This is Hull and East Riding -- As Facebook celebrates its 10th birthday *Ian Midgley* finds plenty of things to like and unlike about its place in society How did we ever live in the days before we knew what that horrible bloke from school that we no-one really liked was having for his tea? And were our lives totally empty before we had a running commentary about the tedious exploits of the girl from the office and her interminable visits to the gym? And let's not forget all the smug parents with their endless anecdotes about how little Jimmy did something hilarious to the cat, the annoying social climbers and the news about their latest extension, the perpetually drunk second cousins and their night-long vomit-fests, the infuriating time-wasters who want us to join them in a game of Farmville, or the annoying reposters who can't help sharing how they "like" Asda's new range of chicken thighs. Of course, none of these irritants can remotely compare to the enigmatic status teases. You know the ones. Their status updates says things like "Oh, I'm so torn I don't know what to do..." or "I can't believe this has happened, why is it always me?" in a desperate bid to generate a spark of interest from anybody who'll bite. It's the only way the can think of to make themselves sound mysterious and interesting. In reality, the scope of their problems is they can't decide whether its beans on toast or spaghetti hoops for tea or whether to bask in their unpopularity alone at home while eating a full packet of Hobnobs or chocolate digestives. Yes ladies and gentlemen, Facebook is ten years old today and I'm starting to wonder how we ever lived without it. In recent weeks there's been a rumour floating around that Facebook is on its last legs and won't survive the decade. Youngsters, horrified that their parents are using Facebook, are reportedly fleeing the social networking site like red-faced teenagers legging it from a wedding full of dads dancing. After all, if you wanted to look cool in front of your mates down at the park it's unlikely you'd bring your mum along, carrying photo albums packed full of pictures of you sat on a potty, ready to chime in with excruciating pearls of wisdom after everything you say. "Oh, Jimmy used to wet his bed every night until he was ten! Lol," is hardly going to help any young wannabe Snoop Doggy Dog enhance his street cred. But despite the yoof's supposed exodus from Facebook, reports of its death are greatly exaggerated. A report in November last year stated that 89 per cent of all US 18 to 24-year-olds used Facebook, while the numbers of silver surfing Facebookers – people who actually have money to spend on the site's increasingly successful advertising platforms – are growing exponentially. Who needs spotty youths when you can target walking wallets with jobs and disposable income? According to the latest figures, the networking site Mark Zuckerberg started in his Harvard dormitory room for his mates now has 1.23 billion active users worldwide. Its revenues jumped 55 per cent to $7.87bn in 2013 while profits grew sevenfold, bringing the annual total to £1.5bn. That's almost as much as Jim Davidson's predicted to earn from winning Celebrity Big Brother. Of course, Facebook is still a guilty pleasure for those voyeurs amongst us. Who doesn't like to take a sneaky peak at what our extended circle of friends, acquaintances and people we half-recognise from down the pub are up to? Despite laughing at those who shamelessly live their lives and wash their dirty linen in public on Facebook's cyber washing line, quietly sitting in the background observing other people's private lives is undoubtedly a guilty pleasure. It is also a means of genuinely useful information sharing. When the national media seemed far more preoccupied with the death of Nelson Mandela than the floods lapping at the doors of many houses up and down the east coast of England last year, it was social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter that helped give a running commentary on the impending disaster. The Hull Daily Mail itself now had 16,500 followers on Facebook and uses the networking site as another outlet for its news gathering. As long as gossip exists and there are nosey parkers are there to revel in it, Facebook will survive. It's tenth birthday is just the start of what's going to be a long and insatiable relationship with tittle-tattle, voyeurism and schadenfreude. Because, let's face it, we like to know that the horrible bloke from school leads an empty life and is about to tuck into a microwave meal for one. That'll teach him for giving you a wedgie back in the third year. Like it or not, it's life-affirming to know you're doing better than those you secretly can't stand.*• Follow Ian Midgley on Twitter @IMidgley*
*• Find us at www.facebook.com/hulldailymail* Reported by This is 10 hours ago.