Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

When will we stop using Facebook?

thepinchandzoom.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 252 posts

Re: When will we stop using Facebook?

#141

Post by sveme »

junto wrote: post #34

I stopped two years ago. As far as I am aware I'm not missing much. I did have a lot of old friends on FB, but I didn't stay in contact with them in real life. I was just lazily snooping on their lives, without giving anything in return. To be completely honest, I don't have space or time for them in my real life. It isn't because I didn't like them anymore, it was simply that I didn't have the time or energy to stay…

I stopped at about the same time as you, but I actually returned a couple of months ago. Without friending anyone. And the reason? I use Facebook as a very simple way to get news about really minor things of importance to me:

+ my climbing gym has some new routes!

+ a new video by K.I.Z, yeah!

+ oh, demonstration against some Nazis demonstrating in my neighbourhood, should definitely go there

+ Someone's looking for a climbing partner next weekend, finally heading out to the rocks again!

So likes have become a poor-man's subscription to an RSS feed and groups have become an easy to follow replacement of forums. The key in these cases is the newsfeed, which is okay for having an overview of important stuff (and without friends is not crowded with inane stuff).

I repeatedly have idle thoughts about a startup idea, combining Facebook with github's business model: Any entity such as users, companies, organizations get a page where they can post arbitrary stuff like on their current facebook profile. Users can subscribe and get an overview on their newsfeed. So far, just like Facebook but without the social crap. Financing is not done through targeted ads but by requiring companies to pay for the service - something like 500 subscribers are free, 1000 - 10 $/months etc. Quite rough around the edges, the idea, but I personally would like such a service. Anyone interested in working on that with me?

Re: When will we stop using Facebook?

#142

Post by Xeoncross »

sveme wrote: post #141
junto wrote: post #34

I stopped two years ago. As far as I am aware I'm not missing much. I did have a lot of old friends on FB, but I didn't stay in contact with them in real life. I was just lazily snooping on their lives, without giving anything in return. To be completely honest, I don't have space or time for them in my real life. It isn't because I didn't like them anymore, it was simply that I didn't have the time or energy to stay…

I stopped at about the same time as you, but I actually returned a couple of months ago. Without friending anyone. And the reason? I use Facebook as a very simple way to get news about really minor things of importance to me: + my climbing gym has some new routes! + a new video by K.I.Z, yeah! + oh, demonstration against some Nazis demonstrating in my neighbourhood, should definitely go there + Someone's looking for…

So, like twitter with more media and text options?

Re: When will we stop using Facebook?

#144

Post by drzaiusapelord »

acheron wrote: post #69

Is it time yet to repost this classic article? "Will MySpace ever lose its monopoly?" http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2007/feb/08/business.c... Key quote: MySpace is well on the way to becoming what economists call a "natural monopoly". Users have invested so much social capital in putting up data about themselves it is not worth their changing sites, especially since every new user that MySpace attracts adds t…

I don't think that article is necessarily wrong. You can have natural monopolies that switch companies, but still remain monopolies (look at Apple's early 80s success that was completely squashed by DOS/Windows). Everyone migrated to Facebook and ditched myspace. It doesn't really compete with anyone now. Facebook seemed to have learned from myspace's mistakes and have been successful for a decade now. I think a shift to another social media platform is just not in the cards, at least for the forseeable future.

Re: When will we stop using Facebook?

#145

Post by ekianjo »

smackfu wrote: post #88
dade_ wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't take a lot of effort to maintain contact with people that are important in our life today. The relationships that are important to us need to be nurtured, not followed. Facebook has created this (inadvertent) anti-social follow use case, and I think a lot of people have fallen into it.

Eh, I remember the days of trying to keep in touch via email, and not getting replies, or feeling bad that I wasn't sending a reply. Just to keep in general contact, with no specific goal in mind. I don't look forward to going back to them.

if people don't reply to your emails, maybe that says a lot about how much they care about you.

Re: When will we stop using Facebook?

#146

Post by sveme »

Xeoncross wrote: post #142
sveme wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I stopped at about the same time as you, but I actually returned a couple of months ago. Without friending anyone. And the reason? I use Facebook as a very simple way to get news about really minor things of importance to me: + my climbing gym has some new routes! + a new video by K.I.Z, yeah! + oh, demonstration against some Nazis demonstrating in my neighbourhood, should definitely go there + Someone's looking for…

So, like twitter with more media and text options?

Yes, somewhat. Anything shareable. The major point would be the github-like financing model: It's not the individual users that pay for the service by enabling targeted ads but companies that want to get in contact with potential customers on their page. It seems like a minor difference but would have quite strong effects on user privacy - there would not be a need for ever more tracking of every online activity.

Re: When will we stop using Facebook?

#147

Post by luxpir »

madez wrote: post #118
junto wrote: post #34

I stopped two years ago. As far as I am aware I'm not missing much. I did have a lot of old friends on FB, but I didn't stay in contact with them in real life. I was just lazily snooping on their lives, without giving anything in return. To be completely honest, I don't have space or time for them in my real life. It isn't because I didn't like them anymore, it was simply that I didn't have the time or energy to stay…

I also stopped using Facebook, shortly before the revelations of massive surveillance. At that time I was convinced I shouldn't be in the arms of companies, stopped using many services and started self-hosting stuff. People didn't understand me. Then, Edward Snowden revealed that the possible abstract threats I wanted to avoid can in fact become real. We are fortunate to have received this information. People still d…

Similar situation here.

Frustrating as it is, it's The Right Thing to do. It's a shame that some people assume you're disinterested, but then don't return emails/calls.

I heard about an old Norwegian guy who had always made short calls to friends and family throughout his life and that those people appreciated that. That's more the direction I'd rather go in over the passive friend-surveillance that has crept in.

I'd rather do that over an encrypted line with open protocols, but you can't have it all! At least I've managed to move over nearly wholesale to open software - phone, OS, email, syncthing, text file notes etc. etc. - so that's one of the major personal benefits to me.

The drawbacks I still need to learn to better work around.

Addiction/productivity doesn't really come into it for me; I have my days of perfect self-discipline and others where my procrast-fu is strong. I've used and use all manner of productivity systems to make sure the bread and butter work gets done (currently running an espeak Pomodoro reminder every 25 minutes, with semi-ironic (totally not...) inspirational quotes read out in the breaks), it's just the side-projects that sometimes suffer. That's no fault of social media, though, that's on me.

Re: When will we stop using Facebook?

#148

Post by ianstallings »

Facebook has long said they want to be the glue of the Internet, the guys that tie it all together. And they're winning at this through their login feature, their messaging, their ad platform, and their commenting features. I don't know if in the future people will still visit FB like they do today, but I doubt they are truly going away anytime soon.

Re: When will we stop using Facebook?

#150

Post by bkeroack »

acheron wrote: post #69

Is it time yet to repost this classic article? "Will MySpace ever lose its monopoly?" http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2007/feb/08/business.c... Key quote: MySpace is well on the way to becoming what economists call a "natural monopoly". Users have invested so much social capital in putting up data about themselves it is not worth their changing sites, especially since every new user that MySpace attracts adds t…

MySpace made many mistakes, the worst of which is that they would do absolutely anything to increase short term revenue regardless of the effect on the experience. The result was a messy, user-hostile product that was bleeding users to anything that offered a better social experience.

Zuckerberg is smarter than that. Facebook may (probably will, at some point) lose its dominance, but it won't be a repeat of the MySpace debacle. Perhaps people will gradually realize that "Facebooking" is not the same as real socializing, it's a low-effort, low-value pseudo-social entertainment activity.

Post reply on HN