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Facebook the Devourer

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Re: Facebook the Devourer

#3
I dislike facebook myself and for a lot of the same reasons but this guy is dead wrong that no one would miss it.

If facebook disappeared overnight, it would cause millions of people to come unglued. People are addicted to the connected/sharing nature of facebook and the level of withdrawal would be dangerous.

Re: Facebook the Devourer

#5
Facebook, at its core, is about private (hah!) networks of one's friends and families. It was always designed to be insular, to form self-selecting groups. It's a platform that's inward looking. The inability to create and publicize new content with it to the Net at large is a feature, not a bug.

Re: Facebook the Devourer

#6
This is one thing that has always made me skeptical about FBs survival.

The majority of it's use seems to be for very short term things, like friends sharing what they are currently doing.

There is little value in most FB posts that are years old. As opposed to wikipedia which is a gradually building blob of knowledge.

Let's say FB was down for a week, many people would use G+ instead for their social networking needs and how many would come back?

Re: Facebook the Devourer

#7
I don't see what's bad about Facebook. 99 percent of the content is gossip, siloed, tucked neatly in a corner of the Internet, covered with ads. Would you rather have any idiot's rants and raves about their boy/girlfriend all over you search engine results? Long live chit chat, but keep it where it belongs.

Incidentally, ill thought features like the timeline or apps like the Washington post that try to turn the site to a news site or a personal mausoleum will fail and be retracted few months later

Re: Facebook the Devourer

#8
I totally agree with this, Facebook solved purely a social problem and this makes them subject to being at an existential risk of no longer being socially relevant ("cool").

Unlike say, Google, who started their massive empire by solving a technical problem; search.

Re: Facebook the Devourer

#9
It is amusing how this title Facebook "the Devourer" reminds one of some dark Hindu deity, such as Kala [Time] the Devourer:

"At the dissolution of things, it is Kāla [Time] Who will devour all" (Mahanirvana-tantra, cited in David Kinsley, Tantric Visions of the Divine Feminine: The Ten Mahavidyas, p. 122.)

Better known is Krishna's theophanic revelation to Arjuna on the sacred plain of Kurukṣetra: "Behold, I am become death, the destroyer of worlds," which is also translated, "I am terrible time [Kalo, from "Kala"] the destroyer of all beings in all worlds" (Bhagavad-Gita, 11:32). Oppenheimer reportedly quoted this very line immediately after first nuclear detonation in history at Trinity Site, New Mexico in 1945.

Surely Facebook is too trivial to merit such cosmic appellations and apocalyptic titles as "the Devourer." Such language is best left to poets, seers, prophets, and mystics. In the context of discussing the technology industry, it is wildly hyperbolic.

Re: Facebook the Devourer

#10
> Remember Facebook?

This delusion that Facebook is somehow dramatically more replaceable than Google or Amazon is kinda amusing. There are plenty of other places to buy online and plenty of other places to search. I can't imagine the mental contortions that are required to hold both of these beliefs at once: "Facebook is replaceable," and, "Google is irreplaceable." They are both replaceable, but it would be tough in both cases.

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