10 ms·

Facebook is slowly eating the rest of the Internet

sharemywin 11y ago
facebook - microsoft for the next 50 years.
steego 11y ago
I'm really ashamed to admit it, but I am addicted to Facebook. As much as I despise the lack of depth in the average content, I feel confident that Facebook has stumbled on something in our animal behavior that draws us closer to it. I've always explained the phenomenon of gossip rags as a surrogate for our innate need to be social. Rather than engaging in actual social scenarios (which can carry social risks), many people have fulfilled our social needs with television shows and gossip rags. Celebrities have become a surrogate community members for many people, and I suspect Facebook ups that by one by creating a platform where you can interact with friends, celebrities and strangers in an environment that mitigates most (not all) risks. I wish I had a clever idea for a solution to this because I really think the world deserves an open social platform that not only engages people socially, but provides the social lubricant to enable people to form online/offline clubs and interact with each other in a high-bandwidth so we can use the internet to teach each other and create fun things with each other. Maybe it's only a matter of bandwidth, transistors and time.
- Retric 11y ago
  Facebook has a large disincentive to connecting people in the real world. If you're at a watching movies, camping in the woods, or just hanging out then you're not online. Worse, the more you connect in the real world the less interesting passive browsing becomes. Sure, you can still use FB to IM, but that's far less profitable for them. <click><click><click><click>...
  - steego 11y ago
    Facebook is beholden to its shareholders first and foremost, then it's customers (advertisers, not you). Lastly, they want to make the inventory happy (that's you), so they can dish up ads. Now, if Facebook manages to release a successful augmented reality platform, they will have no qualms with you going out in the real world. If you're camping in the woods, that's just a nice opportunity for a singalong app to place an ad for you and your buddies. If you're going to the movies, that's an opportunity for Coke to subtly remind you that you can get Coke points on your way. It would be that Facebook has an incentive to get you out into the real world if they can influence where you go and spend your money. There are many ways you can do that without augmented reality.
    - tim333 11y ago
      Facebook is controlled by Zuckerberg who had 56.9 percent of the shareholder voting power and can tell the shareholders and advertisers to get lost if he really wants.
  - luxpir 11y ago
    Another issue I've found since leaving the 'Facebook family' a few years back; there's a large disincentive for members you leave behind to contact you. You fall out of their habitual communication methods. The onus is on you to call them, which is already hard enough when both people could initiate the call. It becomes a much rarer event unless concerted effort is made. So until 'the next big social thing' comes along, I'm essentially out in the cold in many respects. But it's a price I'm willing to pay. I simply can't bring myself to support them in any way. The veneer of goodwill is very easy to see through with their constant manipulation tactics. And besides, it's not all bad; it hasn't stopped me from being invited to major events in my social circle. It's nice not to feel beholden to a website, which was the case when I was a member. The psychological effects are yet to be studied in depth, I'm sure.
    - manmal 11y ago
      A friend of mine returned to FB a few days ago, claiming that he had lost like 90% of his social contact. That sounds a bit much to me, bur one should definitely take this into consideration before leaving.
- Tenhundfeld 11y ago
  I go through an experience about once a year: 1) Log in to Facebook to look at picture of friend's new baby. This is nice. 2) Start browsing around, seeing what other friends have been up to. Oh neato. ... an hour later 3) Looking up people I knew in high school but haven't kept up with. ... another hour later 4) Holy crap, where'd the morning go? I can't do this. Shut it down. 5) Wait ~12 months for next event that draws me to the site. Repeat.
  - softawre 11y ago
    4 hours per year on facebook is pretty good :)
  - burkaman 11y ago
    Wouldn't it make a little more sense to spread those four hours out over the year? I never spend more than a few minutes at a time on Facebook, because there's never that much new stuff since I looked at it yesterday.
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
    - Tenhundfeld 11y ago
      Yeah, definitely. I think for my personality, I just have a really hard time just "snacking" on Facebook. I also might have a more active set of Facebook friends/family than you do. I feel like whenever I open it, even when I've toyed with checking it weekly, I end up spending hours reading posts and articles people have linked to, etc. It's easier for me to just ignore it for months at a time and being okay missing the occasional important update.
  - reitanqild 11y ago
    I try to use facebook more [0][1] but I just find it boring compared to family, work, friends and HN. [0]: I really struggle with faces and figured Facebook would be perfect for practicing. [1]: If anyone knows if someone has made a game out of names and faces on the social graph I'd be interested. If not gøfeel free to steal that idea.
- Spooky23 11y ago
  Just sign out. Facebook's response is hilarious -- they send you "please come back" emails for a few weeks. I stopped using it a few months ago, don't really miss it at all. If you find you're missing someone whom you normally interacted with on Facebook, give them a call.
  - jessaustin 11y ago
    Yeah those messages are hilarious. I got a pathetic new wrinkle on that the other day: It looks like someone tried to log into your account on April XX at X:XXxm using an unknown device. Your account is safe; we just wanted to make sure it was you who tried to log in from somewhere new. If you don't think this was you, please log into Facebook so we can walk you through a few steps to keep your account safe. Haha nice try Zuck!
- Raphmedia 11y ago
  > I feel confident that Facebook has stumbled on something in our animal behavior that draws us closer to it. I strongly agree. I also believe that it is very easy to disturb their black magic. Ever since I started using Stylish to customize the interface, I find myself less compulsively drawn to it. My version of Facebook remplaces all the blue for red hues and adds a wallpaper. I find that this makes Facebook more tiring to use. This must be why Facebook is so against browser apps that change their features even when it's only minimally.
  - amelius 11y ago
    > Ever since I started using Stylish to customize the interface, I find myself less compulsively drawn to it. Ever since I added the following entry in my /etc/hosts file, I find myself less compulsively drawn to it: 127.0.0.2 facebook.com www.facebook.com
    - Raphmedia 11y ago
      I'm not sure if it's a joke or not, but using the hosts file to block websites is a big way to gain productivity. Even better if you ask your admin to do it while not giving you the rights to change it back! Edit: Also, Hacker News has built-in features to do this. Look up "noprocrast" in your profile! You have "maxvisit" and "minaway" you can use to keep you from coming here too much!
      - drjesusphd 11y ago
        It's easy to dismiss little hacks like this because "you can always change it back". But what I've found is the simple little disruption of a lazy habit is enough. If I need to open the hosts file with sudo, that's enough of a block
  - s4chin 11y ago
    Can you give a link of the style?
    - 11y ago
- kevinbluer 11y ago
  One thing that has recently helped me kick the "addiction" is by unfollowing literally everybody I know. It's taken a while, but now when I go back in it literally says something to the effect that "you need to follow friends to get news in your feed". I'm now placing the onus on going back in and actively going to the feeds of friends and family that I care about; as opposed to the mindless thumbing through the feed.
- spoinkaroo 11y ago
  I got a chrome extension that blocks my newsfeed. Forces me to look at it on mobile only and only use FB for messenger.
- tdkl 11y ago
  > I feel confident that Facebook has stumbled on something in our animal behavior that draws us closer to it. It's a "novelty addiction". They weren't the first, it's just its content is closer and more relevant to you since it's people you know. The feeling when you find something new gives you a pleasurable dopamine hit, so you're constantly looking for more. Same can be said for people addicted to reddit, HN, Twitter, etc.
- ZenoArrow 11y ago
  > "I wish I had a clever idea for a solution to this because I really think the world deserves an open social platform that not only engages people socially, but provides the social lubricant to enable people to form online/offline clubs and interact with each other in a high-bandwidth so we can use the internet to teach each other and create fun things with each other." So like Meetup but with a stronger online discussion platform? http://www.meetup.com/ http://www.meetup.com/
- Diederich 11y ago
  I am not addicted to facebook or any other social media. In fact, the only reason I use them with any regularity is to take part in social interactions with my immediate family. However, I still think you're onto something. Social media has figured out how to really, at a deep level, grab our attention and keep it. But it doesn't work on me because I'm not a very social person. I'm pretty far on the 'recluse' spectrum.
- golemotron 11y ago
  Facebook is the social equivalent of fast food. They've tuned the menu to make it addictive. > I wish I had a clever idea for a solution to this because I really think the world deserves an open social platform that not only engages people socially, but provides the social lubricant to enable people to form online/offline clubs and interact with each other in a high-bandwidth so we can use the internet to teach each other and create fun things with each other. It's called a coffee shop. We need to get off the curated online experiences and back to interacting with people physically. It's vital. A therapist friend of mine says that most of the clients he sees that are teens or in their 20s have poor interaction skills in person and social phobia. Those lead to incredible rejection anxiety. I know from my own experience that some of the best conversations I've had with strangers have been people in their 50s and above who know how to engage in casual conversation and find joy in it rather than angst. Go to a coffee shop and talk to a stranger. We should all do more of that. It's healthy.
  - cognivore 11y ago
    I have nothing to add but what a great post.
  - petra 11y ago
    It's not just you or your therapist friend. According to a study[1]: Empathy Dropped 40% in College Students between 2000 to 2010. And now everything is much more addictive, and mobile wasn't even that common in 2010. And now we have virtual reality, which when you read the research some scary side effects surface - stuff like "derealization" - basically having a consistent feeling that real life isn't real. Or stuff about ads having deep brainwashing like power. And almost nobody is working to solve those issues. [1]https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/born-love/201005/shocker-empathy-dropped-40-in-college-students-2000 https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/born-love/201005/shocke...
    - bpchaps 11y ago
      Wow. I've been suspecting this more and more, but whenever I bring it up or similar, it ends with an asinine amount of resistance and I'm regarded as an SJW, worse, and even unempathetic. Hell, when I bring up some of the civics work I do, people get angry that I'm trying to help others. Parpaphrased statements like, "Why are you trying to help dumb people?" are unbearably common and sad. Thanks for the article. It gives me a lot to think about (after fact checking, of course).
- drinknderive 11y ago
  If you are trying to fix this. I started muting everything that came across my feeds, that why I can use it for my groups and only the friends I want to see how things are going.
- sk8ingdom 11y ago
  > As much as I despise the lack of depth in the average content, I feel confident that Facebook has stumbled on something in our animal behavior that draws us closer to it. For me the beginning of the end was when Facebook created the Newsfeed and started "optimizing" it based on your behavior. Suddenly, content was no longer chronological (including photos in a single post!), all articles were click-bait, and most posts were "on behalf of the user". For example, "So-and-so has liked Pepsi!", "So-and-so has expressed interest in this local event!", etc. All content seems designed to provide the illusion that everyone is always on Facebook. And you should be too! Luckily, I've found a workaround that fits my workflow well. I'm still a pretty avid RSS (GNU Emacs / Gnus) user, so I added the people I care about to my "Close Friends" group, subscribed to the RSS feed, and read it on my own time. Posts maintain chronological order and are 100% text (unless I choose to click on them). Most importantly, when I'm done sifting through the notifications, I'm done. Since I'm not on the website, Facebook can't manipulate me into wasting my time. With my luck, they're shut down this feature in the near future.
blowski 11y ago
I wonder if and at what point competition authorities will start requiring Facebook to make these options available with accounts on other social networks. Otherwise, we end up in the same place as Internet Explorer killing Netscape on Windows - a company releasing technically inferior products that squash competition by using their strengths in other irrelevant areas. I can use Whatsapp and Instagram without a Facebook account, and there's no reason I couldn't use this new video streaming thing in the same way.
- amelius 11y ago
  I guess in theory they should already be required by the telecommunications act of 1996 [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_Act_of_1996 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_Act_of_1996
cm3 11y ago
I've never used Facebook or LinkedIn and I'm someone who doesn't feel the urge to sign up. Should I be concerned?
- cbeach 11y ago
  I find that my friends who don't use Facebook become a little bit detached from my social scene. It's sad but true. It's a bit like those friends that stubbornly refused to get a mobile phone in the nineties - I just didn't keep in touch with them as much as my friends that had mobiles. Their argument was that they didn't want to be reachable all the time. Fair enough, but the trade off for them is that they're less reachable socially. Eventually, of course, they got a phone. And eventually I'm sure everyone will be on Facebook too. There's nothing dystopian about sharing news, plans and photos.
  - kaybe 11y ago
    That really depends on who you're sharing with and what the expectations are.
- jackcosgrove 11y ago
  LinkedIn is a free online business card. Facebook is unnecessary and probably a time-suck and privacy liability.
- Tenhundfeld 11y ago
  I am "on Facebook", but it's for four specific reasons: 1) So I don't get questions about why I'm not on Facebook. 2) To let friends tag me in pictures (and see what pictures are being posted of me). 3) To let friends invite me to parties through Facebook. 4) See pictures of friends' babies. I think it's good to have a Facebook account. It lets people push stuff to you, and more often I'm seeing invitations coming exclusively through FB. But I personally don't think you're missing anything by not actively using it. Likewise, LinkedIn can be nice to keep tabs on past colleagues, not those you were close to obviously, but those on your periphery. You don't need to participate in the community to get the biggest benefit, IMO.
Gratsby 11y ago
Until you talk to a teenager. "Facebook is for old people..."
- dkopi 11y ago
  ... which is why I use Whatsapp and Instagram, which are totally not Facebook.
  - fosco 11y ago
    aren't both of those owned by facebook? [0][1] or did I miss the </sarcasm> tag [0]http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-02-20/whatsapp-s-founder-goes-from-food-stamps-to-billionaire http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-02-20/whatsapp-s... [1]http://www.businessinsider.com/instagram-heres-why-we-just-sold-for-1-billion-2012-4 http://www.businessinsider.com/instagram-heres-why-we-just-s...
- uptownJimmy 11y ago
  And then the teenager grows up and becomes an "old person", at which point we'll see them on Facebook.
  - jerf 11y ago
    At the moment, the frequency of social app turnover is much higher than the rate at which people become old, even for definitions of "old" as low as "30". Facebook is bucking the trend, but it's still not possible to know whether that's a "permanent" situation or just a trend-bucker. There's no guarantee they'll "end up" on Facebook.
    - basch 11y ago
      if all the webs content ends up migrated into facebook, they wont have a ton of choice. imagine all of yelp and craigslist locked, oh and every small business web page, requiring an account to view. stuff kids might not be interested in, but adults probably are.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
sickbeard 11y ago
I find it really weird that when I click on a browser link from the facebook site to an external site, it ends up going back to opening facebook in firefox which asks me to login from the browser so I can see this external website. It's like it wants me to view the internet from facebook wtf
- Jaruzel 11y ago
  That's actually doing you a service - Facebook maintain a database of malware sites, and they run the link through it to make you aren't going to be exposed. Of course, they don't really do this for your benefit, as it also enables them to track metrics on which links get clicked.
SonicSoul 11y ago
ever since i enabled 2 factor i'm too lazy to log in so that did the trick. When I do log in once in a while, it just looks like a tumblr feed of people posting funny videos with occasional personal photo, I can get that on reddit already. so i'm just keeping my account alive in case i have anything to announce in the future..
- cbeach 11y ago
  You can control what you see from individual people and what things they share. It's very granular and it works well. You can also follow really interesting people, pages and groups. It's all about using the tool properly.
  - SonicSoul 11y ago
    I find following interesting people on twitter to be a better signal to noise ratio. That way I get exactly what they put out and nothing more, instead of some complicated algorithm designed to keep me "engaged".
    - mxuribe 11y ago
      I agree, i do like Twitter just a slight tad more...but I wonder: if a person is following someone on Twitter, do they see all of the actual output from that person? Or does Twitter do something similar to Facebook, and limit things a bit? If not now, then I wonder if it will happen eventually (Twitter's gotta monetize somehow, someday)? I should have began my comment with the disclaimer that I am becoming more and more of a curmudgeon of being a user on someone else's platform. Doubtful I'll get to RMS levels, but def. I'm a curmudgeon. ;-)
      - SonicSoul 11y ago
        frankly I wish twitter would do this for direct replies to other tweets (maybe just show the first reply, and to see the rest you should click on that thread)
  - 11y ago
ams6110 11y ago
I'm on Facebook for one reason --- GoFundMe insisted I needed a Facebook account to "validate" my campaign. I have never logged in to Facebook since. They send me email about 3x day about everything I'm "missing" LOL.
- mrweasel 11y ago
  Sort of similar: I've only kept my Facebook account because I need it for work. I log in to Facebook (Business) and check that our product feed is behaving, and log out.
xlayn 11y ago
Facebook is slowly eating the rest of the Internet... of course that depends on your use of the internet. I have a profile but it's been closed for years. For me the internet are forums that provide some technical insight that helps me fix a problem, open source software and a way to buy something without getting out of my chair. On the plus side, facebook took away from email a lot of non requested emails and that made more straightforward the service, another plus is that suddenly I can get telephone numbers for most stores in case I need to do a call (sometimes small business doesn't have a webpage)
- rokhayakebe 11y ago
  Some of the reasons Facebook took away from email are UI/UX-based: 1) have you ever wanted to send just a message without a subject line (email forces you to stop and think for 2 seconds, which is not good), 2) you have to remember the person's email address or how it starts (emails are still not great at just entering the person's name), 3) if the person changes email address you have to know the new one or your mail goes undelivered. FB gave these folks email without all the above extra and folders, tags, and all that other non sense.
dkopi 11y ago
Not sure if it's an Israeli thing, but Facebook groups are probably the biggest value I get out of Facebook (excluding messanger/whatsapp). We have very active programming groups (Israeli IOS/Android devs, Javascript Israel), neighborhood and city groups (Secret Tel Aviv), social groups (Burning man Israel) and even a large discussion group about politics and economics.
- meadhikari 11y ago
  This. I spent 95% of my time on Facebook in groups. Its definitely not a Israeli thing. In Nepal too, we have groups of programming language, groups about all sort of stuffs.
- ssalenik 11y ago
  This, for me (in Canada). I now regularly throughout the day check several facebook groups related to my various hobbies. For example a group where serious cyclists from my area are buying/selling parts. Yes, I also check craigslist/kijiji, but the Facebook group is much more responsive, you can ask questions and comment, and I don't have to sift through a bunch of cheap parts I don't want. Also I trust it more because most people are somehow connected. In fact I hardly ever check my facebook feed anymore, I mostly just go directly to the group I'm interested in.
- mkohlmyr 11y ago
  Not just an Israeli thing. I firmly believe messenger and groups (+ group events) are the only parts of Facebook that actually consistently provide value to users. The rest of it exists for the purpose of turning those users into a sellable product.
- zjaffee 11y ago
  Its everywhere, the hackathon facebook group, which is primarily americans, has something like 35,000 members.
alaaf 11y ago
# Hostfile 127.0.0.1 localhost facebook.com www.facebook.com Best decision ever.
- thinkMOAR 11y ago
  I know its going to be down voted, but hear hear!! i second this.
- pdkl95 11y ago
  # if you're bothering with a hostfile block, you probably want these fbcdn.com www.fbcdn.com fbcdn.net www.fbcdn.net www.static.ak.fbcdn.net static.ak.fbcdn.net facebook.com www.facebook.com connect.facebook.com login.facebook.com www.login.facebook.com www.static.ak.connect.facebook.com static.ak.connect.facebook.com www.static.ak.facebook.com static.ak.facebook.com # might want to add these as well google-analytics.com www.google-analytics.com ssl.google-analytics.com
bovermyer 11y ago
I have friends and family scattered all over the place. They're all on Facebook. That makes it really easy to connect with them, which reinforces the loop. I use Facebook Messenger more often than texts now. But perhaps more interestingly, I'm neither addicted to Facebook nor worried about this trend. It just fades into the background for me. The real value is the communication I have with other people. And as for the ads... I rarely notice them anymore.
- oever 11y ago
  I think it would be more accurate to say people are in Facebook instead of on Facebook.
thieving_magpie 11y ago
While I agree with the premise, considering the source is a Bezos owned paper it's a little funny. That's amazon's modus operandi.
justinhensley 11y ago
I deleted my Facebook sometime ago when I noticed an acute "icky" feeling every time I used it. Whether it was the posts complaining about whatever the latest outrage was (Supreme Court legalizing same sex marriage, etc) or the barrage of games, or whatever else, the signal to noise ratio was awful. That was about a year ago. I don't miss it, and I don't feel that I'm missing anything. I think there are plenty of niche, high value aggregators of content, and ways to "connect" that are more useful to me. Such as where I am posting now. And I don't have to feel bad about myself when I use them.
- devin_liu 11y ago
  where are said aggregators of content?
teh_klev 11y ago
Archive copy, for those like me who are crap at getting around paywalls: http://archive.is/MP459 http://archive.is/MP459
toddmorey 11y ago
From the article: "Facebook does come out with great, original ideas. It reinvented the iconic 'like' button and created Facebook reactions." I know they had to tread carefully on a heavily-used feature of the app. And it's a welcome update for sure. Still, let's not oversell it, either. They added a few more icons. I hope that's not the leading example of a great, original idea.
nekomancer 11y ago
As much as I dislike facebook, I've moved around a lot throughout my life, as have a lot of my friends, both from high school and university. So realistically, I just don't see any realistic alternative single platform which allows me to keep in touch with all these people. If such a platform did exist, and I knew about it, I would switch immediately. Their entire business model revolves around getting users addicted, and their history of abusing user's data means I will never be able to even trust the platform. That being said, I limit my facebook usage to messanger and wishing people happy birthday, so I guess it could be worse.
- josu 11y ago
  >If such a platform did exist, and I knew about it, I would switch immediately. >That being said, I limit my facebook usage to messanger and wishing people happy birthday, so I guess it could be worse. You don't need a platform, you need a messaging tool and, if you don't mind the lack of encryption, you could just use email.
  - nekomancer 11y ago
    True, but I also need people I want to talk to to be on the messaging tool, which is the real issue here. As for email, to me it just doesn't serve the same purpose that IM does. It's analogous to sending letters back and forth as opposed to having a face-to-face conversation -- the increased time lag between replies encouraged by the medium has a huge influence on the nature of conversations that occur through it. I still use email, for example when I want to send something more in-depth to someone and I don't expect a quick reply. But it's not the right tool if I want a real-time, informal conversation with someone, which is most of my conversations.
    - jankedout 11y ago
      I use Google Messenger. Everyone has a cell phone number. No need to enroll. I can share pictures, audio, text, video. Text messaging is the only thing you need. I have a group chat with 2/3 other friends I've know for 20+ years. Then I usually text others individually. Facebook is an awful medium to conduct intimate conversations over. After two failed attempts to ditch it in the past, I've been off Facebook for a year. I can attest that you won't miss it. Just use SMS.
return0 11y ago
I am not on facebook, and yet i don't see the internet being "eaten" around me. Maybe it's a good thing to have a wall behind which all the trivialities occur. If something great happens, it will jump out of there. Facebook is apparently "eating" the social networking world. To me, that's good, i would like to see companies innovating in other, more exciting areas.
quattrofan 11y ago
Eventually Facebook will become evil, and eventually probably after that the Govt will have to regulate it or break it up.
adrianwaj 11y ago
I think on FB, celebs can follow normal people without them appearing as their followers (can anyone confirm this??) This means that power moves up the chain, but not necessarily down it (you lose the bragging rights.) What sort of company culture would do that?
vit05 11y ago
Facebook is the most powerful attempt to construct a true modern walled garden. Bots and VR could be really useful in this attempt. Please, do not let this happen.
tmaly 11y ago
The only reason why I have not been using Facebook is their android app on 4.4.3 burns through my battery. I still have their messenger app which I use every now and then to keep in touch with friends overseas. I might return to using the regular it in the future.

facebook - microsoft for the next 50 years.

I'm really ashamed to admit it, but I am addicted to Facebook. As much as I despise the lack of depth in the average content, I feel confident that Facebook has stumbled on something in our animal behavior that draws us closer to it. I've always explained the phenomenon of gossip rags as a surrogate for our innate need to be social. Rather than engaging in actual social scenarios (which can carry social risks), many people have fulfilled our social needs with television shows and gossip rags. Celebrities have become a surrogate community members for many people, and I suspect Facebook ups that by one by creating a platform where you can interact with friends, celebrities and strangers in an environment that mitigates most (not all) risks. I wish I had a clever idea for a solution to this because I really think the world deserves an open social platform that not only engages people socially, but provides the social lubricant to enable people to form online/offline clubs and interact with each other in a high-bandwidth so we can use the internet to teach each other and create fun things with each other. Maybe it's only a matter of bandwidth, transistors and time.

Retric 11y ago
Facebook has a large disincentive to connecting people in the real world. If you're at a watching movies, camping in the woods, or just hanging out then you're not online. Worse, the more you connect in the real world the less interesting passive browsing becomes. Sure, you can still use FB to IM, but that's far less profitable for them. <click><click><click><click>...
- steego 11y ago
  Facebook is beholden to its shareholders first and foremost, then it's customers (advertisers, not you). Lastly, they want to make the inventory happy (that's you), so they can dish up ads. Now, if Facebook manages to release a successful augmented reality platform, they will have no qualms with you going out in the real world. If you're camping in the woods, that's just a nice opportunity for a singalong app to place an ad for you and your buddies. If you're going to the movies, that's an opportunity for Coke to subtly remind you that you can get Coke points on your way. It would be that Facebook has an incentive to get you out into the real world if they can influence where you go and spend your money. There are many ways you can do that without augmented reality.
  - tim333 11y ago
    Facebook is controlled by Zuckerberg who had 56.9 percent of the shareholder voting power and can tell the shareholders and advertisers to get lost if he really wants.
- luxpir 11y ago
  Another issue I've found since leaving the 'Facebook family' a few years back; there's a large disincentive for members you leave behind to contact you. You fall out of their habitual communication methods. The onus is on you to call them, which is already hard enough when both people could initiate the call. It becomes a much rarer event unless concerted effort is made. So until 'the next big social thing' comes along, I'm essentially out in the cold in many respects. But it's a price I'm willing to pay. I simply can't bring myself to support them in any way. The veneer of goodwill is very easy to see through with their constant manipulation tactics. And besides, it's not all bad; it hasn't stopped me from being invited to major events in my social circle. It's nice not to feel beholden to a website, which was the case when I was a member. The psychological effects are yet to be studied in depth, I'm sure.
  - manmal 11y ago
    A friend of mine returned to FB a few days ago, claiming that he had lost like 90% of his social contact. That sounds a bit much to me, bur one should definitely take this into consideration before leaving.
Tenhundfeld 11y ago
I go through an experience about once a year: 1) Log in to Facebook to look at picture of friend's new baby. This is nice. 2) Start browsing around, seeing what other friends have been up to. Oh neato. ... an hour later 3) Looking up people I knew in high school but haven't kept up with. ... another hour later 4) Holy crap, where'd the morning go? I can't do this. Shut it down. 5) Wait ~12 months for next event that draws me to the site. Repeat.
- softawre 11y ago
  4 hours per year on facebook is pretty good :)
- burkaman 11y ago
  Wouldn't it make a little more sense to spread those four hours out over the year? I never spend more than a few minutes at a time on Facebook, because there's never that much new stuff since I looked at it yesterday.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - Tenhundfeld 11y ago
    Yeah, definitely. I think for my personality, I just have a really hard time just "snacking" on Facebook. I also might have a more active set of Facebook friends/family than you do. I feel like whenever I open it, even when I've toyed with checking it weekly, I end up spending hours reading posts and articles people have linked to, etc. It's easier for me to just ignore it for months at a time and being okay missing the occasional important update.
- reitanqild 11y ago
  I try to use facebook more [0][1] but I just find it boring compared to family, work, friends and HN. [0]: I really struggle with faces and figured Facebook would be perfect for practicing. [1]: If anyone knows if someone has made a game out of names and faces on the social graph I'd be interested. If not gøfeel free to steal that idea.
Spooky23 11y ago
Just sign out. Facebook's response is hilarious -- they send you "please come back" emails for a few weeks. I stopped using it a few months ago, don't really miss it at all. If you find you're missing someone whom you normally interacted with on Facebook, give them a call.
- jessaustin 11y ago
  Yeah those messages are hilarious. I got a pathetic new wrinkle on that the other day: It looks like someone tried to log into your account on April XX at X:XXxm using an unknown device. Your account is safe; we just wanted to make sure it was you who tried to log in from somewhere new. If you don't think this was you, please log into Facebook so we can walk you through a few steps to keep your account safe. Haha nice try Zuck!
Raphmedia 11y ago
> I feel confident that Facebook has stumbled on something in our animal behavior that draws us closer to it. I strongly agree. I also believe that it is very easy to disturb their black magic. Ever since I started using Stylish to customize the interface, I find myself less compulsively drawn to it. My version of Facebook remplaces all the blue for red hues and adds a wallpaper. I find that this makes Facebook more tiring to use. This must be why Facebook is so against browser apps that change their features even when it's only minimally.
- amelius 11y ago
  > Ever since I started using Stylish to customize the interface, I find myself less compulsively drawn to it. Ever since I added the following entry in my /etc/hosts file, I find myself less compulsively drawn to it: 127.0.0.2 facebook.com www.facebook.com
  - Raphmedia 11y ago
    I'm not sure if it's a joke or not, but using the hosts file to block websites is a big way to gain productivity. Even better if you ask your admin to do it while not giving you the rights to change it back! Edit: Also, Hacker News has built-in features to do this. Look up "noprocrast" in your profile! You have "maxvisit" and "minaway" you can use to keep you from coming here too much!
    - drjesusphd 11y ago
      It's easy to dismiss little hacks like this because "you can always change it back". But what I've found is the simple little disruption of a lazy habit is enough. If I need to open the hosts file with sudo, that's enough of a block
- s4chin 11y ago
  Can you give a link of the style?
  - 11y ago
kevinbluer 11y ago
One thing that has recently helped me kick the "addiction" is by unfollowing literally everybody I know. It's taken a while, but now when I go back in it literally says something to the effect that "you need to follow friends to get news in your feed". I'm now placing the onus on going back in and actively going to the feeds of friends and family that I care about; as opposed to the mindless thumbing through the feed.
spoinkaroo 11y ago
I got a chrome extension that blocks my newsfeed. Forces me to look at it on mobile only and only use FB for messenger.
tdkl 11y ago
> I feel confident that Facebook has stumbled on something in our animal behavior that draws us closer to it. It's a "novelty addiction". They weren't the first, it's just its content is closer and more relevant to you since it's people you know. The feeling when you find something new gives you a pleasurable dopamine hit, so you're constantly looking for more. Same can be said for people addicted to reddit, HN, Twitter, etc.
ZenoArrow 11y ago
> "I wish I had a clever idea for a solution to this because I really think the world deserves an open social platform that not only engages people socially, but provides the social lubricant to enable people to form online/offline clubs and interact with each other in a high-bandwidth so we can use the internet to teach each other and create fun things with each other." So like Meetup but with a stronger online discussion platform? http://www.meetup.com/ http://www.meetup.com/
Diederich 11y ago
I am not addicted to facebook or any other social media. In fact, the only reason I use them with any regularity is to take part in social interactions with my immediate family. However, I still think you're onto something. Social media has figured out how to really, at a deep level, grab our attention and keep it. But it doesn't work on me because I'm not a very social person. I'm pretty far on the 'recluse' spectrum.
golemotron 11y ago
Facebook is the social equivalent of fast food. They've tuned the menu to make it addictive. > I wish I had a clever idea for a solution to this because I really think the world deserves an open social platform that not only engages people socially, but provides the social lubricant to enable people to form online/offline clubs and interact with each other in a high-bandwidth so we can use the internet to teach each other and create fun things with each other. It's called a coffee shop. We need to get off the curated online experiences and back to interacting with people physically. It's vital. A therapist friend of mine says that most of the clients he sees that are teens or in their 20s have poor interaction skills in person and social phobia. Those lead to incredible rejection anxiety. I know from my own experience that some of the best conversations I've had with strangers have been people in their 50s and above who know how to engage in casual conversation and find joy in it rather than angst. Go to a coffee shop and talk to a stranger. We should all do more of that. It's healthy.
- cognivore 11y ago
  I have nothing to add but what a great post.
- petra 11y ago
  It's not just you or your therapist friend. According to a study[1]: Empathy Dropped 40% in College Students between 2000 to 2010. And now everything is much more addictive, and mobile wasn't even that common in 2010. And now we have virtual reality, which when you read the research some scary side effects surface - stuff like "derealization" - basically having a consistent feeling that real life isn't real. Or stuff about ads having deep brainwashing like power. And almost nobody is working to solve those issues. [1]https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/born-love/201005/shocker-empathy-dropped-40-in-college-students-2000 https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/born-love/201005/shocke...
  - bpchaps 11y ago
    Wow. I've been suspecting this more and more, but whenever I bring it up or similar, it ends with an asinine amount of resistance and I'm regarded as an SJW, worse, and even unempathetic. Hell, when I bring up some of the civics work I do, people get angry that I'm trying to help others. Parpaphrased statements like, "Why are you trying to help dumb people?" are unbearably common and sad. Thanks for the article. It gives me a lot to think about (after fact checking, of course).
drinknderive 11y ago
If you are trying to fix this. I started muting everything that came across my feeds, that why I can use it for my groups and only the friends I want to see how things are going.
sk8ingdom 11y ago
> As much as I despise the lack of depth in the average content, I feel confident that Facebook has stumbled on something in our animal behavior that draws us closer to it. For me the beginning of the end was when Facebook created the Newsfeed and started "optimizing" it based on your behavior. Suddenly, content was no longer chronological (including photos in a single post!), all articles were click-bait, and most posts were "on behalf of the user". For example, "So-and-so has liked Pepsi!", "So-and-so has expressed interest in this local event!", etc. All content seems designed to provide the illusion that everyone is always on Facebook. And you should be too! Luckily, I've found a workaround that fits my workflow well. I'm still a pretty avid RSS (GNU Emacs / Gnus) user, so I added the people I care about to my "Close Friends" group, subscribed to the RSS feed, and read it on my own time. Posts maintain chronological order and are 100% text (unless I choose to click on them). Most importantly, when I'm done sifting through the notifications, I'm done. Since I'm not on the website, Facebook can't manipulate me into wasting my time. With my luck, they're shut down this feature in the near future.

blowski 11y ago

I wonder if and at what point competition authorities will start requiring Facebook to make these options available with accounts on other social networks. Otherwise, we end up in the same place as Internet Explorer killing Netscape on Windows - a company releasing technically inferior products that squash competition by using their strengths in other irrelevant areas. I can use Whatsapp and Instagram without a Facebook account, and there's no reason I couldn't use this new video streaming thing in the same way.

amelius 11y ago
I guess in theory they should already be required by the telecommunications act of 1996 [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_Act_of_1996 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_Act_of_1996

cm3 11y ago

I've never used Facebook or LinkedIn and I'm someone who doesn't feel the urge to sign up. Should I be concerned?

cbeach 11y ago
I find that my friends who don't use Facebook become a little bit detached from my social scene. It's sad but true. It's a bit like those friends that stubbornly refused to get a mobile phone in the nineties - I just didn't keep in touch with them as much as my friends that had mobiles. Their argument was that they didn't want to be reachable all the time. Fair enough, but the trade off for them is that they're less reachable socially. Eventually, of course, they got a phone. And eventually I'm sure everyone will be on Facebook too. There's nothing dystopian about sharing news, plans and photos.
- kaybe 11y ago
  That really depends on who you're sharing with and what the expectations are.
jackcosgrove 11y ago
LinkedIn is a free online business card. Facebook is unnecessary and probably a time-suck and privacy liability.
Tenhundfeld 11y ago
I am "on Facebook", but it's for four specific reasons: 1) So I don't get questions about why I'm not on Facebook. 2) To let friends tag me in pictures (and see what pictures are being posted of me). 3) To let friends invite me to parties through Facebook. 4) See pictures of friends' babies. I think it's good to have a Facebook account. It lets people push stuff to you, and more often I'm seeing invitations coming exclusively through FB. But I personally don't think you're missing anything by not actively using it. Likewise, LinkedIn can be nice to keep tabs on past colleagues, not those you were close to obviously, but those on your periphery. You don't need to participate in the community to get the biggest benefit, IMO.

Gratsby 11y ago

Until you talk to a teenager. "Facebook is for old people..."

dkopi 11y ago
... which is why I use Whatsapp and Instagram, which are totally not Facebook.
- fosco 11y ago
  aren't both of those owned by facebook? [0][1] or did I miss the </sarcasm> tag [0]http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-02-20/whatsapp-s-founder-goes-from-food-stamps-to-billionaire http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-02-20/whatsapp-s... [1]http://www.businessinsider.com/instagram-heres-why-we-just-sold-for-1-billion-2012-4 http://www.businessinsider.com/instagram-heres-why-we-just-s...
uptownJimmy 11y ago
And then the teenager grows up and becomes an "old person", at which point we'll see them on Facebook.
- jerf 11y ago
  At the moment, the frequency of social app turnover is much higher than the rate at which people become old, even for definitions of "old" as low as "30". Facebook is bucking the trend, but it's still not possible to know whether that's a "permanent" situation or just a trend-bucker. There's no guarantee they'll "end up" on Facebook.
  - basch 11y ago
    if all the webs content ends up migrated into facebook, they wont have a ton of choice. imagine all of yelp and craigslist locked, oh and every small business web page, requiring an account to view. stuff kids might not be interested in, but adults probably are.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

sickbeard 11y ago

I find it really weird that when I click on a browser link from the facebook site to an external site, it ends up going back to opening facebook in firefox which asks me to login from the browser so I can see this external website. It's like it wants me to view the internet from facebook wtf

Jaruzel 11y ago
That's actually doing you a service - Facebook maintain a database of malware sites, and they run the link through it to make you aren't going to be exposed. Of course, they don't really do this for your benefit, as it also enables them to track metrics on which links get clicked.

SonicSoul 11y ago

ever since i enabled 2 factor i'm too lazy to log in so that did the trick. When I do log in once in a while, it just looks like a tumblr feed of people posting funny videos with occasional personal photo, I can get that on reddit already. so i'm just keeping my account alive in case i have anything to announce in the future..

cbeach 11y ago
You can control what you see from individual people and what things they share. It's very granular and it works well. You can also follow really interesting people, pages and groups. It's all about using the tool properly.
- SonicSoul 11y ago
  I find following interesting people on twitter to be a better signal to noise ratio. That way I get exactly what they put out and nothing more, instead of some complicated algorithm designed to keep me "engaged".
  - mxuribe 11y ago
    I agree, i do like Twitter just a slight tad more...but I wonder: if a person is following someone on Twitter, do they see all of the actual output from that person? Or does Twitter do something similar to Facebook, and limit things a bit? If not now, then I wonder if it will happen eventually (Twitter's gotta monetize somehow, someday)? I should have began my comment with the disclaimer that I am becoming more and more of a curmudgeon of being a user on someone else's platform. Doubtful I'll get to RMS levels, but def. I'm a curmudgeon. ;-)
    - SonicSoul 11y ago
      frankly I wish twitter would do this for direct replies to other tweets (maybe just show the first reply, and to see the rest you should click on that thread)
- 11y ago

ams6110 11y ago

I'm on Facebook for one reason --- GoFundMe insisted I needed a Facebook account to "validate" my campaign. I have never logged in to Facebook since. They send me email about 3x day about everything I'm "missing" LOL.

mrweasel 11y ago
Sort of similar: I've only kept my Facebook account because I need it for work. I log in to Facebook (Business) and check that our product feed is behaving, and log out.

xlayn 11y ago

Facebook is slowly eating the rest of the Internet... of course that depends on your use of the internet. I have a profile but it's been closed for years. For me the internet are forums that provide some technical insight that helps me fix a problem, open source software and a way to buy something without getting out of my chair. On the plus side, facebook took away from email a lot of non requested emails and that made more straightforward the service, another plus is that suddenly I can get telephone numbers for most stores in case I need to do a call (sometimes small business doesn't have a webpage)

rokhayakebe 11y ago
Some of the reasons Facebook took away from email are UI/UX-based: 1) have you ever wanted to send just a message without a subject line (email forces you to stop and think for 2 seconds, which is not good), 2) you have to remember the person's email address or how it starts (emails are still not great at just entering the person's name), 3) if the person changes email address you have to know the new one or your mail goes undelivered. FB gave these folks email without all the above extra and folders, tags, and all that other non sense.

dkopi 11y ago

Not sure if it's an Israeli thing, but Facebook groups are probably the biggest value I get out of Facebook (excluding messanger/whatsapp). We have very active programming groups (Israeli IOS/Android devs, Javascript Israel), neighborhood and city groups (Secret Tel Aviv), social groups (Burning man Israel) and even a large discussion group about politics and economics.

meadhikari 11y ago
This. I spent 95% of my time on Facebook in groups. Its definitely not a Israeli thing. In Nepal too, we have groups of programming language, groups about all sort of stuffs.
ssalenik 11y ago
This, for me (in Canada). I now regularly throughout the day check several facebook groups related to my various hobbies. For example a group where serious cyclists from my area are buying/selling parts. Yes, I also check craigslist/kijiji, but the Facebook group is much more responsive, you can ask questions and comment, and I don't have to sift through a bunch of cheap parts I don't want. Also I trust it more because most people are somehow connected. In fact I hardly ever check my facebook feed anymore, I mostly just go directly to the group I'm interested in.
mkohlmyr 11y ago
Not just an Israeli thing. I firmly believe messenger and groups (+ group events) are the only parts of Facebook that actually consistently provide value to users. The rest of it exists for the purpose of turning those users into a sellable product.
zjaffee 11y ago
Its everywhere, the hackathon facebook group, which is primarily americans, has something like 35,000 members.

alaaf 11y ago

# Hostfile 127.0.0.1 localhost facebook.com www.facebook.com Best decision ever.

thinkMOAR 11y ago
I know its going to be down voted, but hear hear!! i second this.
pdkl95 11y ago
# if you're bothering with a hostfile block, you probably want these fbcdn.com www.fbcdn.com fbcdn.net www.fbcdn.net www.static.ak.fbcdn.net static.ak.fbcdn.net facebook.com www.facebook.com connect.facebook.com login.facebook.com www.login.facebook.com www.static.ak.connect.facebook.com static.ak.connect.facebook.com www.static.ak.facebook.com static.ak.facebook.com # might want to add these as well google-analytics.com www.google-analytics.com ssl.google-analytics.com

bovermyer 11y ago

I have friends and family scattered all over the place. They're all on Facebook. That makes it really easy to connect with them, which reinforces the loop. I use Facebook Messenger more often than texts now. But perhaps more interestingly, I'm neither addicted to Facebook nor worried about this trend. It just fades into the background for me. The real value is the communication I have with other people. And as for the ads... I rarely notice them anymore.

oever 11y ago
I think it would be more accurate to say people are in Facebook instead of on Facebook.

thieving_magpie 11y ago

While I agree with the premise, considering the source is a Bezos owned paper it's a little funny. That's amazon's modus operandi.

justinhensley 11y ago

I deleted my Facebook sometime ago when I noticed an acute "icky" feeling every time I used it. Whether it was the posts complaining about whatever the latest outrage was (Supreme Court legalizing same sex marriage, etc) or the barrage of games, or whatever else, the signal to noise ratio was awful. That was about a year ago. I don't miss it, and I don't feel that I'm missing anything. I think there are plenty of niche, high value aggregators of content, and ways to "connect" that are more useful to me. Such as where I am posting now. And I don't have to feel bad about myself when I use them.

devin_liu 11y ago
where are said aggregators of content?

teh_klev 11y ago

Archive copy, for those like me who are crap at getting around paywalls: http://archive.is/MP459 http://archive.is/MP459

toddmorey 11y ago

From the article: "Facebook does come out with great, original ideas. It reinvented the iconic 'like' button and created Facebook reactions." I know they had to tread carefully on a heavily-used feature of the app. And it's a welcome update for sure. Still, let's not oversell it, either. They added a few more icons. I hope that's not the leading example of a great, original idea.

nekomancer 11y ago

As much as I dislike facebook, I've moved around a lot throughout my life, as have a lot of my friends, both from high school and university. So realistically, I just don't see any realistic alternative single platform which allows me to keep in touch with all these people. If such a platform did exist, and I knew about it, I would switch immediately. Their entire business model revolves around getting users addicted, and their history of abusing user's data means I will never be able to even trust the platform. That being said, I limit my facebook usage to messanger and wishing people happy birthday, so I guess it could be worse.

josu 11y ago
>If such a platform did exist, and I knew about it, I would switch immediately. >That being said, I limit my facebook usage to messanger and wishing people happy birthday, so I guess it could be worse. You don't need a platform, you need a messaging tool and, if you don't mind the lack of encryption, you could just use email.
- nekomancer 11y ago
  True, but I also need people I want to talk to to be on the messaging tool, which is the real issue here. As for email, to me it just doesn't serve the same purpose that IM does. It's analogous to sending letters back and forth as opposed to having a face-to-face conversation -- the increased time lag between replies encouraged by the medium has a huge influence on the nature of conversations that occur through it. I still use email, for example when I want to send something more in-depth to someone and I don't expect a quick reply. But it's not the right tool if I want a real-time, informal conversation with someone, which is most of my conversations.
  - jankedout 11y ago
    I use Google Messenger. Everyone has a cell phone number. No need to enroll. I can share pictures, audio, text, video. Text messaging is the only thing you need. I have a group chat with 2/3 other friends I've know for 20+ years. Then I usually text others individually. Facebook is an awful medium to conduct intimate conversations over. After two failed attempts to ditch it in the past, I've been off Facebook for a year. I can attest that you won't miss it. Just use SMS.

return0 11y ago

I am not on facebook, and yet i don't see the internet being "eaten" around me. Maybe it's a good thing to have a wall behind which all the trivialities occur. If something great happens, it will jump out of there. Facebook is apparently "eating" the social networking world. To me, that's good, i would like to see companies innovating in other, more exciting areas.

quattrofan 11y ago

Eventually Facebook will become evil, and eventually probably after that the Govt will have to regulate it or break it up.

adrianwaj 11y ago

I think on FB, celebs can follow normal people without them appearing as their followers (can anyone confirm this??) This means that power moves up the chain, but not necessarily down it (you lose the bragging rights.) What sort of company culture would do that?

vit05 11y ago

Facebook is the most powerful attempt to construct a true modern walled garden. Bots and VR could be really useful in this attempt. Please, do not let this happen.

tmaly 11y ago

The only reason why I have not been using Facebook is their android app on 4.4.3 burns through my battery. I still have their messenger app which I use every now and then to keep in touch with friends overseas. I might return to using the regular it in the future.