Is "facebook" as a verb different from "google" or "photoshop"?
I understand that any term, grammatical or not, becomes valid if there is common usage. I'm not concerned about that.
Google and Photoshop are both commonly used as verbs. Given that the terms map fairly well to verbs (web searching and image editing), I can follow the logic of their use.
Does this work for Facebook, though? What verb is it replacing?
Solution 1:
Merriam-Webster has a whole list of suggestions:
- to book engagements via facebook
- to put something up on facebook
- to look up someone's personal information using Facebook
- to look someone up on a social website, to find one's information on a social website
- To upload a photograph to Facebook so that it may be viewed by others.
- To create an event entry on facebook
- To get on a facebook website.
- 1.to search for another person through the online directory know as facebook 2. to send a message through the online directory know as facebook
- To add someone to your list of friends on the "facebook.com" website.
- ...
Judging by the list, you can't predict which verb "to facebook" might or might not end up replacing. Right now, it's just a shorthand for many different things to different people.
Solution 2:
common verb => official translation
google => “search the internet (using the Google brand search engine)”
photoshop => “edit digital images (using the Adobe Photoshop brand image editing software)”
facebook => “communicate (using the Facebook brand social networking website)”
EDIT: to note that the parenthesized items can in some cases be replaced with something more generic, i.e. “using any search engine”, “using any image editing software”, “using any social networking website”. This is the usage that the owners of the trademarks fear (and object to) because substantial usage of that type constitutes a generic use of their trademarks, which could be grounds for being forced to forfeit the trademark.