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How to Fix Facebook Before It Fixes Us

washingtonmonthly.com

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Re: How to Fix Facebook Before It Fixes Us

#91

Quit using it. Let's go back to the way the internet used to be, y'know with instant messaging and a multitude of cultures that have their own ecosystems. Let's stop consolidating all of this information and wealth in the hands of people who don't give a shit about what makes us different (unless it sells an ad).

Go back to what, the AIM and Myspace domination? Before Facebook it was Myspace that was the juggernaut of the social media sphere. As the number of people that can freely access the internet grows, you see them focusing around a single social media platform. That's because social media strongly benefits from centralization, it's easier to talk to family and friends if you don't have to manage fifty different account…

Honestly, tribe.net wasn’t that bad. I remember the outrage when they first introduced ads onto their site. That was the moment they plummeted to obscurity. Everybody flocked to the ‘free’ alternatives.

In retrospect, at least their business model wasn’t opaque.

Re: How to Fix Facebook Before It Fixes Us

#92
post #49

> When citizens of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in June 2016, most observers were stunned. The polls had predicted a victory for the “Remain” campaign. And common sense made it hard to believe that Britons would do something so obviously contrary to their self-interest. Y'know, I suspect that Leave voters thought leaving was in their self-interest — or at the very least that voting 'Leave' sen…

> Mrs. Clinton was ... [not charismatic] I've never understood this line; she always seemed charismatic to me. I'm curious -- can you name a female politician you consider charismatic?

Although I often disagree with her foreign policy pronouncements, Nikki Haley seemed very charismatic as UN Ambassador over the past year.

Re: How to Fix Facebook Before It Fixes Us

#93
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>By some accounts the Russian fb spend was under $100k If true, that would indicate that these ads are dramatically under priced. If it was simply a matter of spending money on facebook, things will balance next election, as the price of those ads will go up dramatically Of course, the fact that Clinton spent so much more on facebook and still lost the electoral college would indicate that if the facebook ad campaign…

You're comparing apples to apples when this is an oranges and apples situation. Regular campaign advertising (like the stuff done by Clinton in the last election) is at least partly constrained by things like the truth and the semblance of accountability. I.e. if I run an ad saying "vote for me I went to harvard" there would likely be a major scandal because I did not in fact go to harvard. The words came from me, an…

Ah, yes. The age old comment:

"It's wrong if someone else does it. But if it is for me, or I agree with the person doing it, it's okay."

Re: How to Fix Facebook Before It Fixes Us

#94
post #63

This year is election year in Sweden and we know the Russians spread disinformation during the Finnish election through social media. They’ve had plenty of practice for taking on our small country. Denmark, Norway and Finland have a populist, far right party in their respective government coalition, Sweden and Iceland are the only Nordic countries that have resisted. I fear this will stop being the case. The Sweden D…

> wether it’s a recession after this long bull market or a politically charged murder could quickly be blamed on immigration and spread like wildfire on social media by people who love simple answers to complicated questions.

Sorry to burst your warm heart of not hurting anyone's feelings, but immigration is the cause. It will soon expand to the US and the entire "progressive" agenda will implode on itself.

Re: How to Fix Facebook Before It Fixes Us

#95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is such a simple solution I fear one day Facebook may no longer allow it. I unfollowed everyone years ago and it has made a huge difference in how I think of Facebook. Without the persistent feed and flood of ads, it’s just another tool for communicating with people, one that is seldom used when faced with other alternatives. Facebook is now mostly harmless, and I only spend maybe a minute or two on it every few…

Harmless? Every page which has anything Facebook-related on it will be fed your Facebook-related cookies on every visit. Any Facebook-related code on such pages will have access to anything Facebook-related stored in your profile (cookies, local data, etc). Since everyone and his dog felt the need to add 'social' buttons to their sites this includes a sizeable portion of the 'net. You might not use Facebook much but…

I'm a fairly shitty product.

Re: How to Fix Facebook Before It Fixes Us

#96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The question isn't whether Facebook is relevant to you. It's whether it's relevant to 300 million other people. If a problem as 300 million causes, you still have a problem if you cut that down to 299,999,999.

Behavior is contagious. If you behave in the way that people should behave, then others will follow.

What a ridiculous statement.

Re: How to Fix Facebook Before It Fixes Us

#97
I wish TFA had opposed Facebook for the right reasons and in the right way. It really is a massive waste of our collective thought and attention, but apparently that's only bad because then we voted for the guy that the TV talked about all the time. (You know another era in which we voted exactly as TV told us to vote? Before the internet existed! Oh Facebook you have ruined us!) Also apparently the answer is to expand FCC's role until it defends Facebook against all competition in precisely the manner in which it has long defended Bell Telephone against all competition. Democracy in action!

(And Google? Does TFA actually contain an argument against Google, or did he just mention it a bunch of times? Oh right, they stopped funding a think tank. To a Washingtonian that would probably constitute a high crime. Out here in flyover country, that doesn't even rate a "meh".)

If the author really wanted to help, rather than insert himself and his cronies into the regulatory state, he'd be getting Sanders and Warren on a reality show with Snoop Dogg and Mama June, right away. Or he could act like what he claims to be, a "technology investor", and start funding the innovations that will eat the heart out of an increasingly old and ungainly Facebook. It's interesting that he made such a big deal about his visionary investment in Facebook without bothering to tell us if he is still invested. (Which, obviously, he is, which is why he wrote TFA about this wonderful "movement" which coincidentally totally aligns with Facebook's interests.)

Re: How to Fix Facebook Before It Fixes Us

#98

I quit Facebook around Christmas time. Felt weird at first, but overall it's been a position experience. The Chrome blocker plugin I use to enforce my quitting keeps a count of how many times I've attempted to visit it. I'm in the 40s now. If I spent 2 minutes per visit, then I've saved 80 so far!

I blocked reddit. I can still use it via incognito mode if it contains useful information while doing Google search result. What I've learned is that, I wasn't really addicted to reddit as much as my bored fingers were. I don't miss it.

I also blocked cnn.com, and couple other sites that I habitually go to. I may even add HN to the list. Sure there are some gems to be found here, but I find myself coming here more to read comments and headlines. It has essentially turned into reddit for me.

Re: How to Fix Facebook Before It Fixes Us

#99

Quit using it. Let's go back to the way the internet used to be, y'know with instant messaging and a multitude of cultures that have their own ecosystems. Let's stop consolidating all of this information and wealth in the hands of people who don't give a shit about what makes us different (unless it sells an ad).

Go back to what, the AIM and Myspace domination? Before Facebook it was Myspace that was the juggernaut of the social media sphere. As the number of people that can freely access the internet grows, you see them focusing around a single social media platform. That's because social media strongly benefits from centralization, it's easier to talk to family and friends if you don't have to manage fifty different account…

Xanga was great. I loved default anonymous nature of it.

Re: How to Fix Facebook Before It Fixes Us

#100
post #49

> When citizens of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in June 2016, most observers were stunned. The polls had predicted a victory for the “Remain” campaign. And common sense made it hard to believe that Britons would do something so obviously contrary to their self-interest. Y'know, I suspect that Leave voters thought leaving was in their self-interest — or at the very least that voting 'Leave' sen…

Most people felt positive about the impact of Internet advertising on political campaigning when the themes of the message were hope and change. It has become clear that those themes are easily trumped by messages of fear and divisiveness. I think it's a fair question, now that we've seen where we're likely headed, to question anew whether we need to adjust course.

Hope, change and continued war, in Iraq and Afghanistan, the destruction of Libya and a good try at the destruction of Syria.
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