Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/05/11/happy-anniversary.html
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This sort of indirectly confirms something that’s been bothering me quite a lot lately when I look at Facebook: something will catch my eye, I’ll backscroll a bit to see who posted it, but nobody did. It’s “similar to other posts you’ve interacted with.”
In my case that generally turns out to be funny animal videos and neat sciencey stuff, and it’s not only that Facebook has dialed in my tastes so closely they can inject things that grab my attention willy-nilly, though that’s objectively terrifying all on its own. It’s that I know for every funny animal video they serve me, somebody else, somebody much angrier than yours truly, is getting something that confirms and reinforces their most hateful obsessions.
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Look, it’s just really hard to not promote ISIS, OK? What are they supposed to do? Not make money? Try harder?
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You really need to delete FB now because the damned thing is working as planned.
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"Facebook promised to fix it, […] "
Facebook promises a lot of things.
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The second investors want to turn a profit on their cash, ethics are cooked.
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Can somebody please tell me why anybody uses Facebook at all?
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I quit Facebook in November (deactivated actually, so technically they still have my data) because the drama and politics were making it so I couldn’t focus and work. I miss the family and friends on there. I kinda feel like I’m getting left out of events (and even personal tragedies) that people only mention on there… but a lot of times I feel like zuckerberg is a monster and I need to keep out as a protest.
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I don’t think you can deny it’s power for certain types of social interaction. Since I’ve been off it I’ve completely lost touch with a few people. But there’s a lot of cons balancing out the pros for me. Mainly the advertising/data mining and argumentative commenting) I’m really torn. I wish there were an actual alternative. and no, just “getting out and seeing people in person” isn’t really the solution. I do that with a few people and the group of is minuscule. I have like 2 real life friends and only really see one of them. It gets harder when you’re an adult who works from home to socialize.
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And yet for all but the last 10 years in the history of the world, we managed without it. The negatives of Facebook vastly outweigh any benefit it provides. I hope those that rely on it for communication start exploring the myriad of other options out there. The fact that people dumped AOL’s walled garden like a bad habit when the web appeared makes me optimistic.
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It might be because I just enjoyed several beverages, but this struck me as extremely funny.
Oh, honey, you could have died in Burkina Faso in 1989, they’d still have one hundred percent of your data
You’re not kidding. When I see people IRL I’m like, this 10-minute meeting with you has given my life meaning. And I know they find it creepy but on another level I think they appreciate what I mean.
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The experience is like watching The Sorcerer’s Apprentice from Fantasia. They keep doing these tweaks and I’m getting more and more content that doesn’t matter to me which is repelling me from the site. Suggested posts by people I don’t know, and I can’t even tell if it’s from a group I’m in or how it got into my feed. Instead of giving a sense that Facebook cares (not that I need that in my life either), it’s adding to the creep factor.
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I think Zappa put it best:
I am gross and perverted
Im obsessed n deranged
I have existed for years
But very little had changed
I am the tool of the government
And industry too
For I am destined to rule
And regulate you
I may be vile and pernicious
But you can’t look away
I make you think Im delicious
With the stuff that I say
I am the best you can get
Have you guessed me yet?
I am the slime oozin out
From your tv set
You will obey me while I lead you
And eat the garbage that I feed you
Until the day that we don’t need you
Don’t got for help…no one will heed you
Your mind is totally controlled
It has been stuffed into my mold
And you will do as you are told
Until the rights to you are sold
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I use it to message my family (my friends are both on Discord) and to keep an eye on some terrain making pages. In fact, I’m on facebook right now!
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