Facebook Asks, "Where do you Live?"

While browsing CNN, I came across this article, which discusses the perils of Facebook asking the seemingly simple question, "Where do you live?" While for many of us the answer is easy — just name a city and everyone probably knows exactly where you're talking about — for others the answer is less obvious. For instance, while Facebook considers Tibet's capital, Lhasa, to be part of China, most who live there reject China's power over them. Jerusalem, which we all know is a hotly contested area between Palestine and Israel, is only listed as part of Israel on Facebook. Cases like these are not unheard of throughout a world where countries like Pakistan, Israel, India, China and others have gone to war over disputed regions.

Without reading this piece on CNN, this entire issue never would have crossed my mind. Living comfortably in the United States, it's easy to forget that there are places in world where something as simple as your hometown is up for debate. Now, Facebook is forced to addressed this issue to make its content acceptable to people from all parts of the world. that mainstream media wouldn't dare to touch, much less dive into wholeheartedly. It shows that the media — mainstream and independent outlets alike — must adjust its coverage to include all factions of its audience, even when dealing with something as conventionally simple as the question of where one calls home.