a good source of pride and personal satisfaction that we can feel good about. Our children maintain a good working relationship with their peers, educational studies improve and student awareness has a grounding principle that clearly benefits classroom respect toward others while participation in extra-curriculum activities in a social context increases for the betterment of both the student and the teaching faculty, emphasis is placed back on the family unit in terms of being that essential critical link in making this a success story in these young lives. When we find ourselves substituting our basic principles in life for exercise equipment whereby we spend so much of our valuable time utilizing its primary design and purpose that we fail to take notice and realize we have failed to promote a tangible revenue in conjunction to our immediate environment for all the many hours we spend running in place or lifting dead weight! Where have all the Rewards gone in our lives, have we lost our exchange rate in transtion? Have we sacrificed too much for convenience, has our politics moved us out of the home and into the streets? Why would many of us settle for an artificial life style that sometimes leaves us feeling empty and on the wrong track, why would we trade-off actual hands-on applications in our daily lives that promote so many positive features for a set of Dead End routines that just boils down to a delinqency in our ability to manage, to control, our message to our children and to our enviroment, we are not setting a good example when we employ shortcuts that have a negative impact on our personal accomplishments in life. We have a duty, a responsibility, and an obligation to move forward, we shouldn't be paying people to be unemployed, we should stop this practice of feeding an idea that denies a return on our investments!
People here seem to assume that just because China doesn't use Facebook, they're somehow more productive and better off than the rest of the world. The reason China doesn't have many Facebook users is because the Chinese government blocks Facebook along with other websites like Youtube, Twitter, Blogspot, WordPress, Flickr, politically sensitive portions of Wikipedia, and yes, even Wikileaks. Contrary to what many of those who've commented seem to think, China's netizens don't exist in some social networking vacuum. Rather, by blocking all of these websites China's has allowed homegrown companies to basically copy the more popular Western sites and create their own versions. By the time Western competitors are allowed to enter the market, it won't matter because Chinese internet users will be wasting time on Renren and QQ (Q-zone) instead of Facebook, Youku and Tudou instead of Youtube, and Sina Weibao instead of Twitter. In many ways, the absence of China on the map above reflects the increasing disconnect between China and the rest of the world. While Facebook users in North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Oceania and Asia are connecting with one another and flattening the world so to speak, Chinese internet users are only connecting with each other. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but if the Chinese truly desire to be a great power they're going to have to learn to reach out to the world rather than turning inward and substituting their own reality.
Anyway, just based on my experience working in Beijing for several years, Chinese office workers often eclipse their Western counterparts in terms of time wasted in the virtual world.
Actually Russia and Ukraine are not there very much. Here, we use vkonyakte.ru much more than facebook...
@Faraz Dude Muslim countries are there. If you look carefully Malaysia, the United Arab emirates, chiefly the Dubai region, and Pakistan all have streaks of white in them.
I don´t think it has anything to do with getting a life. There is no correlation between having a "life" and using facebook. I think your commentary is out of place.
Russia is on the map...like 80% of the population lives on the european side...not in siberia haha
The Big Chinese Firewall cannot be seen in Facebook
dark in the East
Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, China, Mongolia, all the "..stan"-s,
ligths up in Turkey, Emirates, Chad
The big surprise is Indonesia and India
The big absent is Russia
The weirdness is that China with billion people is not on FB
All the countries connected on the map should consider their relationship before china colonise all of us
This map is a perfect overview of the distribution of loneliness in the world. Be glad if your country doesn't show up, it means you still have some sense of culture.
All the evil tyrant puppet governed countries ,...Satan as the puppet master of disguise , murder, and lies.
So basically the conclusion is that China as a whole has not jumped in the Facebook Wagon.
I see cultural imperialism here, and China as the only one left free from it. Good for them.
China hell where is CALIFORNIA and the entire SouthWest??
Why are people banging on about New Zealand ... follow the link at the top of the story and view the high res image that includes the whole map, hahaha.
That said, everyone's getting overly worked up on here ... if nothing else, I think it's an interesting concept to visualise the impact that this website is having globally, especially considering its humble beginnings.
To create a single platform to create the global one world is what facebook has achieved. The single biggest media platform.
Awesomeness !
facebook is 100% unimportant
Instead of debating we should get Facebook to implement some sort of massively online multiplayer game where nations compete in a World War.... on Facebook.
This will make the time wasted on facebook staring at a thousand inactive 'friends' more productive as you rally your nation to conquer the world.
The illustration above reminds me of the X-Com saga where small clusters of nations fend off alien invaders... or better... it also looks like a pre-Colonial world map!
You could have India vs East Asia, US vs UK vs Germany and all sorts of fantasy conflicts. This will allow random housewives and school children to become armchair generals in future! :D
I've followed the comments, and there are good and bad points thrown, and of course, some are quite nonsensical.
The point is, the technology we have today, the web, in particular, has opened all doors to being anti-social on the personal level, then, let me say it now, anti-social in the global level.
On the personal level, it is caused by other 'personal gadgets': iPhone, PSP, just to name two.
On the global level, Facebook, just to name one.
We know more friends around the globe than we know around the block.
For the many years that I have been working, it makes me glad to know the 'real person' behind the e-mail that I have been sending and receiving messages for years. And in most cases, our concept of the person changes once we have personal encounter: face-to-face meeting. Then we'd say things like, "He's not so mean after all...", "He's kinder in person...", etc.
As it has been pointed out, Facebook isn't directly evil, but on how we use it. It can help you a lot, get in touch geographically by electronic means what can't be done physically 'without getting broke' – I like that.
But if Facebook enslaves you -
> there has been cases of mothers murdering their offspring who disturbs their online activities...
Would you wait until that, or something to that magnitude, happens to you before you say enough?
Cultures may be shifting because of technologies, or these 'ideas whose time has come', but there are always those 'unaffected', those who don't buy into, who don't get into, who don't ride the boat. there are always heretics – with or without valid reason. It is simply our human nature to cry out and beg to be different, whether or not there really is difference. We are naturally inclined to refuse being reined in, and to try something different, something new. Again, there is good and bad to it.
In ending, Facebook will change our way of life, whether or not we engage in it.
I've used Facebook for a while, and found that it takes a lot of my time, and miss out on the many other activities that I love. Just to read on the messages, much more replying to them... So I've closed my FB account. And I feel good about it.
FB won't rule me, just like iPhone or PSP.
"Who cares Facebook is so stupid and a waste of time. People need to get lives and stop bothering with social networking."
. . . . says the man (Bill) spending Christmas vacation posting snarky comments on CNN :-)
Just add a "PatchUP" Button on facebook and this map will change.
What FB has achieved and given general people, nomatter what people mutter or utter against it , it doesn't matter...but nevertheless every sweet thing can taste bitter if used excessively so it's upon you how to take its advantage....
To all the poephol Kiwis & others who say they haven't been included, go to the bigger pic and you'll see you have been included. What a cool and interesting map this is. Look properly & enjoy some thought provoking insights. Don't be a poephol and always jump to conclusions at first glance.
So, it is like chinese users can appear as users from other countries.lets take it granted. But wat about RUSSIANS....they have showed up even a little bit....I think this is a bit creepyyy.......
90% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the US border. The other 10% of the country doesn't use the internet.
Merry Christmas.
Source CIA World Factbook:
second-largest country in world (after Russia); strategic location between Russia and US via north polar route; approximately 90% of the population is concentrated within 160 km of the US border
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ca.html
are you sure malaysia & indonesia is so brightly up?? something wrong as this cannot be correct??
South and North Pole is missing!!! Santa Claus must be upset!
China will not surpass the West precisely because they cannot develop something like Facebook...I heard this tale before: The Soviet bloc will surpass the West; no wait, Japan will surpass the US; no, the Euro will beat the dollar; oh no wait, Arab oil producers will...and you lnow what? Innovation always wins out, in war and in peace...the countries that can come up with the new stuff, they dominate...
So what does the picture tell us? Sure it portrays interesting connections between people. How cool that people have "friends" across different nations.
Worryingly, it tells us that an intern at Facebook has access to information submitted voluntarily by users. Think about it – all you Facebookers out there, what else have you told FB that they can make connections with?
For me a "friend" is a special word and has a special meaning. I use it VERY selectively to describe people I know. My "friends" are people I've developed a bond with over many years through face to face or team interaction. I love and trust my friends. FB trivializes what a friend is. People I've never met, share no face to face time with are not my friends.
Facebook (and others ) unleashes the trashed psyche far too prevalent today. Do I want to tell everyone my every move, thought and experience? NO. Do I care what everyone else thinks, does, thinks is cool or likes? NO.
Facebookers, get a life.
Canadians, chill, you're there, stop making us look stupid. As many people have posted, the majority of Canadians live with 100 miles of the U.S. border.
Gareth "the other 10% don't use the Intertnet". You're an idiot.
Kiwis; there's no way such a small country of only a couple million people can create enough facebook traffic to register on an arced facebook friends map.
LOL, Chinese too busy making our gadgets. LOL, Chinese too busy counting our money. LOL, I'm unemployed and I don't have time for Facebook. LOL, I kan haz chezbergur? LOL, anyone know how to draw a cute kitty in ASCII. LOL, LOL.
I like facebook because I am overseas and it a nice way to keep in touch with family .
These maps are made by computer signals – no one knowingly left out anyone! Greg is right: 90% of Canadians live with 100 miles of the U.S. border, and the other regions and cities (aside from Calgary and Edmonton) wouldn't be large enough to show (like NZ). Taiwan shows because it has 23 million people on an island smaller than Lake Michigan, and most people have Internet (and facebook).
Relax all – no conspiracies here!
BTW:
click on the link on the first line of the story to view the entire detailed map and you'll see New Zealand clearly there (showing most of the north island and coastal regions of the south).
very impressive!
I experimented with Facebook just to see what the fuss was all about. But I have since then disabled my Facebook account. It is bad for your privacy and your family's security. It reveals too much about yourself and who your friends are. The information could come back to haunt you if some baddies are targeting you or your family. Also Facebook appeals more to people who want to "advertise" themselves. These folks waste too much time updating their Facebooks. They should go out in person more often to get a real life, and interact with people in person rather than through posting things on their pages. Facebook will be a temporary FAD like many previously great technology products. It will be replaced by other new FADS.
Approximately 85% of the Canadian population lives within 150 km of the U.S. border – the population is not evenly spread throughout the country, by any stretch of the imagination. This map pretty accurately reflects the population distribution in Canada.
Could mark zukerberg be the antichrist?
So according to this map, if I want to get away from destructive narcissism, I should move to Russia. Cool.
So what? Really, who cares. This is a total waste of time and resources.
I can see all Egypt lighted , that absolutely indicates how much we have the freedom of speech and that's a legal right for everyone lives in this country , Egypt is turning for the better.
To the many people commenting on Canada apparently missing from the map: 90% of Canada's population lives within a 2 hour drive of the Canada/US border. We are a large country with a population density of approximately 3.8 persons/square km. When you place that much of our population that far south, anything north is going to be pretty dark on this map. We are here and quite happy to be!
the answer is Chinese doesnt use the stupid Facebook, they are using QQ.
So what? So the frick what?
Syria doesn't rock. It's hardly there at all. The Damascus area (it's inland) is completely dark. The thin line is Hatay (Alexandretta, in Turkey) and Lebanon. The strong, concentrated beam just south of that (north of the Nile delta) is Israel which has one of the highest Facebook penetrations in the world.
Sure, New Zealand is missing from this map, but so is half of the USA.
Where's California, the home of Facebook?
Communicating on Facebook is like those xmas cards you exchange each year from those 4th cousins you haven't spoken to or seen since 1991. In other words it's for social cripples who even with people they know well can only communicate face to face like they do with a stranger they sat next to on a bus for 10 minutes.
Middle East, Northern Africa, Russia, & China. Countries that hate America no surprise.
China doesn't let foreign internet companies operate in their country. They use Renren in China, which used to be nearly a complete Facebook clone.
Google, Youtube, Amazon, etc all kicked out of China to make room for their domestic companies. It's actually quite a big blow to the US economy.
Biff probally doesnt have any friends.
Facebook is a great tool to stay in touch with people globaly.
They can log on in different time zones and see photos etc of friends who are asleep etc.
Photo sharing is easy because your not waiting while they are emailed etc.
FACEBOOK has bought the world and people together with a FREE membership.
Biff , go make a toll call or post someone a postcard,
Dick
You're sure right FB is a waste of time. It amazes me how people after so many years haven't seen the light of this yet.
China is missing
I got Taiwan its so fluorescent
then it shows different from China ....even Taiwan is located off the southeastern coast of mainland China...so close
"Biff", yes facebook can be abused and waste a lot of people's time. However, it is a great tool to keep in touch with lots of people. I no longer have to call 100 people to see what's up with them, or to transmit what's going on with me. You can maintain a lot of bonds very easily and that's how facebook can actually save time.
New Zealand has about 4.3 million people, thank you, and was nicely left off the map. Another geography failure by Clumsy News Network? Don't forget that some of our more gregarious sheep have facebook accounts. But sometimes it's best not to appear on the idiots' radar.
Everybody is so happy about Facebook connectivity, etc.
It's kind of weird that nobody finds the amount of information that Facebook is collecting creepy and dangerous. Patterns of connectivity and web surfing, commercial transaction habits, etc.
As long as we have an immense dumb population, this site will continue to do business with the data that user willingly give up everyday.
its like they mapped out the world and remove all the shit that doesn't matter
...Isn't there a coupla wars being uber under reported around here...?
Just a thought...
WHere is RUSSIA?? NEver mind them(China)?? No wonder dope.... No wonder... No wonder u can't find anything..Ur a dope tony
Looks like people too worried about religion, country & forgot that they need to goand soo much.. guys chill up
Russia isnt on there because they have their own very popular social networking sites which were around before facebook.
Most things that are marketed are used by the mass. The stupid mass of people are thinking that the prices ar good.
If most people stop buying anything they dont need, that will shake the business, economy and the banks and kill the prices....!!!!
How can not everyone understand that!!
The fact that Brazil is not so visible is because we use a lot more Orkut. Facebook has no popularity here.
"Another factoid: Brazil is missing because it uses Orkut".
I agree, but I have noticed that many brazilians are moving to facebook.
Of course the lines have to follow the world map especially world cities, how dumb by facebook. it is not like the lines will be coming out of the middle of no where.
All those Facebook haters obviously have never lived on the other side of the world from their family and friends........ its a wonderful way to stay connected and share photos and happy moments with the ones we love – we have just had a new baby, and without Facebook it would have been harder to share all the happy moments with those that are so far away. You don't have to add every Tom, Dick and Harry that requests to be "Friends"...... I agree that friends lists of 768 ppl are rediculous – its a much more personal thing for us, and I think a lot of ppl manage to keep it that way. Don't hate Facebook!!
There are countries like Russia or Japan where facebook is not very popular. In other ones like Spain or Scandinavian countries, national social networks are at less as important as facebook in number of users. Anyway the map is usefull to visualice the contrast between North and South.
To Biff: You just say that to the 500 million+ users on Facebook.
screw facebook
FACE BOOK IS SO STUPID BECAUSE I HAVE A FRIEND OF MINE WHO USES ALMOST A FULL DAY CHATTING WITH INTANGIBLE PEOPLE,ACCORDING TO HIM HE DO BELIEVE THAT WORKING WITH IT DO STRENGTHEN HIS IT PROFESSIONAL SKILLS(something not true!!!),I kept on praying everyday to encourage him not to use it as it is a waste of time!!!!!!......
Pretty awesome; however can't see California....Facebook rocks! Oh...and for the FB haters...as for wasting time, you watch zero TV...right????
Let's not pick on China. I have have tears of laughter in my eyes from reading the "Where is Canada on this?" comment. Kids, it is time to logoff and open a real book.
I know what's missing from this map... where's NEW ZEALAND???
Send some Laptops for indians in Brazil (Amazon) and give then wireless and you will cover a big empty part on that map, plus you will see much more Tarzans ,janes and anacondas on FB :P
Wow if you go to the link and open the large scale map you will see that the east coast of the United States are facebook whores, their is a distinct change in brightness directly in the middle of the US with the right side way brighter than the left, interesting.....I have to check the population of those states to see if thats the reason why.
Chinese are insane
Canadians are represented. They are just elsewhere around the globe, as a vast majority of our young people must find work wherever we can. There aren't jobs at home. Besides, if we stay home, we might have to find fault with our own government, rather than blaming our difficult lives on the United States.
They have to realize the people add friends for random or no reason.
Happy people in countries without a so extremely meaningless Internet application as Facebook. Keep away from it for ever!
...You are missing NEW ZEALAND!!! Come on~
Facebook users by coutry as of 4/17/2010
(Extracted from Facebook Website, Unit: 1,000 persons)
USA 117,744
UK 24,276
Indonesia 23,101
Turkey 20,577
France 17,630
Italy 15,843
Canada 14,254
Philippines 12,543
Mexico 10,040
Spain 9,930
I french and when I see this map I am not surprise that china is not on it.It's real problem in china that no body can use internet as they want, whereas they organize the olympique game, I think it is not normal!
I think that facebook do lose time(because some people said that facebook do lose time), because we can meet many people in many country, ans for my mind, facebook help me to meet and to speak with american people.What we can notice as a "problem" is the fact that facebook save many of our personnal information and can sale it, they save it in spite of closing the account for exemple, so facebook must be use wirh moderation.
Thanks CNN for yours article, there are so good, I love USA.
ps: escuse me for my english (it's so bad :S).
Hey, the north and south poles are missing too.. Maybe polar bears and penguins are still using friendster :)
Antarctica is whats missing
everything else has lines
Interesting, what one realize is that the map also reflects the regions of economic prosperity apart from the political/religious scenario of the world, the latter is getting discussed I see. I don't if it holds true for the whole world but it certainly seem to hold true for Africa. If you look carefully at Africa, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya (among madagascar and mauritius) are distinctly visible.
The question should be!! What would happen if you turned off facebook, twitter and google?
Would people go back to interacting with one another and as human beings? Would we go back to actually "Learning" rather than just getting the fast answers from search engines and saying the homework has been done. Would we start loosing weight because we actually have to move to get things done?
CNN used to report news. Now they have "shows" like back story and connect the world where the host run around like they are on crack.. I really don't care how the story was made I WANT TO SEE THE NEWS. Fox News. Well there is no news there. The only people that watch fox are ignorant individuals that have nothing better to do.
Go back to the old format CNN report the news not all the other BS.
fake map
Forget facebook, alot of people need to read more educational articles because . . . . dumb . . . wow
Recent new FB user profile was a step back. Do they want to compete with a Linkedin, presenting person's info as a visit card? And no possibility to switch back to a good old one.
Data can be beautiful.
And Europe looks like a dragon on this map.
Well, with China out, someone else has to be the dragon.
Ive quit Facebook a second time ... I like BIFFS statement
Ive seen too many friends get hacked .. and many people leave the default security settings intact //
Why is this a top story- again? Is it that slow of a news day?
Assuming everyone in every developed country without internet filtering is connected on facebook is simply wrong. There are millions of sensible people who simply will not go on facebook at any cost.
i got to know about fb only this latter part of 2010, and people i need to see on facebook aren't there yet.
Umm... New Zealand and Western USA – is missing from the CNN picture, but not from Pauls map.
Expediant cropping.
Watch on Feb 18th something will happen that will start to repair the damage created to the social network of society by facebook.
"Facebook world: What's missing from this picture?"
The most successful economy?
I wonder why? Is because "xau-xau" rice?!
A message to all you people who thinks we only need one world government with no country boundaries, be patient, it is in the works, the only problem we have left is determining which country will govern the rest of us. The competitors are Iran, Russia, China and the USA. Whom ever is able to become the government will determine how the world fares. If the USA becomes the head of the world government you can expect them to do everything humanly possible to bring the rest of the world to the same economic level that they enjoy. This will bankrupt the entire world except for China. China will then become the head of the world government because they will own all the land in the world. Everybody else will rent from them. Happy new world.
Hey, where is Atlanta? And Ancient Alexandria?
If these are the best why don't we find them???
I'm from Brazil and can't see the virtual Amazon Forrest!!!!
The Brazilian Amazon Forrest is off-line? Lets help all the tree join in the FB!!! lol
Have a nice Reveillon!
it just can't be connected in CHINA.looks like need a agent.
"Your comment is awaiting moderation"
i know why we are missing now
we have http://www.renren.com
I wholeheartedly agree with Biff.
I wonder where New Zealand has got to ?
PHAZEBOOK IS A WATE OF TIME-and results in lack of productivity ,
my kids might be honor studnets now but because of facebook distractor will probobly not b able to focus on school– even now they stay till 4 am because the "forgot" to do the work...WASTE OF TIME.
All it really is a telephone conversations involving lot of b.s. subjects.
Let's move on with our lives....
You can simply use e-mail to communicate with masses.
China is doing its people a FAVOR by blocking this site that erodes peoples' brain cells and makes them stupid. Perhaps the "great firewall"
isn't such a bad idea after all.
For those asking about Russia and Canada:
Russia doesn't show up because it isn't very densely populated and because a rival site controls most of the market there.
Canada doesn't show up because it has a tiny population, most of which lives close to the US border.
Canada IS there. Don't forget almost %100 of Canada's population is along the southern Border. Vancouver, Calgary, Ottowa, Toronto and Montreal are all within an afternoon's trip to the border. . . . unless it's winter and the snow is 8 miles deep ; )
Keep spending hours doing facebook but don't talk to your family :-) More personal face to face would do us good...
cuba?
China can join us when it decides to do so on OUR terms, not theirs,
Haha, this is a trick question, what is missing is *productivity!*
China has it's own version of facebook, that's the catch. Quite better than "our" facebook i might add. BTW, people need to get back to real lives, real contact. Imagine the day when facebook gets hit by a hacker attack or something, it will cause a world-wide depression? How sad we are to depend on a third party to make "friends" with someone.
facebook must to ddo some new things if it will not do it will lose its friends
This map could be a start of a real world peace on Earth. It shows people connected and uniting one another of certain commons.
NV: coz chinese have their renren(social network just like facebook) , their local sites are more suitable for them you just dont know china too much
@Charles Stevens: I agree with you. I have no objections, if someone marry anyone or even change his or her relegion this is really a personal affair and as per my believe God is there to guide us the right path. I've no objections either on people hurting themselves by doing such activities @ facebook. Showing their grudge against each other is an insanity.
I just have one thing to say that : Are we here in this world to fight or to discuss non issues rather than living a peaceful, pleasant and prosperous life. We all (including me) have to think about it individually and collectively.
@ Nub, I understand, but a large part of Bangladesh, Pakistan and Central Asia and almost all North Africa is missing. I also understand that most of the population in that region even donot have computers to use it.
@Sam: I agree with you however, there is penatly of population not using it for one or the other reason.
My Great Pakistan
I was going to say Antarctica
we have 人人 http://home.renren.com/
Face book has helped me have some interest in life when I had totally lost all interest in life.
I'm so glad China is not displayed in this map.
Just deleted my FB and i feel a sense of liberation!
this is all about the global nature and the human insect
The Chinese are too busy making things that you all consume! As they say,God made the world, and the rest was Made in China :)
In fact, the computer and network are very widely used and many ppl can afford it. The only question is the Great Fire Wall(GFW).
I had a facebook id, but i have to drop it as the block from GFW.
we even cann't search some chinese words by google, as most these words are blocked by GFW.
ai...........
btw, only Cantonese eat dogs and cats, at least most ppl around me donot eat them. hehe
Anyone who says Facebook is a waste of time has never been in the military, worked overseas for extended periods of time, or have friends in foreign countries.
The map could be interpreted another way, in that the darkest areas are filled with the most industrious workers, and the bright areas full of slackers.
James,
While you're ranting about "Learning", perhaps you should check yourself. "Loosing" is not the same as "losing".
Notice the clear line between Portugal and Spain(Castela), amazing, one of the oldest frontiers in history so clear in this new kind of map. Old things die hard :)
Everything has a limit as a whole if u use facebook as good social work wow its g8 but if u miss use it its not good as we all know EVERY COIN HAS TWO SIDE ITS HEAD AND TAIL
What is missing is China, the world’s most successful economy. The most users shown are in the US, the world’s largest debtor nation. Coincidence?
russia is missing because vkontakte.ru is leader on the russian/ukrainian market with 100 million users... there is probably a chinese competitor as well...
for some people, fb is fast, easy and cheap
and communicating in real life is sometimes complicated and awkward. I can see the point of ppl being socially awkward and not being able to communicate and thats why they choose fb, email etc...but how great that is. Socially awkward ppl and others who are just annoyed sometimes have a choice now. Choice to interact on or offline will always beat out either only interacting in face to face or only interacting online. And, sometimes I have more meaningful, insightful, and greater thought provoking conversations online than off of it....so there is a thought!
Wow! Lots of great comments here. But some need to be trashed and rethough. Such as "Biff" and the likes. Facebook has given us new ways to get in touch and stay in touch with each other. Yet there is a need to be cautious, very cautious. So, Tony, you do have a goo point.
Just like anything else, Facebook can be misused and abused. Mankind has a propensity toward doing just that. They can exploit anything and will, given time. But the overall outlook of Facebook an other social networks is that they DO fill gaps when people want to find a loved one or a long-lost friend, or just use it as a means of reaching out to others. Some people – wheelchair bound or bedridden – cannot reach out otherwise. Give them a break. If you find it difficult to be nice, stay off the internet, and keep your stinky opinions to yourself!
RUSSIA IS COMPLETELY MISSING.
I have Mexican users pick my crops on farmville
In thailand http://www.facebook.com/pages/manci-wa-khn-thiy-kein-lan-khn-mi-phxci-phaer-waxrchr-thephhasdin-n-xyuthya/142609679128323
china blah blah russia blah NZ wut? canada...
im too busy printing this map out and putting pins where all my friends are...
Sean Green : What are you?
It takes about 2 days with 233,918 Like.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/manci-wa-khn-thiy-kein-lan-khn-mi-phxci-phaer-waxrchr-thephhasdin-n-xyuthya/142609679128323?v=info
It's scandal in Thailand.
Facebook is becoming an ADDICTION......ITS use should be limited
To "a".
Where is Canada? FYI, the majority of Canadians live within 100 miles of the U.S/Canada border and on a map so small it actually hides the Canadian users of Facebook making the US a little bigger than it actually is.
cyberians are still shy when out of the cyber
For the COMPLETE map of the world - bringing in California, Hawaii, etc. on the one side - and New Zealand, etc. on the other... go to:
http://tinyurl.com/478zrn9
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