We use Facebook to reveal a vast amount of information about ourselves. We all have friends who incessantly post about their fluctuating moods, weights and successes as they go through their daily lives. No longer is social networking solely about instant messaging and sharing pictures of you on exotic travels or at obscure college parties.
Instead, with the integration of the new Facebook timeline function, you can now share when and where you moved homes, when you bought a new car – or even a new cat. The latest addition to Facebook information sharing, initiated on Tuesday, is an option where you can signal whether or not you are willing to donate organs.
According to an article published in The New York Times on Tuesday, nearly 7,000 people in the United States die due to a lack of organ donors available. The new scheme by the social networking giant is designed to use the new information to draw attention to organ donation; consequently, the intention is that if users see many of their friends on Facebook signing up as organ donors, they will be more inclined to formally register to donate. More radically, posting your consent on your Facebook profile may one day suffice as legally permissible to authorize an organ donation.
Furthermore, this phenomenon wont’ be unique to the United States alone. The United Kingdom’s Facebook users will soon be able to change their status in the same way.
The online declaration could also make the process of organ donation much faster. While these objectives are admirable, the overall concept is a bit bizarre. In addition, the sheer volume of Facebook users indicates there will be a divide of opinion on whether organ donation is a good idea or not.
As a consequence, as much as advertising your positive stance on donation can be informative, so can users’ negative posts dissuading others from donating. While the premise to raise awareness on organ donation is commendable, bringing the issue to social networks to be contested is a path that one must proceed down with caution.
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