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Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

bradfrost.com

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Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#61

Post by foxfired »

Here is a perspective I read that I thought was interesting[1]:

"There are a billion active accounts on facebook and other than the 208 that are set to private, I can communicate with every single one of them. I don't know what other word I can use other then Power. This is great power, just like the power held by the presidency, with great power comes great responsibility, and loneliness.

The worst thing about Facebook is not the power it gives me. The worst thing about facebook is what I chose to do with the power it gives me.

I certainly couldn't handle it. You might as well say the worst thing about facebook is me.

On facebook, why would I give someone privacy when I have access to all this information. And I don't even need their permission. I can watch your private pictures because you made them available. It's not that I can find out where you work, where you live, where you eat, everything about you. It's that I actually do find out without ever hiring a private detective. It's not what I can do, it's what I do!"

[1]: https://idiallo.com/blog/facebook-and-me

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#63

Post by pjc50 »

rottyguy wrote: post #24

I'm seriously puzzled how reddit isn't eating facebook's lunch. the content is light years better (and is upstream for much of the facebook feeds I eventually see)

They're completely different things; Reddit is strangers, Facebook is people you know.

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#64

Post by utexaspunk »

eduren wrote: post #45
rottyguy wrote: post #24

I'm seriously puzzled how reddit isn't eating facebook's lunch. the content is light years better (and is upstream for much of the facebook feeds I eventually see)

I am an avid redditor with a mostly dead facebook account, so I agree that the content is better, but it's different networks entirely. Reddit has still held on to its psuedo-anonymous roots, and thus hasn't lived up to the "social" part of the social network. The people still consumuning content on facebook are doing so because that's where their friends are. You know the people that feel a need to tag their friends…

I think the bigger issue is why FB hasn't been able to create the kind of conversations that reddit does- the lack of real threading and the lack of a true downvote (preferably anonymous) keep conversations on FB abysmally superficial. You can't engage in a debate with someone if the back-and-forth gets impossible to follow after the second reply, especially with more than two participants. Likewise, FB and users have no idea whether people disagree with a post or are simply ignoring it; or on something like a critical article, whether a user agrees with an article and it's the article's subject which makes them angry or the user disagrees with the article and the post itself makes them angry. FB, with its status as the defacto social network could be a place where people have real constructive discussions, but instead its inability to foster real dialogue has a lot to do with the current stupidity of political discourse and the problems with reality bubbles and whatnot.

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#65

Post by roblabla »

I have a facebook account, but I haven't even logged in in the mast few years. Recently (like a week ago), I started receiving text messages on the number i had setup, after constant nagging by fb about security, looking like this :

Robin, get back on Facebook by clicking: https://fb.com/l/someIDhere

I am OUTRAGED by this. My phone text messages is one of the only communication medium that has no spam, and i basically use it for urgent stuff. I never agreed to fb using it for anything further than 2fa. If it wants to spam me, it may send emails.

This was basically the last straw for me. I'm going to send a message to all my friends telling them to send a mail if they want to contact me, delete everything on my profile and wall, and bid farewell. My account will stay up mostly to keep scammers/impostors at bay.

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#66

Post by NearAP »

Apart from the core message that the author was trying to push across, I immediately noticed that names/faces of family/friends were not masked. I personally wouldn't like it if someone put out my information this way. I think that is breaching someone else's privacy.

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#67

Post by scrumper »

taylodl wrote: post #2

The best thing I ever did was delete the Facebook app from my phone. I had already disabled all the notifications, but that didn't change things like deleting the app. Not being able to get to Facebook wherever you are. As silly as it sounds it was liberating. I still access Facebook from my laptop - but now that it's off of my phone, I'm accessing Facebook less and less frequently and I'm find I'm happier as a resul…

Yeah that works for a bit. I was "more happy" when I deleted it. Now, a year later, I'm just as sad because my wife is on it all the time, but I can't influence that. It's not like I can just delete her instance...

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#68

Post by Jedd »

I still don't quite get why people (especially alleged news sources) post pictures of a twitter box, rather than just say 'User NoodleHead on twitter is quoted as saying "I don't like this"'.

This feels like a not-so-gentle manipulation.

Some guy, who might be sitting next to you on the bus right now, said something on twitter, but that's now news because it's got their @IGN, their actual name (or maybe not), a weirdly formatted date string, the numbers '1' and '6' adjacent to icons at the bottom of the box, a 'Follow' button so you can forever be bombarded with more nuggets of wisdom from this person you don't know, all inside a box that doesn't even have rounded corners.

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#69

Post by ZenoArrow »

Gaelan wrote: post #46
gk1 wrote: post #10

They also ensure there's ALWAYS at least one notification when you sign in. Even if nothing of importance happened, they find _something_ to notify you about just so you can see the red notification count every time. I deactivated my account yesterday and look forward to a FB-free life.

Did you deactivate on purpose? Unless you still use Messenger or are considering changing your mind, you should delete your account instead. Deactivation just flips a bit; deletion actually removes your data.

Deactivation still stops people contacting you through Facebook. It works fine for me.

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#70

Post by toomanybeersies »

mafuyu wrote: post #43
mbillie1 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same. I initially only uninstalled messenger (which intolerably presented me with a popup asking me to enable notifications EVERY TIME I OPENED THE APP ), then got rid of the FB app. Now even on my laptop facebook.com is pointing at localhost in /etc/hosts, which makes me edit a root file to look at it. I'm much, much happier. If it works for you, cool, but if you're dissatisfied and considering abandoning it anyway,…

I installed the Lite version of Messenger, and it's way better. (Not available in the US App Store; there are verified APKs floating around the internet.) It's just a bare-bones chat app that launches when I want it, without all the nagging about chat bubbles, their Snapchat knockoff, and whatever else.

I picked up Messenger Lite when I was in Fiji. My phone isn't very good and struggled with normal Messenger.

With Messenger Lite, not only does it take a lot less space, it's a lot faster, and feels less bloaty. It's a lot like what Messenger was a few years ago, nice and simple.

I don't want to use Messenger to play games, or send giphys, or any of that other rich interaction stuff. The only thing I miss is the ability to send a pin of your location to someone, which is actually a really useful feature.

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