OTM, and it doesn't make any less so that it is flagrantly obvious to most that Facebook was always as described here. Also there is the compulsory nature of its creep into defining the social for a broad tranche of teenagers and twenty-somethings (recall the look, somewhere between bemusement and horror, when you inform a new acquaintance that you're not actually on Facebook!) Heaven forfend that you might not want either to deliver immense amounts of data into potentially unscrupulous hands or keep up with a bunch of unremitting cunts from school who you never actually liked in the first place...
- Thread starter ether
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OTM, and it doesn't make any less so that it is flagrantly obvious to most that Facebook was always as described here. Also there is the compulsory nature of its creep into defining the social for a broad tranche of teenagers and twenty-somethings (recall the look, somewhere between bemusement and horror, when you inform a new acquaintance that you're not actually on Facebook!) Heaven forfend that you might not want either to deliver immense amounts of data into potentially unscrupulous hands or keep up with a bunch of unremitting cunts from school who you never actually liked in the first place...
vimothy
yurp
This article is pretty annoying. Whenever I read things like, "like PayPal before it, it is a social experiment, an expression of a particular kind of neoconservative libertarianism," I loose all faith in the author. A particular kind of neoconservative libertarianism?! What the fuck is he talking about? I don't think he has a clue, but I guess that's what you'd expect from the Guardian, where this particular kind of paternalistic psuedo-radicalism (geddit) is all the rage ...
"But hang on. Why on God's earth would I need a computer to connect with the people around me?" Yeah, good question Tom. Why on God's earth would you need a telephone to connect with people, since you all meet in the pub every evening for pork scratchings and face-to-face cockney communality. While we're at it, why are you bothering writing this in a national newspaper and having it broadcast over the internet, when you could just as easily tell everyone you care about what your thoughts are at 7:30 tonight in The Jellied Knacker's Bits?
"And does Facebook really connect people? Doesn't it rather disconnect us, since instead of doing something enjoyable such as talking and eating and dancing and drinking with my friends, I am merely sending them little ungrammatical notes and amusing photos in cyberspace, while chained to my desk? A friend of mine recently told me that he had spent a Saturday night at home alone on Facebook, drinking at his desk. What a gloomy image. Far from connecting us, Facebook actually isolates us at our workstations."
What a self-righteous, patronising arsehole. What a cliched, sub-Keanu Reeves analysis. Tell me what I need, Tom -- with friends like these, no wonder people end up on facebook, etc ...
I agree with Vimothy, the beginning of that article is absolutely ridiculous, which is a shame because it obscures some of the more interesting points about the beliefs and intentions of its backers.
Facebook provides another way to interact with one's friends, with its own advantages. No-one in their right mind stays in on Facebook on a weekend evening rather than going out, as the article suggests happens. That kind of statement makes me wonder whether the author has ever been on a social networking site as they tend not to provide synchronous communication. What they can do is let you plan your nights out without resorting to endless phone calls and texts. It also provides a way to share all those digital photos which people don't get round to printing.
The anti-facebook brigade seem to think that the site dictates the way you socialize. This is not true. Just because you use facebook doesn't mean you suddenly become vain, tagging yourself in pictures and constantly updating your profile and status. Of course some people do, but then again some people talk too loud on their mobile in public places. That's not to say mobiles make you into an inconsiderate twat. You don't have to accept friend requests from people who wouldn't talk to in real life, just add the people you want to drop a note to now and again. Similarly you don't have to put up pictures of yourself drunk on a night out, rather you can share holiday pix with friends and family. You don't even need to expose yourself to marketing. Just leave your details blank and there's not a problem.
I honestly don't think its as much of a big deal as that article makes out.
Facebook provides another way to interact with one's friends, with its own advantages. No-one in their right mind stays in on Facebook on a weekend evening rather than going out, as the article suggests happens. That kind of statement makes me wonder whether the author has ever been on a social networking site as they tend not to provide synchronous communication. What they can do is let you plan your nights out without resorting to endless phone calls and texts. It also provides a way to share all those digital photos which people don't get round to printing.
The anti-facebook brigade seem to think that the site dictates the way you socialize. This is not true. Just because you use facebook doesn't mean you suddenly become vain, tagging yourself in pictures and constantly updating your profile and status. Of course some people do, but then again some people talk too loud on their mobile in public places. That's not to say mobiles make you into an inconsiderate twat. You don't have to accept friend requests from people who wouldn't talk to in real life, just add the people you want to drop a note to now and again. Similarly you don't have to put up pictures of yourself drunk on a night out, rather you can share holiday pix with friends and family. You don't even need to expose yourself to marketing. Just leave your details blank and there's not a problem.
I honestly don't think its as much of a big deal as that article makes out.
vimothy
yurp
Time to move out of Shoreditch?
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
The whole "why sit at a computer when you can go out and socialise IN PERSON?!?!" argument is utterly stupid, as it implies that everyone has no job (but has enough money to be a person 'of leisure'), lives in the same postcode as all their friends, relatives and acquaintances and has nothing more pressing on their time than clubbing, dinner parties, football games, nature rambles or whatever the hell it is these wonderfully liberated anti-Facebook types spend 24 hours a day doing.
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UFO over easy
online mahjong
innit. the writer of that article is probably addicted to coronation street and meticulously ironing his shirts every evening
it's just another example of what I was moaning about the other week of it being really cool at the moment to come across as bitter and disillusioned with everything lots of people really enjoy. the endless quest to subvert the norm.. a lazy attempt to avoid being considered average - it's much easier to moan about normal things and normal people than it is to elevate yourself above what you perceive as average by actually doing things.
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Gavin
booty bass intellectual
There are lots of contemporary media scholars interested in it. Henry Jenkins is occasionally called "the new McLuhan," maybe because like McLuhan he prefers to use his insights to garner consultant work for corporations (so MIT rite?). He is really smart, I just wish he tried to do more with his scholarship than improve video games. Mark Andrejevic hasn't written about Facebook specifically that I know of, but he does other work with internet interactivity and surveillance -- I really recommend his book on reality tv (really about much much more) -- plenty of stuff he discusses in it applies to Facebook.
bassnation
the abyss
really? i dunno about the catty gossip thing, suppose it depends on the people. if you strip out the bullshit its just a reasonable way to keep in touch with people you might not email, meet or call for long periods of time otherwise.
what i don't like is the spam aspect - i accidently marked up 20 of my mates as "most eligible single friends" even the ones who were married and stuff. oops. it makes it too easy to make a tit of yourself basically.
swears
preppy-kei
If I remove someone as a friend, it doesn't notify them, right? If they click a link to my profile, what happens? Same as if I hadn't added then in the first place?
I don't want to to be updated on every minute detail of this person's life, but I don't want to piss them off, either.
I don't want to to be updated on every minute detail of this person's life, but I don't want to piss them off, either.
Itchy & Scratchy
Well-known member
They won't be informed that you've removed them. The first they'll ever come to noticing that you've removed them (if they notice at all) will be when they try and visit your profile and get instead a pop up asking if s/he want to be your friend. No incriminating messages will come up saying "So and so has deleted you!"
Failing that you can go to the preferences at the bottom of the news feed and change your options to see "fewer" stories about him/her. Dunno how well that works though.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Swears, if you're worried that someone you've deleted as a Friend hasn't noticed, you can probably install an add-on that sends the ex-friend in question a bit animated FUCK OFF, YOU BORING PRICK! notice or something, just to let them know and hence avoid any confustion. And if there isn't, there should be.
bassnation
the abyss
yeah i'm having to dump someone who sends me animated teddies and other such useless fucking fluff to my "funwall" ten times a day.
Itchy & Scratchy
Well-known member
empty mirror
remember the jackalope
I recently joined as my large extended family (who happen to be scattered all across the USA) are all on there. I have quit several times (paranoia) but all it takes to reactivate one's account is to log in again! What keeps me on the site are the old family photos that my relatives scan in. We have, like, frequent family get togethers, and FB is good for planning all that stuff, and generally staying connected with birthdays, who just got their driver's license, who just lost their two front teeth, who is feeling under the weather, and whatnot.
My account, of course, is largely invisible to all but my kin, and my dearest friends. The privacy settings for FB are pretty amazing.
My account, of course, is largely invisible to all but my kin, and my dearest friends. The privacy settings for FB are pretty amazing.
urbanite
subnoto
yeah there is... just look at the ads and pages app... it's nice because it completely separates from your personal account the music or whatever else page and gives you some basic tracking in case you're planning to promote it loads.