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Facebook is an attack on the open web

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Re: Facebook is an attack on the open web

#221

Post by gnicholas »

iamatworknow wrote: post #189
gnicholas wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do the same thing (but more than once a day; sigh), but I still see creepy tracking ads. Recently I saw ads on FB for an item that my wife had been shopping for on a different computer. I'd be curious to know how they're making this connection — based on IP address, or using something like Drawbridge? https://www.drawbridge.com/

Oh I'm sure they've got plenty of info on me and have their ways of collecting more. I used Facebook pretty regularly from 2005 to 2013 or so, so they know stuff about me I've long since forgotten (as evidenced by looking at some of my old posts from college...yeesh, don't ever do that unless you want to be embarrassed about what the you of 10 years ago was like).

Yeah I'm just curious how they're tracking my family in real-time across devices. And geez, what a way to ruin birthday/xmas/etc presents. I expect to see a preview of my father's day gift in the sidebar any day now....

Re: Facebook is an attack on the open web

#222

Post by alkonaut »

People should just use Facebook for what it's good at, for example event planning. In a social context Facebook is often the only social platform "everyone" is on - that's a killer feature. No matter how good a competing specialized app is - if you e.g invite people by email it's not even close to the power of Facebook.

People (and corporations) should STOP using all the other features and the web will be a much better place. Don't put articles on Facebook like a blog. It's not a blog. Don't make Facebook your only site for your restaurant. A static html page with your address and opening hours is better. And whatever you do, don't ever click a facebook ad or "like" a company on Facebook.

Re: Facebook is an attack on the open web

#223

Post by unabst »

They've been openly attacking the open web since day one. I think the problem now is that they've been too successful.

Zuckerberg was on to something. He saw the web connecting pages, but not people. So he created a web connecting people and now it has grown to what it is. With both MySpace and Google+ practically buried, Facebook has no competition.

We desperately need an alternative, and not just one for the sake of not being facebook, but something that works. The open web needs a way to connect people.

Re: Facebook is an attack on the open web

#224

Post by cmod »

tobyjsullivan wrote: post #5

Not everything on the internet needs to be public (or part of the "open web" as the article calls it). Facebook is a fantastic place for web content that isn't meant to be public. This idea of posting "public content" on Facebook is inherently flawed. I agree with the article on that much. However, what I haven't figured out yet is if this is actually an evil-Facebook issue or just a user issue. Is Facebook actively…

I believe the main issue is that people use facebook as if it were the open web. People aren't posting because they want to keep their content in a silo, but rather because they don't know of / have an alternative publishing vector.

Nobody is saying don't have private silos, but I believe Gruber and co are saying don't pretend like a private silo is public, when it isn't.

Re: Facebook is an attack on the open web

#225

Post by aesthetics1 »

unabst wrote: post #223

They've been openly attacking the open web since day one. I think the problem now is that they've been too successful. Zuckerberg was on to something. He saw the web connecting pages, but not people. So he created a web connecting people and now it has grown to what it is. With both MySpace and Google+ practically buried, Facebook has no competition. We desperately need an alternative, and not just one for the sake o…

What does an alternative look like that does not eventually lead to another Facebook? I've seen decentralized platforms, platforms that do not sell your data or target you with ads - how are they sustainable?

Re: Facebook is an attack on the open web

#227

Post by sirfz »

tobyjsullivan wrote: post #31
Tossrock wrote: post #19

I deactivated my Facebook account several months ago, and it's been about 90% great, 10% frustrating. It's great for all the obvious reasons (less timesuck, less compulsion to endlessly scroll your life away, no notification interruptions). The frustrations are real, though. Primarily it's around events and photos. There are some communities I participate in that regularly organize events through Facebook, and now I…

I've enjoyed roughly the same experience but without the downsides. As far as events go, the neckbeard in me hasn't actually minded. I still get invited to "high quality" events (things my real-life friends are going to) and haven't really missed the lower quality events. Photos I just conveniently had solved by having all my photos on Google Photos anyways (I stopped trusting offline storage long ago). I think my Fa…

I never installed Messenger mainly because I was satisfied with using Facebook app's messaging feature. When it was disabled in the app, I moved to using Facebook in the browser (uninstalled the app). They later removed messaging support in the browser as well so now I request "Desktop mode" when I want to read/write a message. What started as "I don't want to install another app I don't need" became "I will uninstall all apps by Facebook" and now I'm happy I never receive FB-related notifications, I only browse it when I feel like it :)

Re: Facebook is an attack on the open web

#229

Post by wuliwong »

5ilv3r wrote: post #60
ArchReaper wrote: post #32

I'm no Facebook fanboy but this article feels like a "why does my square peg not fit into their round hole" type of complaint. Facebook is a social network, not a public blogging platform. Here is my interpretation of the complaints. Please point out what I am missing. >It's impractical... Square peg round hole. >It's supporting their downgrading and killing the web... Facebook posts being inherently (mostly) simple…

Yes, you are. The argument is that facebook has become something that causes the rest of the web to be worse off. Less open, more bloated, more central.

I think the main argument of the article is a little murky. The notion that you shouldn't write an article to be shared around the web on Facebook is simple enough and pretty obvious to a technically savvy audience. But the argument is baked inside of this very emotional claim that because of this Facebook is "killing" the open internet. While that may or may not be true, the fact that I shouldn't write blog posts inside of Facebook doesn't map directly to "Facebook is killing the web!"

Re: Facebook is an attack on the open web

#230

Post by pmlnr »

b0rsuk wrote: post #182

There's a string of submissions critical of Facebook on HN recently. I agree and approve. But one thing interests me: doesn't Facebook have something like that, but in reverse ? I mean updates along the lines "We need more Facebook", "Open internet is for nerds", "Why more websites need to migrate to Facebook"... ? Unless you have a Facebook account, you don't know what's going on on the other side of the barricade.…

> Hypothesis: we, outside Facebook, live in our own filter bubble. We don't get the whole picture.

I have a Facebook account, because I have non-nerd people I need to contact somehow and it seems like email is forgotten.

Facebook offers one things: an extermely simple way to waste you time. Do not underestimate this! It's better, than TV, because you can even join cults claiming the world is lead by evil lizarmen - people actually do this, for "fun", because they are bored.

That is all you'll find on the other side: bored people wasting time.

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