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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

#171

Post by vertexFarm »

mAEStro-paNDa wrote: post #51
vinceguidry wrote: post #20

Before Facebook, if I lost someone's contact information, and drifted outside of their social circle for a long enough time, chances were I would never ever see or speak to that person again. Before Facebook, if people wanted to organize conversation and cooperation on an information technology platform, the options were to pay $X00-$X000 for a proprietary system, get lucky enough to know about mailing lists, have so…

I agree much with your premise here. The capabilities that social media have provided are extremely valuable. That said, I disagree with your conclusion. The issues that have come from Facebook and others are due to centralization, commodification of user data, the proliferation of echo chambers and advertising. Universal accessibility isn't the culprit, although that has generated issues on it's own as well.

Just out of curiosity, what capabilities do you think are extremely valuable? This isn't an attack or anything, I ask with sincerity.

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

#172

Post by _red »

nathan_long wrote: post #154
vinceguidry wrote: post #20

Before Facebook, if I lost someone's contact information, and drifted outside of their social circle for a long enough time, chances were I would never ever see or speak to that person again. Before Facebook, if people wanted to organize conversation and cooperation on an information technology platform, the options were to pay $X00-$X000 for a proprietary system, get lucky enough to know about mailing lists, have so…

> Before Facebook, if I lost someone's contact information, and drifted outside of their social circle for a long enough time, chances were I would never ever see or speak to that person again. I was nodding along at this until I read your second paragraph, then had to go back. Apparently you think this was a bad thing? Losing touch with people is natural. Having to explicitly sever a relationship is awkward. But wit…

Imagine the guy that sat next to you in freshmen algebra class. Now imagine still having him on your 'friends list' 20 years later...

People are being hyper-socialized. Its not normal and no doubt causes people increased mental stress.

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

#173

Post by inkaudio »

vinceguidry wrote: post #20

Before Facebook, if I lost someone's contact information, and drifted outside of their social circle for a long enough time, chances were I would never ever see or speak to that person again. Before Facebook, if people wanted to organize conversation and cooperation on an information technology platform, the options were to pay $X00-$X000 for a proprietary system, get lucky enough to know about mailing lists, have so…

This was the path all viable social networks were heading, than Facebook bought those willing to sell, Instagram & WhatsApp. So no, the problem is Facebook, in particular Facebook method of operation. Things would have been better if Instagram & WhatsApp did not sell to them or it was blocked by regulators. These companies would be serious competitors that operated differently.

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

#174

Post by jmathai »

vinceguidry wrote: post #112
mattnewton wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There were ample ad supported solutions that were pretty painless. Source: set up several invision free forums for my friends in 5th grade. Never touched a server and had no idea what we were doing, but used it constantly to stay in touch.

I'm not saying there weren't options. But you had to hear about them and learn how to use them, and then people would complain endlessly about your choices anyway. Facebook democratized social networking.

I think the general feedback in these post are that people were using numerous tools in the decades before Facebook and they worked pretty well. I, myself, can concur what everyone's saying. I didn't have to set up a forum to chat with people who liked Tori Amos .... atforumz existed[1].

At that time I don't recall the social networks being about your local community, friends and family like Facebook is today. It was about people you would never have met - because that's what made the Internet magical at the time. It could easily have morphed into forums of friends and family - not that it would have rivaled Facebook but it could have met the need.

Socially speaking, I think the Internet is much less interesting now than it was 20 years ago.

[1] http://toriforum.proboards.com/thread/1138

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

#176

Post by Zelphyr »

vinceguidry wrote: post #20

Before Facebook, if I lost someone's contact information, and drifted outside of their social circle for a long enough time, chances were I would never ever see or speak to that person again. Before Facebook, if people wanted to organize conversation and cooperation on an information technology platform, the options were to pay $X00-$X000 for a proprietary system, get lucky enough to know about mailing lists, have so…

> Before Facebook, if I lost someone's contact information, and drifted outside of their social circle for a long enough time, chances were I would never ever see or speak to that person again.

Not really. Chances are, I knew someone who knew that person and could ask them for the contact information. Before Facebook, how do you think people coordinated class reunions decades after graduation, decades after having spoken with most of the people in their class? Sure, it's easier now, but it wasn't as difficult as you make it out to be.

> Before Facebook, if people wanted to organize conversation and cooperation on an information technology platform, the options were to pay $X00-$X000 for a proprietary system, get lucky enough to know about mailing lists, have someone who knew sysadmin do it basically for free, or have everyone learn how to use something like IRC.

Again, it really wasn't that hard. You found where the groups you wanted to hang out with were online. It wasn't restricted to mailing lists or IRC. There were forums, etc... And no, you never needed to know a sysadmin to do any of that. That's just silly.

> Social networking was an enormous pain in the ass.

No it wasn't. You talked to people through the channels you had available to you or, even better, in person!

All Facebook, and social media in general, has done is centralize all of that. I'd argue we're now seeing that such centralization isn't a good thing.

You're right that the problem isn't necessarily Facebook's fault, it's how people are using it and we're just not good at using it. However, I counter that Facebook knows this and is taking full advantage of it for their own benefit. They're purposely showing things to people that they know will get them riled up so they will comment and spend more time on the site. That's just unethical.

It will not get better as long as current management and thinking is leading Facebook.

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

#178

Post by QML »

rland wrote: post #151

Facebook seems to be taking a lot of heat these days. But I wonder: what would actually "fix" the platform? As far as I can tell, the only "solution" is getting rid of Facebook. Obviously, FB doesn't agree. Short of destroying itself (and having a competitor instantly take its place), what should they do? What can they do? Proposed solutions to their various problems: - Make the timeline less addictive, to prevent pe…

Is moderation on Facebook that large of a problem? I wonder if it’s possible to use the walled garden approach that Apple News does and apply that to Facebook: only distribute globally posts which have been moderated with a person. Moderation for local distribution shouldn’t be needed as people can self moderate at that level. It’ll be a two tier system.

Edit: Is it also possible to have better moderation by having an upvote downvote system? That seems to be how communities like Reddit and Hackernews scale.

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

#179

Post by theredbox »

I dont want to offend anyone but DHH turned himself from a technologist into an annoying SJW with the holier than thou attitude.

Seriously that guy is big mouth about this and that but instead of contributing something meaningful he is just spewing non sense all the time.

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

#180

Post by pbalau »

52-6F-62 wrote: post #156
cmurf wrote: post #73

He says from Twitter, which is waving "what about me? I'm awful too!" My runner up is Youtube, now infested with piles of crap, and when finding something decent it's infested with ads. What an innovation! It's now just like cable TV!

I still get a fair amount of value out of Youtube, personally. But yeah, you definitely have to wear some goggles to see through the noise. --- My rules for youtube: * Don't read the comments * Don't participate in the comments * Ignore many of the suggestions—they tend toward right-wing extremist and conspiracy theory ramblings * Stick to music, favoured clips from shows (I do love that I can watch some old Mitchell…

> Ignore many of the suggestions—they tend toward right-wing extremist and conspiracy theory ramblings

Interesting, the suggestions I get are mostly sailing vlogs, featuring scantily clad ladies. I sarcastically wonder why...

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