Daily Times

Sir: Facebook is the most powerful social media and the most popular social networking site of all times. It provides an opportunity to all to learn more about the culture, values, customs, and traditions of different communities living in various parts of the world. It also helps to keep intact long distance relationships. It is an effective source of dissemination of information, provision of entertainment and obtaining knowledge. In our society, it is being misused by most of the people. But no mechanism has been formulated to curb its negative use.

It is a fact that Facebook has experienced a dramatic growth. According to media reports, it is growing rapidly with each passing day. It is being used by more than one billion users throughout the world. Pakistan, with nine million users, is the 27th most popular country on Facebook. Out of these nine million users, 70 percent are below the age of 25 years, while male users are 6.4 million and females are 2.7 million in number. Over two million users are college graduates. Around 44,000 new Pakistani users join Facebook every week.
The Facebook users are educated people and many of them can be opinion makers but they too indulge in negative activities and not only misuse this powerful platform but also waste their precious time. The experts of social media are of the view that the usage of fake Facebook accounts and profiles with obscene content, sexual material, lewd messages and vulgar photographs by males has become a routine. Even the fake Facebook accounts of many known personalities, government officials, politicians and judges have been created. These fake accounts are used for negative activities like blackmailing and spreading propaganda.
The misuse of this powerful social media has been spreading unrest among its users, especially females. These immoral and shameful activities do not suit civilised and sensible citizens. In this critical situation, civil society activists, educators and teachers have to play a crucial role in assisting young people in learning how to use this new technology creatively and productively.
SHAIKH ABDUL RASHEED
Shikarpur