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The author, despite an intentionally abrasive tone, nails the analysis. Facebook could literally disappear tomorrow, and the world would keep going. It's only p

The author, despite an intentionally abrasive tone, nails the analysis. Facebook could literally disappear tomorrow, and the world would keep going. It's only power is it's network effect. A thousand networks (more local and more useful) would spring up in it's place if it kicked the bucket.

6stringmerc 10y ago
Yeah I'm really put off by overly optimistic tone and let the pendulum swing pretty hard the other way. I slept on it first though. Knee-jerk reaction, upon reflection, felt worth scribbling out in my own way. No objection to your note of the tone, you're right and I'll acknowledge it.
3pt14159 10y ago
The world would keep going, but it would be very damaged. Millions of peoples memories and photos would disappear and millions of connections between people would be permanently severed. That cute girl you hooked up with in Thailand that said she'd message you when she's visiting SF: gone. The cousin you really get along with that you never see anymore since her father passed away: no more casual reminders she exists. No more university friends. There's such arrogance on HN about Facebook but it makes a bigger difference to ordinary people's lives than any other website. There are challenges, but what do you expect Zuckerberg to do? Let fake news and bullshit, unchecked viral opinions go wild? The smart people are leaving the small towns for the cities and it's destroying the ability for smaller communities to make sense of the world. We need a way of protecting fake news and propaganda from spreading through our social networks. The Facebook isn't run by some scheming cabal of evildoers.
- siegecraft 10y ago
  Wow, it's almost like people never had ways of communicating before facebook...
  - IshKebab 10y ago
    I bet people said the same thing about the telephone.
- gjjrfcbugxbhf 10y ago
  > No more university friends. ??? Do you not have phone numbers for your friends?
  - 3pt14159 10y ago
    I'm 31. Almost all of us are in different cities or countries. Facebook is the only place I see the majority of them.
    - gjjrfcbugxbhf 10y ago
      Not really your friends then.... People you only see on facebook aren't friends.
      - alelefant 10y ago
        I didn't realize someone on the Internet named 'gjjrfcbugxbhf' held the keys to the definition of friendship.
        gjjrfcbugxbhf 10y ago
        Yep I've got the answer to life the universe and everything here as well :p
- rethab 10y ago
  If facebook disappeared (tomorrow or whenever) people will find alternative ways to keep in touch. That is, you will probably have less people of which see the occasional holiday pictures, but in my experience (by quitting facebook), the number of core friends has not changed. Because let's face it, as Sherry Turkle wrote[1], with facebook, we have moved from friendship to a "sense of frienship". I don't doubt that facebook provides some value, but I don't think that value is a sane relation to what we sacrifice as humans. 1. http://www.reclaimingconversationbook.com/ http://www.reclaimingconversationbook.com/
- jackmott 10y ago
  pffft I severed all that stuff and felt better for it.
- fsloth 10y ago
  I stopped using Facebook. I had a lot of people who I've not seen in a long time there. Frankly, if you asked, I could not remember one personal thing I got from their stream. On the other hand, I do have lots of nice memories of actual physical meetings with people. My conclusion based on my biased data set is that the value Facebook brings is ephemeral at best when laid against the skein of real world experiences. My life is not a stream of posts on third party servers.
  - 3pt14159 10y ago
    I've had the complete opposite. I deleted Facebook after they outed a gay friend of mine to his religious parents when they made groups public, but I came back after 5 years without it and I'm invited to far more events and I keep in touch with people from other cities way better. I'm not the type to just randomly text someone I met while visiting a different city, but I'll like a post or leave a comment. Keeping the relationship alive until I'm there next.
- basch 10y ago
  All that demonstrates is that a proprietary, non backed up, non distributed address book is fault intolerant.
clavalle 10y ago
Facebook is powerful. A thousand disparate networks would not have the same potential for global change and community. I am not a huge Facebook fan, but Zuck is right about that much. That potential could be squandered or worse. Right now Facebook is still largely a toy but that potential is there.
- fsloth 10y ago
  "A thousand disparate networks would not have the same potential for global change and community." But Facebook is exactly that - thousand disparate bubbles. People are connected only to items they are analyzed to care about beforehand. If something irks them, rather than coolly analyze it, people get offended and react - often en masse - which triggers the social media rages.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

6stringmerc 10y ago

Yeah I'm really put off by overly optimistic tone and let the pendulum swing pretty hard the other way. I slept on it first though. Knee-jerk reaction, upon reflection, felt worth scribbling out in my own way. No objection to your note of the tone, you're right and I'll acknowledge it.

3pt14159 10y ago

The world would keep going, but it would be very damaged. Millions of peoples memories and photos would disappear and millions of connections between people would be permanently severed. That cute girl you hooked up with in Thailand that said she'd message you when she's visiting SF: gone. The cousin you really get along with that you never see anymore since her father passed away: no more casual reminders she exists. No more university friends. There's such arrogance on HN about Facebook but it makes a bigger difference to ordinary people's lives than any other website. There are challenges, but what do you expect Zuckerberg to do? Let fake news and bullshit, unchecked viral opinions go wild? The smart people are leaving the small towns for the cities and it's destroying the ability for smaller communities to make sense of the world. We need a way of protecting fake news and propaganda from spreading through our social networks. The Facebook isn't run by some scheming cabal of evildoers.

siegecraft 10y ago
Wow, it's almost like people never had ways of communicating before facebook...
- IshKebab 10y ago
  I bet people said the same thing about the telephone.
gjjrfcbugxbhf 10y ago
> No more university friends. ??? Do you not have phone numbers for your friends?
- 3pt14159 10y ago
  I'm 31. Almost all of us are in different cities or countries. Facebook is the only place I see the majority of them.
  - gjjrfcbugxbhf 10y ago
    Not really your friends then.... People you only see on facebook aren't friends.
    - alelefant 10y ago
      I didn't realize someone on the Internet named 'gjjrfcbugxbhf' held the keys to the definition of friendship.
      - gjjrfcbugxbhf 10y ago
        Yep I've got the answer to life the universe and everything here as well :p
rethab 10y ago
If facebook disappeared (tomorrow or whenever) people will find alternative ways to keep in touch. That is, you will probably have less people of which see the occasional holiday pictures, but in my experience (by quitting facebook), the number of core friends has not changed. Because let's face it, as Sherry Turkle wrote[1], with facebook, we have moved from friendship to a "sense of frienship". I don't doubt that facebook provides some value, but I don't think that value is a sane relation to what we sacrifice as humans. 1. http://www.reclaimingconversationbook.com/ http://www.reclaimingconversationbook.com/
jackmott 10y ago
pffft I severed all that stuff and felt better for it.
fsloth 10y ago
I stopped using Facebook. I had a lot of people who I've not seen in a long time there. Frankly, if you asked, I could not remember one personal thing I got from their stream. On the other hand, I do have lots of nice memories of actual physical meetings with people. My conclusion based on my biased data set is that the value Facebook brings is ephemeral at best when laid against the skein of real world experiences. My life is not a stream of posts on third party servers.
- 3pt14159 10y ago
  I've had the complete opposite. I deleted Facebook after they outed a gay friend of mine to his religious parents when they made groups public, but I came back after 5 years without it and I'm invited to far more events and I keep in touch with people from other cities way better. I'm not the type to just randomly text someone I met while visiting a different city, but I'll like a post or leave a comment. Keeping the relationship alive until I'm there next.
basch 10y ago
All that demonstrates is that a proprietary, non backed up, non distributed address book is fault intolerant.

clavalle 10y ago

Facebook is powerful. A thousand disparate networks would not have the same potential for global change and community. I am not a huge Facebook fan, but Zuck is right about that much. That potential could be squandered or worse. Right now Facebook is still largely a toy but that potential is there.

fsloth 10y ago
"A thousand disparate networks would not have the same potential for global change and community." But Facebook is exactly that - thousand disparate bubbles. People are connected only to items they are analyzed to care about beforehand. If something irks them, rather than coolly analyze it, people get offended and react - often en masse - which triggers the social media rages.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]