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The weakest part of this essay is its conclusion. What to do - use Facebook? There's nothing else that can be done at this stage, really? How about: 1. Go out
by unimpressive 10y ago
The weakest part of this essay is its conclusion. What to do - use Facebook? There's nothing else that can be done at this stage, really?
How about:
1. Go out of your way to support alternative distribution platforms such as the 'indie web', gnusocial, etc. (Whether through use, development, etc. Every bit helps.)
2. Figuring out some kind of movement or legislative action we can take to end free basics, since it's egregious monopoly behavior.
- kennywinker 10y agoSeriously. Bad conclusions. Facebook's news feed algorithms mean what users put into facebook has very little to do with what users get out of facebook. The author doesn't want to live in an "enlightened literati echo chamber", but is resigning himself to living in a algorithmic clickbate echo chamber.
- vehementi 10y agoNot "resigning", but rather hopefully leveraging it
- kennywinker 10y agoI guess my point was I don't think you can leverage it. The algorithm will just hide stuff that doesn't fit Facebook's agenda.
- vehementi 10y ago"use facebook" is kind of a disingenuous summary of the conclusion. The author understands we should all stop using facebook, but the few people who understand this (e.g. that read this article) quitting facebook won't help anything.
- unimpressive 10y agoI'm aware that the author wants us to leverage Facebook to dismantle it, and that might be a fine suggestion. But leaving that as the only advice on what the author considers to be an existential threat to the Internet is almost satire. (And especially in the way they wrote it, which basically boils down to "idle passive aggressively on Facebook".) I genuinely wondered for a moment if the author was controlled opposition.
- a3n 10y agoI just wished three families Happy Thanksgiving, by putting all three family members that I mainly contact in the To line of an email. Even included a picture of my family. You can stay known to "anyone who happens to be listening," or you can stay intentionally engaged with "those people that you specifically care about." Both ways take very little effort. Regarding Facebook, it's strange to feel like I'm not missing anything and simultaneously feel like I'm missing something.