4 a place for students to publish their work According to Harmer 2007:192, internet provides many websites for the
learners to practice language. Some of the websites are free for people, but some of them are based around a school or an organization that entail the user to register
them. YouTube, Twitter and Facebook are some examples of free websites in the internet.
Facebook is one of the most accessed social networks in Indonesia Budiardi Anggraini:2012. To improve writing learning process, Facebook is the most
effective media. It happens because it’s not like Twitter that can be used to write letter no more than 140 characters and also not like YouTube that is only able to
share videos. In Facebook, the u sers are able to share photos, comment on friends’
walls, send messages, chat, create and join groups within this online community Yunus Salehi:2012.
4. Using Facebook in the Teaching Writing
Social media are not a taboo in this globalization era and they have being a part of our daily lives. Everyday people access social media sites to fulfill their needs
like business matters, build interpersonal relation, share information, and learn. There are many social media sites that exist between us,
one of them is Facebook. According to Westminster 2013:2, Facebook is a social utility that connects
us with the people, brands and organizations. Irwin et al. 2012 mention that Facebook is a website that allows the users to interact and collaborate within a pre-
defined virtual community. Boyd Ellison 2007 in Irwin et al. 2012 also state that Facebook is an online communication tool allowing the users to construct a
public or private profile in order to connect and interact with people who are part of their extended social network.
Facebook was firstly founded by Mark Zuckenberg in 2004 with his college roommates. It was firstly used as a media to make a network between his college’s
students but some years after the launching, he initiated to make the network broader to many other universities and finally it was opened for public. All of people may use
it freely anywhere and anytime. Facebook is a popular social network in the world. On January 2012, the
users of Facebook are about 41.8 Million in Indonesia and they consist of all levels of age from elementary, junior high school, senior high school, college, until adult.
Figure 1: Top 15 Facebook Country in Budiardi Anggraini:2012
Table above figure 1 shows the statistical data on January 2012 about top four the biggest Facebook users in the world. Based on that data, Indonesia has very
big numbers of Facebook users and it is indicated from the rank that is in the second position with forty one point eight millions 41.8 millions under United States of
America with one hundred fifty seven point four millions. Facebook becomes a tren
dsetter in the teenager’s life in Indonesia, it can be seen from the table above that shows people between the years of 13-24 are the
biggest Facebook users in Indonesia. The teenagers have assumption that they will be considered as modern people if he or she has a Facebook account Budiardi
Anggraini:2012. So, it can be concluded that most of the students have a Facebook account, but we do not know what they use the Facebook for.
Based on the survey by Socialbakers 2012, people may stay on their computer or gadget at least four hours per day, and most of them use it as “informal
competition” to be the most up to date person by having a good, attractive, and colorful profile on their Facebook account and also being active on it Budiardi
Anggraini:2012. Indirectly, Facebook can cause teenagers motivated to go online and waste many times. Consequently, it may disturb their main activities because
they are too concerned on their Facebook. Majid 2011 states that Facebook is a good medium for learning English.
The survey at Universiti Sains Malaya towards 300 undergraduate students found that students consider Facebook as a good tool for learning English
Kabilan et al. :2010 in Yunus and Salehi:2012
. As a good medium for learning English,
