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Reasons not to use (i.e., be used by) Facebook

stallman.org

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Re: Reasons not to use (i.e., be used by) Facebook

#371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>that makes me think that they think I'm an idiot and that they think they can actually manipulate me with such silliness. So "Brexit" was made up just to manipulate British people? That's how language evolves, isn't it? New words get coined, some of them stick and stay, some go away. "Dumbocrat" won't stay for long because it carries nothing but insult.

Brexit is not a pejorative corruption of a pre-existing name or term. Incidentally, it's a basically neutral coinage used by both Leave and Remain camps.

I'd argue Brexit was a neutral coinage, same with Bremain. Those terms dominate the press because of its simplicity but have a weighting effect on its readers and are naturally directing discussion into one side of the debate.

Re: Reasons not to use (i.e., be used by) Facebook

#372

Stallman is my hero. All social media is terrible, and all of it is impossible to profit from, and I bet all of it will eventually fail. Facebook doesn't make any money from social media, they make money from side businesses that are tacked onto their social media platform. Anyone who is interested in social blogging should have their own website (wordpress.com is free) with RSS support so people who like what you wr…

> Facebook doesn't make any money from social media, they make money from side businesses that are tacked onto their social media platform. Newspapers never made money, they just made money from side businesses that were tacked onto their social media platform. TV shows don't make money, they just make money from side businesses that are tacked onto their shows. Just because you don't like a business model doesn't me…

Social Media faces some special challenges, Twitter is a great example. In the past year they've made various changes to their platform, in an effort to drive up their revenue. All of the changes they made were loathed by users, which reduces their membership and hurts their revenue.

This is my opinion, I might be wrong, but I think social media is not a viable business. I do not believe anyone has shown a way to monetize it yet. Facebook hasn't monetized social media, they've monetized Facebook, one fraction of which is a social media product, which makes no money.

Social media only exists, I believe, because the technical hurdles of setting up a personal blog were too great at one point. But it is becoming easier and cheaper. I think in the long term people will abandon corporate controlled products like Facebook and Twitter in favor of user controlled products like Wordpress. The 'following' system is the only feature which keeps corporate social media afloat, and RSS or something like it will always be around as a viable alternative.

Re: Reasons not to use (i.e., be used by) Facebook

#373

Stallman is my hero. All social media is terrible, and all of it is impossible to profit from, and I bet all of it will eventually fail. Facebook doesn't make any money from social media, they make money from side businesses that are tacked onto their social media platform. Anyone who is interested in social blogging should have their own website (wordpress.com is free) with RSS support so people who like what you wr…

> Anyone who is interested in social blogging should have their own website (wordpress.com is free) The free wordpress.com blogs may show ads to users (who're not logged in) so that Automattic can make money. It's very likely that there's profiling and tracking going on there too.

Fair enough, but the wordpress software itself can be installed on a private server. Hosting solutions are cheap as heck these days.

Re: Reasons not to use (i.e., be used by) Facebook

#374

Stallman is my hero. All social media is terrible, and all of it is impossible to profit from, and I bet all of it will eventually fail. Facebook doesn't make any money from social media, they make money from side businesses that are tacked onto their social media platform. Anyone who is interested in social blogging should have their own website (wordpress.com is free) with RSS support so people who like what you wr…

How can wordpress keep it's doors open if all Facebook users started free blogs? Last time I checked it wasn't nearly as easy to create wordpress site or a blog post as it is to create facebook update. Same rings true with RSS, it's not nearly as easy as using facebook feed(s). As for Zuckerbergs password, if you don't care about the account then password doesn't matter.

It's extremely simple to set up a wordpress website. What is not simple is completely customizing a wordpress website. But you can't really do that with facebook _at all_. And the level of customization Facebook does offer is replicated in free Wordpress plugins. So they are comparable.

I suspect Wordpress appears more complicated because it has more buttons.

Re: Reasons not to use (i.e., be used by) Facebook

#375
post #192

As someone who has never used Facebook, I often feel like I am talking to members of some sinister cult when I meet someone who asks me about Facebook and I say I don't use it. The surprise and weird eyes they give me really unnerves me, it's not just a website to some people, it has become a integral part of their life and has seeped into their mind. It has gotten to the point that I am deliberately rude about it, f…

Look, people are surprised because Facebook has become an integral way to communicate with someone whether it be via chat with messenger or as a broadcast message via a newsfeed post. Internalize this: Facebook has become as integral to communication as having a cell phone was in the last decade. If you met someone who didn't have a cell phone today (whether it be a smartphone or otherwise), wouldn't you be surprised…

hey askafriend, is there a way to reach you in any way? I would love to talk to you more regarding your comment on linkedin last time. You can reach out to me by email that's listed in my profile.

Re: Reasons not to use (i.e., be used by) Facebook

#376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never meet your heroes. I was a big fan of his work before taking a class with him. He's the rockstar of the cogsci department at Berkeley but he's known as a massive ego and a poor professor.

He's the rockstar of the cogsci department at Berkeley but he's known as a massive ego and a poor professor. I don't want to be harsh here, but it might be worth for you to consider that you were also a poor student.

Sure, it's a fair consideration. But before asking that question you should have just quickly googled some other student opinions.

http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=246554

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