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Facebook – You are the Product

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Re: Facebook – You are the Product

#221

Post by yawz »

Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #158
yawz wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you print a typed letter and send it by mail instead of e-mailing? Waste of resources, if you ask me, and pretty expensive depending on the country you're sending it to. Good for USPS, though. A typed letter is not more personal than e-mail, I'm afraid.

>Why would you print a typed letter and send it by mail instead of e-mailing? Waste of resources, if you ask me, and pretty expensive depending on the country you're sending it to. Good for USPS, though. I just checked with USPS. It costs _a dollar_ to mail a letter from Philly to Madagascar. >A typed letter is not more personal than e-mail, I'm afraid. Comparing it to an email is clever, because it helps your point…

For me this is similar to junk that I receive by snail mail :). They go directly to recycling.

Same with Facebook (for any other media type, for that matter). I put my filters on, and I don't get distracted by the adds.

Also, on Facebook, I'm arguably pushing more information than I'm pulling. So my consumption and communication is somewhat limited to the notifications that I get. So I already have a filter when I connect: I look at my notifications. I don't browse Facebook aimlessly. My time is precious ;).

There are reasons why snail mail is not so popular anymore. It's not because we are technology junkies, but mainly because snail mail is inefficient and much less interactive. Why don't we play chess by mail, or play a an RPG game by mail? Certainly some people still do but we have much better ways of doing it now.

I like "writing" and I have a decent handwriting. But, to me, writing letters for everything I want to share with my friends and family looks like overkill to say the least.

I'm not happy that Facebook is the most efficient way for me to communicate with friends and family living abroad, but until there is a better alternative, I'm afraid I'm stuck with it.

Only exception is my grandma and a good friend who refuses to be on FB (he lives in Australia). I use phone and video to catch up with them :).

Re: Facebook – You are the Product

#222

Post by Swizec »

Prefinem wrote: post #214
Swizec wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Acquaintances or good acquaintances. So I'm throwing a party with just acquaintances and no friends are coming? That feels weird. > I need very little social interaction Me too. Which is why I tend to keep to myself, and throw a huge rager for as many people as I can get to show up a couple times per year. Maybe I don't really have any close friends anymore, the definition gets muddy when most everyone you used to…

> So I'm throwing a party with just acquaintances and no friends are coming? That feels weird. Sorry, I took the inverted view of this. If you are inviting me, most likely I am an acquaintance. I don't throw parties, but I do like to hang out, so generally I just invite friends over. Just friends. When I do throw a party, it's mostly for someone else and so is definitely mostly acquaintances. > Maybe I don't really h…

> Distance doesn't mean you can't be friends. But I do make a point to talk with them once a week (we game together) unless someone is gone on a vacation or something like that.

I know, I too have some close friends that I only saw in person many years after we became friends. We do have an IRC channel for a lot of these friends, but the 9 hour time difference seems to really throw a wrench into things.

Especially now that people have gotten lives. They close the computer after work (which is when I start waking up) and go do stuff with their partners. When they're online and chattering away, is most often when I'm asleep.

So yeah distance doesn't matter at all in my experience, but timezone difference matters a lot.

That said, these are not friends I would invite to a huge party anyway because they're too far to make it. We hang out when we're on the same continent.

Re: Facebook – You are the Product

#223

Post by yawz »

Torwald wrote: post #187
yawz wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well... As someone who has moved to various countries and across continents a few times over the last three decades, I can hardly find another medium that allows me to keep up with friends and family across many countries and time zones easily. Before Facebook I created and/or used e-mail aliases, e-mail groups, forums, file hosting services, etc. to share our story with friends and family. Facebook makes it much sim…

You can use a blog.

I blog for other things: technology and book reviews. But it is too public for personal stories that I share with friends & family.

Re: Facebook – You are the Product

#224

Post by tedunangst »

Prefinem wrote: post #200
Swizec wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> casual isn't friendship Why not? People are busy. They have jobs and partners and pets and sometimes kids. All of that takes time and attention. These days I talk less to my closest friends than I did to my farthest acquaintances in high school or even college. It's kinda sad but that's just how it is. And trying to get together face-to-face? LoL, it can take months to align our schedules. And when it comes to larg…

> If I want to invite you to a party like that, are we not friends Acquaintances or good acquaintances. I think this boils down to each person's definition of friends and friendship along with the amount of social interaction each person needs. I need very little social interaction, so I tend to keep close friends and not much else. I know others who always like to be around someone. They don't care much who it is, a…

> I need very little social interaction

Don't let that stop you from telling others how to socialize correctly!

Re: Facebook – You are the Product

#225

Post by yawz »

Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #158
yawz wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you print a typed letter and send it by mail instead of e-mailing? Waste of resources, if you ask me, and pretty expensive depending on the country you're sending it to. Good for USPS, though. A typed letter is not more personal than e-mail, I'm afraid.

>Why would you print a typed letter and send it by mail instead of e-mailing? Waste of resources, if you ask me, and pretty expensive depending on the country you're sending it to. Good for USPS, though. I just checked with USPS. It costs _a dollar_ to mail a letter from Philly to Madagascar. >A typed letter is not more personal than e-mail, I'm afraid. Comparing it to an email is clever, because it helps your point…

> I am fully convinced that you are a Facebook addict in denial

This is certainly your right, but I am not. Someone said "denial"? :)

I rarely get religious and passionate about things. I don't have FB shares. I'm simply pragmatic. It serves its purpose. Nothing more.

Re: Facebook – You are the Product

#226

Post by michaelmrose »

compiler-guy wrote: post #220
michaelmrose wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone has an email. You are comparing opening a different app on your phone which requires you to move your finger an inch to a 1000 mile trek. Anyone who can't move their finger an inch to click on a different ubiquitous app to contact you isn't your friend regardless of what you think.

It isn't just moving your finger an inch. It's contacting you differently than they contact literally every one else in their social circle. And thanks for the incredible insight into who is my friend and who isn't. Your ability to judge from several paragraphs of my writing and nothing more is pretty impressive. The things I missed weren't really, my friends exactly, but rather broad groups with common interests. If…

A social network isn't a place which implies exclusivity. If you are at one place you aren't at another and it also implies significant effort to move from one place to another.

Sending an email really does imply moving your finger an inch to use a different app.

Re: Facebook – You are the Product

#227

Post by komali2 »

michaelmrose wrote: post #208
komali2 wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I'd like to point out that this thread has depressingly similar patterns compared to talking with drug addicts about their habit. I feel like if I applied the logic you're using here for that, I could say the same thing about buying food in a store. "It is legal to hunt. There's nothing stopping you from going into the woods, killing a deer, and salting its meat other than your own dependency on the conveniences of…

Do you know the internet was a thing in the 90s?

Yes, late 90's, AIM was a thing... if my mom wasn't on the phone, or if my dad didn't need the computer for work. Didn't help me early 90's and certainly didn't help me figure out if my friend was home before I made the bike ride over :P

Re: Facebook – You are the Product

#228

Post by komali2 »

michaelmrose wrote: post #205
compiler-guy wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And here we see the mismatch between the two camps: Sure, [good|strong|old|pick your adjective] friends will contact you regardless of your facebook involvement. But there are plenty of acquaintances, groups, events and whatnot that only get organized or contacted on facebook. And even so, why would you put the extra burden on your friends to contact you in a special way? Why wouldn't you make it easy for them to con…

Everyone has an email. You are comparing opening a different app on your phone which requires you to move your finger an inch to a 1000 mile trek. Anyone who can't move their finger an inch to click on a different ubiquitous app to contact you isn't your friend regardless of what you think.

I'm more likely to have someone on facebook that I am to be able to look up their email via name on any of my phone apps (either by having their email saved against their contact, or having it in gmail)

Re: Facebook – You are the Product

#229

Post by __jal »

compiler-guy wrote: post #97
Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not that hard, you've just forgotten how to do these things without Facebook. >I personally hate facebook's mobile apps and some it's policies ( Internet.org comes 1st to my mind), but it's hard to completely stop using it. Try it! Deactivate your account for a week. Do it again later for two weeks. Maybe for a month. When you learn how to live without it, delete it.

This is a painfully simplistic response. No matter what I do, several activities and groups I want to be a part of are only advertised and organized on facebook. It's not within my power to change that. And that, in fact, _does_ makes it hard to avoid using facebook without being left out.

I don't use FB at all, and haven't, ever. I'm a part of two groups that do most of their business on FB, in an official role in one of them. I don't miss anything important, and find it beneficial that I miss the rest[1].

I've refused to be blackmailed into Facebook use by my family, so there's zero chance a friend or associate will get away with it. If people can't be arsed to email me about something they consider significant, I don't have time for them either.

FOMO is a condition that happens in your head, as is how you let your peers treat you. It is within your power to deal with it.

[1] I don't discount that informal bonding, chit-chat, etc.; it is an important part of a healthy lifestyle, group formation, etc. I prefer the in-person sort, and for virtual, there's a whole internet out there that is not FB.

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