Facebook's New Chance

Over the past week, as I've returned to posting on Facebook, I've heard from many friends who had fallen silent over the years.

The past few years have been trying ones for the social network. Enabling Russian interference in the 2016 election represented a low point for Facebook.

But now that many, if not most, of us are hunkered down in place, a couple of factors have come into play:

* We yearn for ways to communicate with friends and family. The most important way to do so -- getting together in person -- is no longer a realistic option.

* We value anew the connections we do have from the past. This is a critical time for friendship.

* We need to exchange ideas for ways to cope.

* We need to be able to feel we are in this together.

Facebook facilitates all of this. I have had an account since the earliest days when Facebook migrated from Harvard to Stanford, where I was teaching at the time. I eventually shuttered my original account but not before opening this one.

This account had fallen into a state of disrepair and neglect until the virus crisis struck. Now I consider Facebook invaluable.

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