I was reading an article in the guardian entitled “Why 2009 was Facebook Year” and lead to me consider the impact facebook is having on my relationships. Even by Facebook’s standards, the past 12 months have been remarkable. The site cemented its position as the world’s favourite social network, reached the verge of profitability and even exerted its influence over the race for the Christmas No.1.

With the astonishing landmark of 500 million users now in sight, internet insiders suggest that the pressure may bring more headaches to Facebook’s 25-year-old founder, Mark Zuckerberg, and his team.

“It’s definitely an interesting time,” said Justin Smith, whose Inside Facebook website has tracked the network’s ups and downs for nearly four years. “While 2009 was a year in which Facebook saw really incredible growth… we’ll see

how they manage that growth.”

There is little doubt that 2009 was the moment that the site truly exploded. In January, Zuckerberg announced the “milestone” of 150 million users worldwide. Less than a year later, the social network has more than doubled and now boasts that more than 350 million people log on each month.

Facebook has changed the way we do relationships and think about relationships. Maybe Facebook will be taken over by something new in the future just as MSN and AOL are out fashion maybe a similar thing will happen. Can we however deny that it has affected us and shaped us. It Marshall McLuhan who said to us the Medium is the Message

and he was right. The medium (facebook) has effected the message (relationship) in away that has never been seen. We all have little entourages that follow us around and “like” when we do certain stuff. We are all stars of our own world.

Facebook has affected my life. What about yours?