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“This week marks the beginning of my 4th year at Facebook”

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Re: “This week marks the beginning of my 4th year at Facebook”

#111
post #110
post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course it has an impact, I just don't think it's a net positive one.

Why not? Without FB, I wouldn't be able to connect as much with all the people I've met in multiple places around the world. All people that I care about. I've also met a ton of new people that I otherwise wouldn't have met (e.g. from groups). I connect with the CS community at my school through FB. I connect with people in my class through FB. A lot of discussion happens on FB that I'd otherwise miss or not have the…

I think the result is probably a larger number of shallower friendships than you'd have otherwise, or at least that's the pattern I've noticed, and I don't think that's necessarily better. The rest of most people's time on there is generally spent idly browsing the trivia of other peoples' lives. I just don't think it's a very effective use of users' or engineers' time.

I used to use FB a lot, especially in college, but aside from being great for organizing parties, I've found that I like the old ways a lot better. For actually communicating and having conversations with people, IM and email are actually more robust/effective/universal, and aren't engineered and A/B tested to hell to suck up attention as effectively as possible.

Re: “This week marks the beginning of my 4th year at Facebook”

#112
post #111
post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not? Without FB, I wouldn't be able to connect as much with all the people I've met in multiple places around the world. All people that I care about. I've also met a ton of new people that I otherwise wouldn't have met (e.g. from groups). I connect with the CS community at my school through FB. I connect with people in my class through FB. A lot of discussion happens on FB that I'd otherwise miss or not have the…

I think the result is probably a larger number of shallower friendships than you'd have otherwise, or at least that's the pattern I've noticed, and I don't think that's necessarily better. The rest of most people's time on there is generally spent idly browsing the trivia of other peoples' lives. I just don't think it's a very effective use of users' or engineers' time. I used to use FB a lot, especially in college,…

Doesn't matter if you think they're shallow. I care about these people. I want to know more about them and I want to stay connected with them in hopes that we cross paths again some day (for those that I don't live near).
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