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Facebook is the worst thing that's ever happened to the internet

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Re: Facebook is the worst thing that's ever happened to the internet

#21

Post by floren »

hopfscotch wrote: post #16
swoongoonz wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I somewhat disagree with his assessment of influencers. Can they be annoying? Yes. Are they providing real value for companies to be able to connect with tribes of people? Yes. The influencer has single handedly upended the advertisement industry and taken money away from traditional media is a big way. I think it's given more jobs to people who don't work on Madison Avenue and maybe don't have technical skills, but…

> providing real value for companies to be able to connect with tribes of people Listen to yourself holy shit

I love engaging with brands!!

Re: Facebook is the worst thing that's ever happened to the internet

#22

Post by rafiki6 »

So he's talking about the Web not the Internet. Counter argument, the web was never that great to begin with and maybe let's stop pretending that some large companies we all don't like for whatever reason are responsible? Social media is opt-in. It is not a requirement to use the Internet and communicate effectively with it. If you hate it so much, start a new web. But then you quickly realize the Web is what it is due much more to economics associated with it than anything else.

Re: Facebook is the worst thing that's ever happened to the internet

#23

Post by deaps »

You know - my wife and I were talking about Facebook the other day and the role it plays in 'the way society acts' these days.

We came to the conclusion that the vast majority of feeds are filled with posts from sites that other like-minded people also have in their feeds. This causes the comments on those posts on your feed to mostly be filled with people whose feelings align with your own.

I think that's dangerous, maybe mainly because the general population doesn't realize this. Everyone, no matter how 'distorted' their views are - feels vindicated in those views.

Every time I feel like removing my Facebook, I just take a few steps back and only use it to stay in touch with family and/or friends that I have moved away from - which soon morphs back into the constant checking for new posts and then reading those comments, which tend to align and solidify my own feelings.

I think the world would be a better place without Facebook - and I also think the world would be worse off in some regards without it. In either event, if Facebook vanished tomorrow, I wouldn't complain.

Re: Facebook is the worst thing that's ever happened to the internet

#24

Post by kop316 »

I guess it depends on metrics. It feel like Facebook/Google showed everybody else the gold mine that is sucking up as much user data as possible and fusing that data with other companies. That is probably the #1 worst thing about the internet and its effect on regular life today.

However, with work at it, I think it is possible to leave both the Facebook/Google bubble.

If that is #1, #2 is definitely what Twitter has done to distort the news cycle and cause "social media" storms. Twitter seems to make it much easier for that to happen, and worse, you will never get the full story from Twitter. And the worst part? you don't even have to have a Twitter account to be subject to that.

Re: Facebook is the worst thing that's ever happened to the internet

#25

Post by girlsOFotoshop »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #6
personlurking wrote: post #3

Top reply: >What do you think of Facebook-owned products? IG started out like a mobile Flickr in the early days, a place for personal creativity and documentation, but now has become an ad-filled place to peacock, gather likes, and promote. I wonder about the psychological impact on people. His response: >Plenty of studies have confirmed that Instagram is having a terrible effect on the psychology of many people. Als…

Sorta, it had filters you could add to pictures iirc was the biggest thing going for IG. I can't recall if those came from the getgo or after the fact it looked like Flickr.

Very accurate, but most of all, Instagram is where the girls are.

The filters Instagram supplied to the common end-user brought girls in by the truckload. All of the people that recommended Instagram to me, begore it was well known, before they were acquired by Facebook, all of the people that pushed Instagram by word of mouth were girls, and almost without fail, photogenic girls, or there somewhat less-so friends.

This class of girls also went to Snapchat, but for obviously different reasons, in particular, as a pseudo-forward security toy (sexting via app). Something they presumed to be, mostly “secure enough” for the moment.

This split, of forward security contrasted against accessible cookie-cutter photoshop filters that place many images on a sentimental pedistal or permit the ability glamourize one-handed, were what precipitated the viral runaway growth hack the differentiated each from other varieties of photo sharing, like flickr.

Re: Facebook is the worst thing that's ever happened to the internet

#28

Post by longerthoughts »

swoongoonz wrote: post #9
personlurking wrote: post #3

Top reply: >What do you think of Facebook-owned products? IG started out like a mobile Flickr in the early days, a place for personal creativity and documentation, but now has become an ad-filled place to peacock, gather likes, and promote. I wonder about the psychological impact on people. His response: >Plenty of studies have confirmed that Instagram is having a terrible effect on the psychology of many people. Als…

I somewhat disagree with his assessment of influencers. Can they be annoying? Yes. Are they providing real value for companies to be able to connect with tribes of people? Yes. The influencer has single handedly upended the advertisement industry and taken money away from traditional media is a big way. I think it's given more jobs to people who don't work on Madison Avenue and maybe don't have technical skills, but…

I disagree but not downvoting because I think you raise a valid point and it's worth discussing. To me, the reason it's more than just "annoying" is that it encourages one-dimensional, superficial idols that will end up having an outsized impact on shaping a generation's values and notions of success. This is essentially an extension of celebrity worship, which existed long before Instagram. The difference is that Instagram is basically "democratizing" celebrity, lowering the barrier to entry and yielding an explosion of these types of icons, while simultaneously delivering them in a remarkably efficient manner that acts as a lever for reach and impact.

Re: Facebook is the worst thing that's ever happened to the internet

#29

Post by twizzlerz »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #6
personlurking wrote: post #3

Top reply: >What do you think of Facebook-owned products? IG started out like a mobile Flickr in the early days, a place for personal creativity and documentation, but now has become an ad-filled place to peacock, gather likes, and promote. I wonder about the psychological impact on people. His response: >Plenty of studies have confirmed that Instagram is having a terrible effect on the psychology of many people. Als…

Sorta, it had filters you could add to pictures iirc was the biggest thing going for IG. I can't recall if those came from the getgo or after the fact it looked like Flickr.

Very accurate, but most of all, Instagram is where the girls are. The filters Instagram supplied to the common end-user brought girls in by the truckload. All of the people that recommended Instagram to me, begore it was well known, before they were acquired by Facebook, all of the people that pushed Instagram by word of mouth were girls, and almost without fail, photogenic girls, or there somewhat less-so friends. This class of girls also went to Snapchat, but for obviously different reasons, in particular, as a pseudo-forward security toy (sexting via app). Something they presumed to be, mostly “secure enough” for the moment. This split, of forward security contrasted against accessible cookie-cutter photoshop filters that place many images on a sentimental pedistal or permit the ability glamourize one-handed, were what precipitated the viral runaway growth hack the differentiated each from other varieties of photo sharing, like flickr.

Re: Facebook is the worst thing that's ever happened to the internet

#30

Post by traek »

deaps wrote: post #23

You know - my wife and I were talking about Facebook the other day and the role it plays in 'the way society acts' these days. We came to the conclusion that the vast majority of feeds are filled with posts from sites that other like-minded people also have in their feeds. This causes the comments on those posts on your feed to mostly be filled with people whose feelings align with your own. I think that's dangerous,…

> We came to the conclusion that the vast majority of feeds are filled with posts from sites that other like-minded people also have in their feeds. This causes the comments on those posts on your feed to mostly be filled with people whose feelings align with your own.

This is pretty well-trodden territory, cf. 'filter bubbles'.

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