Before venturing into the world of PR when I was in my first year at University, a friend who lived in my halls exhorted me to join Facebook.  “Please sign up,” he said “I need more friends!”  I did so – and my relationship with the social networking site began.

In 2006, when opening my account, the site was only accessible to students from certain Universities.  Many of my school friends were excluded because their institutions weren’t on the fateful ‘list’. The creators of Facebook realised they were missing a trick and over the next couple of years the website became all inclusive. It now boasts 300 million people worldwide.

At the risk of sounding like some sort of reclusive computer-reliant super geek, I really don’t know how I would conduct my personal life without Facebook.  Now all my friends (and their friends) are members, it provides an excellent tool for all things social. I can count on one hand those who don’t use it in my peer group – a couple of whom found it was prohibitive to studying. For me Facebook is undoubtedly the mother of all procrastination tools. If you have work to do, you will invariably find yourself launching into a lengthy discussion on group page about how great slankets are (FYI they are great, I don’t agree with Grazia for once), or some other equally pointless topic.

With regards to social planning, take the housewarming party we had in December.  I created an event on Facebook, invited my friends, my housemates invited theirs and I sent a message reminder out a few days before the party. The result was a great mix of approximately 60 people and the most excellent night of fun I have had for a long time. No fuss, no costly texts or calls and no confusion about where or when to attend.  All the information was easily accessible in the pages of Facebook.

For regular users, it is so useful when planning your social life, sharing photos and generally keeping in touch with your ever evolving circle of friends. A recent surprise to many (including me), was its power in airing views on a recent AQA A Level biology paper that many candidates thought was unfair. We know that Twitter can get the national media going, but Facebook, the preserve of the young and time rich? Hmm, I was not convinced.

I am the first to admit when I am wrong. On the day of the exam, a group was set up protesting that the questions weren’t relevant to the A Level biology syllabus and, crucially, what students had been taught in the classroom. To date the group has over 13,000 members and the story has been picked up by the national media. Coverage has prompted an Ofcal qualifications watchdog to call for a report on the concerns and AQA has promised that the marking and grading process will take into account the anxieties of unhappy candidates.

So, Facebook helped some disgruntled teenagers to publicly air their displeasure at the general unfairness of life, the universe and everything. Five years ago, such protests would have fallen on deaf ears because there was no forum for a collective complaint.

Now all this got me thinking. We are fast approaching a time when a generation of adults will exist who don’t know what the world was like before the internet was widely used. I feel privileged; being the age I am I vaguely remember the way things were before we relied on the web for conducting every minute aspect of our lives. I recognise the huge difference it has made, and can imagine where we would be without it (probably on holiday somewhere rubbish with a camera prone to faults – thanks).

I have said it before and will happily say it again; it is time for us all to jump on the digital and social media bandwagon, because soon enough there will come a point when our clients can’t remember a time when such tools didn’t exist. If we don’t get in on the act we risk being left behind, scratching our heads and wondering when it was that we missed the boat.