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Facebook the Devourer

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31–40 of 101 posts

Re: Facebook the Devourer

#31
post #12

I have 340 Facebook friends (I feel like this is on the middle-lower end of typical). I scrolled down several "pages" on my timeline and saw zero evidence of any those people --- who are predominantly friends and family, or people I went to high school with --- were playing anything like Farmville. Most updates on my timeline are people sharing pictures of the city they're visiting, or of their kids. All of these peo…

Are you not getting it, or are you not agreeing with the author's point?

Re: Facebook the Devourer

#32
post #28

Nitpicking, but missing disclosure: OP works for a company named Instrument that does work on several things for Google. Google is a competitor to Facebook. My name is Thomas Reynolds. I'm a Technical Lead at Instrument, lucky denizen of Portland, active Crossfitter, a foodie, a cocktail enthusiast and all-around nerd. http://weareinstrument.com/work/ In late 2011, Google came to Instrument and tasked us with designi…

How does Google and Facebook compete directly? Also, why does working for a creative agency that does occasional work for Google merit disclosure?

Re: Facebook the Devourer

#33
I'm not sold on this post's content; despite my bias against facebook, it a convenient place to share common photos with friends, invite friends and acquaintances to parties, and it does keep me appraised of acquaintances' life events.

Can't think of anywhere else that would let me know that a guy I played club frisbee with in college recently got married. I never would have found out otherwise. You can argue that I didn't need to know that, but you can't argue that it keeps certain people on your extended network closer.

A lot of his argument is against the silly stuff they made for kids: farmville, frequent status updates, apps, gifts, etc. I can relate. Facebook has continually lost value since the year I joined, 2004, as a college freshman. This does coincide with their opening it to high school students, then the general population, apps, games, etc.

All that aside, what a fantastic URL! Slartibartfast would be proud.

Re: Facebook the Devourer

#34
Umm. Really? - the arab spring - a father sharing his son's first steps with the world - learning of the death of an old, lost friend - telling the world you are ok after your hotel has been bombed in Mumbai - watching your nephew learn to ride a horse. - learning about steve job's death and feeling the entire world grieve - discovering a new book to read - trash talking your friends about just how bad the Montreal Canadians really are

Staying connected to the things that matter. Remembering your life.

Re: Facebook the Devourer

#36

Oh look. Another blog post decrying the evils of facebook that is in reality saying "I don't like facebook, therefor it offers no value whatsoever to anyone else," like it's some universal truth. A lot of hacker/geek types seem 1. to hate facebook and 2. to be unable to empathize with anyone who doesn't share their dogmatic technological beliefs. Can we stop this already? Most people on facebook enjoy using it. Most…

Introverts tend to generalize from self-reflection, much like I'm doing now.

Re: Facebook the Devourer

#37

> 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 i…

The only website he lists that seems irreplaceable to me is Wikipedia.

Everything from source discovery, to unearthing basic facts, to hypertextual excursions through human knowledge is so much easier and more fruitful now, it's hard to imagine going back to the way things were before.

Re: Facebook the Devourer

#38
post #12

I have 340 Facebook friends (I feel like this is on the middle-lower end of typical). I scrolled down several "pages" on my timeline and saw zero evidence of any those people --- who are predominantly friends and family, or people I went to high school with --- were playing anything like Farmville. Most updates on my timeline are people sharing pictures of the city they're visiting, or of their kids. All of these peo…

Are you not getting it, or are you not agreeing with the author's point?

The author is saying that Facebook doesn't deliver a shred of value to any of it's 1 billion users, and if it disappeared tomorrow, "no one would give a shit." Tptacek disagrees, saying Facebook helps him connect with friends and local businesses. That's why he doesn't "get" the point.

I would say the Pages product is one of Facebook's strongest value points outside all of the peer-to-peer social networking. Small businesses don't have the time, energy, or money to host a custom websites and mailing lists to communicate with their fans. Pages make it incredibly easy -- deals, announcements, and advertising all wrapped into a single product.

Re: Facebook the Devourer

#39
post #32
post #28

Nitpicking, but missing disclosure: OP works for a company named Instrument that does work on several things for Google. Google is a competitor to Facebook. My name is Thomas Reynolds. I'm a Technical Lead at Instrument, lucky denizen of Portland, active Crossfitter, a foodie, a cocktail enthusiast and all-around nerd. http://weareinstrument.com/work/ In late 2011, Google came to Instrument and tasked us with designi…

How does Google and Facebook compete directly? Also, why does working for a creative agency that does occasional work for Google merit disclosure?

So Facebook and Google+ exist in _completely_ different spaces?

Re: Facebook the Devourer

#40
post #32
post #28

Nitpicking, but missing disclosure: OP works for a company named Instrument that does work on several things for Google. Google is a competitor to Facebook. My name is Thomas Reynolds. I'm a Technical Lead at Instrument, lucky denizen of Portland, active Crossfitter, a foodie, a cocktail enthusiast and all-around nerd. http://weareinstrument.com/work/ In late 2011, Google came to Instrument and tasked us with designi…

How does Google and Facebook compete directly? Also, why does working for a creative agency that does occasional work for Google merit disclosure?

Err.. you are aware of Google+ yes?
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