Facebook boasts 40 million users around the world, and 5.2 million in the UK.

The idea is simple you create your page with details about yourself and a picture and you can keep in touch with friends, make new friends, let people know what you are up to and even create a virtual community.

Facebook has become a phenomenon, and some people face the temptation to check their page constantly, it’s addictive and some people update their "status" every five minutes. 'Joe Bloggs is lying on his bed, Joe Bloggs is now eating his Cornflakes, Joe Bloggs is now sitting in his office chair, Joe Bloggs has just sneezed, Joe Bloggs should be working but is instead updating his status on facebook.'

There is a great feeling to log on and find that 6 people have requested you to be a friend. But what a disappointment if someone refused to accept your invitation to be a friend or even worse if they "unfriended" you. And what about when you click on someone elses page to find out they have twice as many friend as you!

Facebook is a great tool and its quite fun but it does pose some questions: What is friendship? Can friendship ever be virtual? Is it just letting someone know what you are up to at this minute? Or is there more to it than that?

And what is community? Is it a social network of like minded people all from the same uni or school or football team or social scene. Or is there more to community than just that?

Christianity & Culture