Egyptians defriend former President Mubarak

I know people say that Facebook diminishes actual face-to-face social relationships. It makes it easier for that creepy guy in your Chem class to flirt with you without ever having to say a word in person. It enables you to create a cyber image of yourself as a 23-year-old blonde from California when in actuality you're a 46-year-old man who's never left his basement in Nebraska. It keeps you glued to a computer screen for hours, looking up pages of lyrics to find the cutest one that will get the most "likes" as your status.

Nevertheless, I think most people would agree: Facebook is incredible.

I personally have been able to get back into contact with people I knew 10 years ago that I've since lost touch with. My mom has gotten back into contact with people she knew 30 years ago in elementary school, and has even organized a reunion.

It helps me keep in contact with people I know abroad who I probably wouldn't otherwise be able to talk to because of the expenses of texting and calling. I still talk to many exchange students I met last year solely because of our Facebook contact. I even settled on where I'm studying next year because of Facebook conversations with them.

It's astounding to think that not only is Facebook a mere seven years old, but the Internet didn't even exist a few decades ago. Now, according to Wikipedia, more than 600 million people worldwide have Facebook accounts as of January 2011, and that number has probably gone up since. What started out as a tiny website to help college students communicate has not only become a worldwide phenomenon, but has been a part in the downfall of an entire government.

People in the Middle East and North Africa are not just using the site to update their statuses. Starting with Egypt, these people have been and are using Facebook to mobilize their entire populations for massive protests against their government.

The Egyptian people's stand against their government that eventually led to its downfall shows that this site has done more than just help a few people keep in contact: It has enabled the unification of an entire nation. Almost 100,000 protestors were able to mobilize an overthrow of their government because of this social network. According to The Guardian, the Egyptian government called Facebook "evil."

My point is that before these protests happened, I think people -- Americans, at least -- thought of Facebook as just a really great social networking site. With Mubarak's downfall and the domino effect it created in surrounding countries, however, it has proven to be a lot more.

The situation in Egypt shows that no matter how tyrannical a government is, the power of a unified, organized people is always stronger. Facebook has become a major vehicle for this unification, acting as a forum for social and political organization and mobilization.

It has given people in the Middle East and North Africa a powerful voice. And although this voice was able to be silenced briefly when the government shut off the Internet, it translated to shouts of protest in real life that, at least in Egypt, were never able to be quieted.

It's funny to think how much Facebook's impact has deepened from just being a place where girls could post their pouty peace-sign mirror pictures, to a place where people organize widespread protests for real peace and justice in our world today.