Black-boxing Facebook

According to my notes from Communications 253, technology falls into two “predominant cultural orientations” in regards to understanding what technology is and how it affects us. The first theory is that of instrumentalism, where technology consists of value neutral tools and we can control which path it takes both good and bad. The second theory is that of determinism where technology is an independent force that shapes our destiny. If you were to step back and look at Facebook, which category would you say that it would fit in?
Well, both my notes and my common sense tell me that it probably fits into both. Facebook started out as a website designed to help students get to know each other in Harvard University. If we are looking at it from an instrumentalism point of view, it is evident that people have seized the opportunity that was presented to them with the creation of Facebook to expand their social networks to include not only those in their immediate environment, but also people across the globe.
On the other hand, if we are looking at Facebook from a deterministic point of view, perhaps what we do really is determined by technologies. Facebook has become such an integral part of socializing that it seems difficult to function without it. Without Facebook, many people would not be up to date with events, would have difficulty connecting with new people they meet, be unable to collaborate as effectively on group projects… But does this mean that we are merely recipients to Facebook technology and are merely adjusting our behaviour to follow trends?
I think that we as a society chose to capitalize on opportunities presented to us by new technologies, and by those conscious choices, create technologies that determine the nature of society (which now just happens to include several hours per day spent on Facebook).