Facebook is a useful tool to find old friends, co-workers, a great tool to do business, advertising, and to find family members which we might lose contact for a long time. For many people Facebook has been a tool to make new friends, to find love or just to find someone to talk. To others Facebook has been the main cause for their separation or divorce.
Facebook was founded by a computer programmer from Harvard University called Mark Zuckerberg in February 4, 2004. The main purpose of this social network was to connect people such as friends, family, co-workers and with people all around the world.

With Facebook we can share pictures, videos, and our experiences such as happiness, sadness, our achievements and our failures.

Facebook has been a good tool to networking, advertising and to promote events. There are people who have created support groups pages for different causes such as cancer, mental disorders, autism, domestic violence and protests groups such as Justice for Caylee Marie Anthony, just to mention some of them.
Facebook can be a good source for meeting people for those who are shy, it can be a very useful tool for those who are lonely and need someone to talk. It could be a tool to reunite families and friends that has lost contact. It could be a source for finding love safer thanthose called “blind dates”, but the big issue of Facebook is that it is the main reason for a lot of today’s divorces.

Much has been said about the involvement of Facebook as the main cause for separations or divorces. There are many reasons for a couple to separate or get a divorce but researchers have demonstrated that 1 of every 5 of divorces, Facebook has been mentioned as the main cause of the decision to get a divorce.
There is an article that states that there is not much evidence to support that social networking sites are causing marriages to split. They said that contrary of what is been tough, divorce rates in US have declined as internet usage has risen. That kind of reports makes me think that many couples are taking refuge in the internet and are not talking about the differences or problems occurring between them in their marriages. (Hernandez, 2011)
But in the other hand researchers stated that the number of divorces occurring because of Facebook and other social networking sites has increased dramatically since the site have become more popular. Every day these sites are being used by “unhappy” individuals to find an affair or cheat on their partners. (Santos, 2009)
Facebook is mentioned in 20 percent of all divorces, and 80 percent of users are using some kind of social media to communicate with lovers. (Hernandez,2011)
A lawyer from St. Petersburg FL, Carin Constantine stated that one of her ways to find evidence against the other partner is going to Google images and search for the names of divorced partners and the search result may show pictures, even from deactivated accounts, that can be used against them in a divorce case. (Adams, 2011
Facebook has been the ally of those who are being deceived. The managing director of divorce online, Mark Keenan said in a report that there is a lot of people who have found out “things” such as flirty messages or inappropriate chat conversations on their partners Facebook pages. This conversations has been the primary source of evidence against their partner in a divorce proceeding and custody battles. (Keenan, 2010)

Most americans lawers are demanding to see their clients facebook pages as a matter of course before the start of proceding.
A clinical psychologist and marriage counselor Dr. Steven Rimmons said that some people who are on facebook are emotionally “available” or “vulnerable”. (Rimmons, 2010)
There are several ways used by users to deceive their partner, often their partner are unaware that the partner has a Facebook account. Here are some of the ways used by the users to deceive their partners:

• Their accounts are private.
• Only authorized “friends” can view the content.
• They use an emailcompletely oblivious to their partner or they create a new email account.
• They create a “ghost page” (a page with a fictitious name, picture and information)
• The settings of their accounts are set to not receive notifications from Facebook to their emails.

Facebook can be a tool that benefits us if we use it properly. We are constantly exposed to commit some kind of infidelity either physically or emotionally. It is in our power to learn how to handle and avoid them. Facebook it wouldn’t be the new cause of divorce if we maintain a balance and learn not to get carried away by the impulses to do what is prohibited. Facebook should be taken it as a way of entertainment or as a way to communicate. We must be wise and stop before entering in a situation in which we may regret later. It is not worthy losing a “true”relationship for something that is an illusion that at the end it will end up hurting third people.










References:
Romm-Livermore, C., & Setzekorn, K. (2009). Social Networking Communities and E-dating Services : Concepts and Implications. IGI Global.


Santos, R. (2009, December 23). Facebook. Retrieved from https://thetechjournal.com/internet/facebook-is-the-new-cause-of-divorce.xhtml
Adams, R. (2011, March 8). The guardian. Retrieved from https://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/mar/08/facebook-us-divorces