Based on a survey of 2,500 people conducted by Busted Coverage, Coed magazine and College Candy, 79 percent of people cannot go an entire day without logging into Facebook on a computer or mobile device. In addition, nearly 50 percent of the respondents were very concerned by their growing dependence on the social network for news and updates on the lives of friends. Over 40 percent of the group even checks Facebook before brushing their teeth after waking up in the morning. Reinforcing the addictive nature of the service, 20 percent of the people that deleted their Facebook profile due to frustration with the service ended up creating a new Facebook profile.
However, 70 percent of the respondents claimed that they would delete their Facebook profile permanently if the social network ever starts charging for the service. Ninety-two percent admitted that Facebook status updates are not helpful. The most annoying updates chosen by the group included emo song lyrics, status updates and fan page updates. Political status updates were also found quite annoying followed by baby photos posted by friends and Facebook check-in location updates.
Over 50 percent of the respondents claim to have been angered by Facebook ‘s privacy settings when attempting to check out information on the new significant other of an ex-girlfriend or ex-boyfriend. However, 65 percent would be embarrassed if other people could see which friends they check out the most frequently. Six percent of the group claimed to have dumped a significant other through a private message or public wall post on Facebook. Over 45 percent of the people in the survey admitted to having photos in their albums that have been tagged while they were intoxicated. Finally, over 66 percent of the group says they do not judge other Facebook users based on the amount of Facebook friends on the user’s profile.
