Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

bradfrost.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

361–370 of 401 posts

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#361

Post by wutbrodo »

I generally find that people are too quick to point to features as "manipulation" when they actually have benefit to the user as well: I saw this feature for the first time this morning, and my immediate reaction was mild disgust. I can't think of a single way this is remotely beneficial to me, which makes it just pure manipulation to increase engagement.

Facebook truly is the poster child for sleazy tech company: I can't think of any point during their existence where they stood for anything but cold, exploit-the-user amorality, as opposed to (e.g.) Google's traditional "only earn profit by creating value" and Apple's "bring your vision to the world because it needs it"[1].

[1] I don't even like Apple as a company, but I do believe that company culture is rooted in prosocial motivations at some level, which is something I have never thought about Facebook.

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#362

Post by [deleted] »

code_duck wrote: post #354
hasbroslasher wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Up until last year, I chalked up the "I deleted my Facebook" phenomenon to hipsterdom or some pathology where people think the can "cure" "addiction" by quitting whatever unhealthy behavior pattern they exhibit for a week or month and then coming back. Last month I deactivated my Facebook and have yet to turn it back on. In the months prior I started finding alternative sources of news: NYT, Pitchfork, HN, various su…

Facebook encourages a lower level of discourse than other message systems, somehow. I participate in a couple of groups which have come to replace older forums running PHPbb or VBulletin type software. While the old style forums offer too many features and almost excessive permanence for discussions, Facebook offers too little in that regard. Conversations are not meant to be searchable, archived, permanent, or long…

[deleted]

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#363

Post by imron »

snerbles wrote: post #350
antihero wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you deactivate your Facebook, can you still use it to log into stuff (e.g. Tinder and Messenger)? I've a few friends and groups that are on that.

No. For third-party app logins I use a friendless FB account under a pseudonym.

FB still knows it's you.

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#364

Post by bootsz »

acidburnNSA wrote: post #204
dreamcompiler wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No option is compelling until everybody you know is on it. And there is no such option besides FB.

If there was an easy way to automatically process email address changes in your address book and have links to people photoblogs (like RSS) it seems like all the key features would be there. A decentralized email based event manager would be nice. Does Lightning do that, I wonder?

Not email-based, but I'm keeping my eye on ActivityPub from W3C: https://activitypub.rocks . Seems to be a step in the right direction

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#365

Post by ljf »

code_duck wrote: post #354
hasbroslasher wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Up until last year, I chalked up the "I deleted my Facebook" phenomenon to hipsterdom or some pathology where people think the can "cure" "addiction" by quitting whatever unhealthy behavior pattern they exhibit for a week or month and then coming back. Last month I deactivated my Facebook and have yet to turn it back on. In the months prior I started finding alternative sources of news: NYT, Pitchfork, HN, various su…

Facebook encourages a lower level of discourse than other message systems, somehow. I participate in a couple of groups which have come to replace older forums running PHPbb or VBulletin type software. While the old style forums offer too many features and almost excessive permanence for discussions, Facebook offers too little in that regard. Conversations are not meant to be searchable, archived, permanent, or long…

This - I think this also extends to the conversations people have 'on' facebook - even with friends. You end up liking or saying 'cool' to a post, but you don't really have any real interaction. Since I've left facebook (nearly 9 months sober) I've probably talked with fewer friends, but those friends I have spoken to, I've spoken to on a far deeper level. and many of them I now actually _speak_ to more often.

Uninstalling messenger was hard at first, as some people I don't have a number for or they aren't on Whatsapp, but you either find other ways to keep in touch, or you realise that you were actually just on the periphery of each others lives, and liking that they got a new car or similar didn't actually have a positive impact on each others lives. And when you do meet again, you'll have a bunch to talk about.

I've debated making a 'fake' account for facebook groups (esp local sales groups, which seem far better served on fb in my area) but so far I've come the the conclusion that I don't really need to buy more crap from strangers - I have enough of my own already.

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#366

Post by herbst »

vocatus_gate wrote: post #335
cchurch wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same. This sounds drastic to people who are in the habit of Facebooking, but I still have friends and a social life and the hours of mindlessly scrolling through low-info-density posts, likes, links, and whatnot is all gone.

Honest question, what do you do for event planning? Literally the only reason I still have FB is because my friend group uses it heavily for coordinating hikes, camping trips, etc. I'd love to delete it if it weren't for that.

Like we did before. With communication and chats/sms

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#368

Post by hasbroslasher »

antihero wrote: post #347
hasbroslasher wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Up until last year, I chalked up the "I deleted my Facebook" phenomenon to hipsterdom or some pathology where people think the can "cure" "addiction" by quitting whatever unhealthy behavior pattern they exhibit for a week or month and then coming back. Last month I deactivated my Facebook and have yet to turn it back on. In the months prior I started finding alternative sources of news: NYT, Pitchfork, HN, various su…

When you deactivate your Facebook, can you still use it to log into stuff (e.g. Tinder and Messenger)? I've a few friends and groups that are on that.

You can still use messenger, and I still do because I don't want to stonewall people who only have me on there. I have to say though, it's a god awful UX. The other day I even had an advertisement for Spotify pop up in my messages with a close friend. What the fuck is that?

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#369

Post by snerbles »

imron wrote: post #363
snerbles wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. For third-party app logins I use a friendless FB account under a pseudonym.

FB still knows it's you.

Sure, that's the cost of doing anything with FB. A pseudonym is used to avoid nosy third parties, not Facebook itself.

Less pressure to expose one's self to the psychological pathogen that is the Facebook Timeline.

Post reply on HN