The Facebook Face-off

The Facebook Face Off

Sean Parker, founder of Facebook, and political and policy think-tanker, Bill Galston aired their views on the merits and drawbacks of the Internet Age. The face-off took place at the 2008 Annual National Conference on Citizenship, held Monday, September 22 in Washington, DC with political advisor, Joe Trippi acting as moderator.

With approximately 24% of Americans using the internet daily, the impact this medium has on civil discourse and social behavior is a discussion that couldn’t be more relevant. The discussion was originally framed around the premise “Can Facebook Replace Face-to-Face?” in regard to civic and political involvement. Parker began the discussion by defining Facebook as a gathering place for friends, not faceless strangers. While admitting that Facebook’s origins were somewhat “frivilous” and definitely entertainment based, Parker took the occasion to mention Facebook Causes, the socially conscious arm of the social networking site. It quickly became apparent that Parker and Galston did share common ground. Both men recognized the ability of the internet and social websites to build communities among strangers and to cement relationships among friends, but common ground turned to shaky ground when Galston lamented the lack of “gatekeepers” in the media – new and old media alike. Galston raised the question of whether America would be better off if we didn’t know every detail of the lives of our political representatives, citing Franklin Roosevelt’s long-time association with Lucy Mercer as case in point.

Just as things were really starting to roll, the session ended so look for more from Bill Galston and Sean Parker on this intriguing issue.