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The real anti-Facebook is good old email

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Re: The real anti-Facebook is good old email

#51

Post by aws_ls »

I don't think email is a good replacement for Facebook. Rather what we need is open (email protocol like) social networks.

The problem with Facebook is that its a monopoly, and closed. What if it were open, such that I can send a friend request from G+ to Facebook. Just like I can easily send an email from yahoo email id to gmail.

This openness, if incorporated, can solve the monopoly problem as well. Plus we don't have to complain of Facebook's AI/ML screwing/controlling our inbox feeds.

All my (various social network) friends' statuses come to my hosted social network (G+/Facebook, or my home built) and my host controls the feed, with its own proprietary rules.

Everybody will be happy. Even Facebook, as there is no more bashing of it. I guess Facebook can and should take the lead towards openness. It will be a brave move, if it happens. But they will earn a lot of respect.

Re: The real anti-Facebook is good old email

#52

Post by codingdave »

Periodic updates to friend and family about what is new in your life has a long tradition behind it. Before email, even, it came in the form of Christmas Letters, including with the Christmas cards. And they absolutely serve a purpose for one-way communication out to people. TinyLetter sounds like it would meet that need nicely.

Of course, it cannot be too frequent. Family members and friends who send out mass updates too often end up being ignored, just like frequent Facebook updates. And that is because it is one-way communication. It is missing the core piece of asking how the recipients of the email have been, and engaging in a one-on-one conversation, even if just a brief one via email. (Posting a note at the end saying, "Please reply to tell me how you are doing." does not count.)

For my own communications, I am not on social media. I call family every week or so. Sunday afternoons are a web of phone calls between us all. For old friends, I send emails periodically, one or twice a year at least. And news gets less frequent as you age. You aren't moving, you have the same job, the kids are 6 months older, but no real news. So sometimes those emails only purpose are to ask the other person how they are doing.

So TinyLetter sounds fine for what it is. But I don't see it as a replacement for anything.

Re: The real anti-Facebook is good old email

#53

Post by cortesoft »

aws_ls wrote: post #51

I don't think email is a good replacement for Facebook. Rather what we need is open (email protocol like) social networks. The problem with Facebook is that its a monopoly, and closed. What if it were open, such that I can send a friend request from G+ to Facebook. Just like I can easily send an email from yahoo email id to gmail. This openness, if incorporated, can solve the monopoly problem as well. Plus we don't h…

That is what diaspora tried to do. It has not gone well.

Re: The real anti-Facebook is good old email

#54

Post by a8da6b0c91d »

ettolurb wrote: post #4

My real Facebook is the bar. US Social Networking since White Horse Tavern – Rhode Island – Founded 1673

One expert discovered this new neat social hack: hanging out in person.

Kidding aside, I prophesize that the next really big, impactful American political movement will not have a web page or twitter/facebook account or forums. The internet as a useful tool for outsiders is over.

Re: The real anti-Facebook is good old email

#55

Post by fauigerzigerk »

tedunangst wrote: post #38
fauigerzigerk wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't know that Facebook can send status updates via email to people who are not on Facebook.

I didn't know email could send updates to people whose address I don't know. Derp derp derp.

I'm not sure what you're getting at. No one ever said that email could do what you say. I certainly didn't. But the parent said "Facebook is flexible enough to provide this" in a response to an article about mailing lists.

And it's true, Facebook could easily provide this. I just have no way of checking whether they do because I'm not on Facebook. It would be a great feature and extremely easy for them to implement. It would also allow them to make money on ads, so why not?

Re: The real anti-Facebook is good old email

#56

Post by Tomte »

morgante wrote: post #49
Animats wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's got to be a "sponsored story". At the bottom of the page, there are links to more "Sponsored Stories - Powered by Outbrain". What is happening, and happened years ago, is that many people stopped using Facebook messaging and went back to email. It's easier to get messages via email on smartphones than to run Facebook's app.

Maybe in your social circles that's true, but everyone I know has started to rely on Messenger for almost all their non-professional communication. It's simultaneously killing both email and SMS.

Here it's WhatsApp. Just about everyone is using it. Many people are using FB Messenger or Threema or whatnot, but WhatsApp is reigning supreme.

Re: The real anti-Facebook is good old email

#57

Post by detaro »

estonian wrote: post #34
jsaxton86 wrote: post #12

I moved out of state a couple of years ago, and when I stopped using Facebook, I realized: 1: Facebook never was a good way of keeping in touch with friends and family back home for a number of reasons 2: I needed to be doing a better job of keeping in touch with friends and family back home My solution was to set up a newsletter. The idea is every 3-4 months I send out a mass email to friends and family describing w…

But getting someone's Facebook is less socially awkward than their email address. You can also remember them easier and communicate with them faster. Most of the people I met this summer didn't have an American phone number so Facebook (or Whatsapp) was the only way to communicate with them.

> But getting someone's Facebook is less socially awkward than their email address.

Really depends on the setting. Quite a few people I know would be more comfortable sharing a mail address than their Facebook info, even if we ignore the percentage that doesn't even have Facebook.

(For quick messaging contacts the fragmentation of messengers is really annoying. I don't want 4-6 different messengers on my phone just to be prepared to communicate with everybody. It's really time for a push back to federation or at least proper multi-protocol clients)

Re: The real anti-Facebook is good old email

#58

Post by aws_ls »

cortesoft wrote: post #53
aws_ls wrote: post #51

I don't think email is a good replacement for Facebook. Rather what we need is open (email protocol like) social networks. The problem with Facebook is that its a monopoly, and closed. What if it were open, such that I can send a friend request from G+ to Facebook. Just like I can easily send an email from yahoo email id to gmail. This openness, if incorporated, can solve the monopoly problem as well. Plus we don't h…

That is what diaspora tried to do. It has not gone well.

That's why I think, it takes Facebook (the current monopoly) to do the right thing. If they open the other required things will automatically happen. G+ will become an attractive option once again, for people who like that interface. And HN types will implement their own 'social' protocol, and self host.

Re: The real anti-Facebook is good old email

#59

Post by adevine »

libso wrote: post #28

Facebook is flexible enough to provide this. You can post updates visible only to a group of people. Problem with Facebook is how people use it. Users tend to have > 500 friends on an average including ones to whom you have never spoken or never want to speak. This would make your timeline pretty irrelevant and uninteresting to you. Why would I care if a colleague in your first job (10 yr ago) went on a trip with his…

While I agree "the problem with Facebook is how people use it", that's kind of the point. People are so used to posting tons of minutia on it (and Facebook's ad model is incentivized to keep you aimlessly scrolling down the news feed for as long as possible), that it makes it difficult to just focus on important updates from people you care about. I find it so difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff in facebook, which is a problem I do not have in email (especially with GMail's tabbed interface that auto categorizes my mail).

Re: The real anti-Facebook is good old email

#60

Post by wfn »

cortesoft wrote: post #53
aws_ls wrote: post #51

I don't think email is a good replacement for Facebook. Rather what we need is open (email protocol like) social networks. The problem with Facebook is that its a monopoly, and closed. What if it were open, such that I can send a friend request from G+ to Facebook. Just like I can easily send an email from yahoo email id to gmail. This openness, if incorporated, can solve the monopoly problem as well. Plus we don't h…

That is what diaspora tried to do. It has not gone well.

Hmm do you have any references to stories/explanations what did not go well - anything beyond critical mass (lack thereof) / network effects issues?
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