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I think most people will say they dislike Facebook, mainly due to the time commitment involved, but they would feel quite disconnected if they were suddenly una

I think most people will say they dislike Facebook, mainly due to the time commitment involved, but they would feel quite disconnected if they were suddenly unable to use it to keep up with their friends. It's not that people are using Facebook "because everybody else uses it" (that is, because of peer pressure), but because people have come to need a service that "everybody else uses."

Groxx 16y ago
Isn't that kind of the definition of peer pressure? You need to do something to stay in group A. Do it or be removed. Or maybe an addiction? One can dislike what they're addicted to, and still be strongly pressured to use it. Except this group A is the biggest & most connected group the world has ever seen => potentially the biggest & most powerful peer pressure the world has ever seen (depends on what value you assign to those connections, and what value they assign, and the availability of other options (i.e.: none, for most people, however incorrect that belief is)). What people want is something like Facebook. Clearly. But that doesn't mean they have to like Facebook to keep using it; it's just the only real option.
- fuzzmeister 16y ago
  Almost all of the complaints I've heard about Facebook from college students stem from the amount of time "wasted" on it. However, all of this time is spent interacting with other people on the service, actively or not. So, it is hard to see how one could make a Facebook-esque service where the problem of time being "wasted" is solved without destroying the very point of the service.
  - Groxx 16y ago
    Oh certainly, I'm not claiming it's an easy fix. It's kind of an inherent quality/flaw of social tools. That said, Facebook has aimed 180 degrees away from productivity. The whole site is designed to be addictive and encourage more pages / more time. (I mean, duh. That's how they make their money. It just ends up sucking for users.)

Groxx 16y ago

Isn't that kind of the definition of peer pressure? You need to do something to stay in group A. Do it or be removed. Or maybe an addiction? One can dislike what they're addicted to, and still be strongly pressured to use it. Except this group A is the biggest & most connected group the world has ever seen => potentially the biggest & most powerful peer pressure the world has ever seen (depends on what value you assign to those connections, and what value they assign, and the availability of other options (i.e.: none, for most people, however incorrect that belief is)). What people want is something like Facebook. Clearly. But that doesn't mean they have to like Facebook to keep using it; it's just the only real option.

fuzzmeister 16y ago
Almost all of the complaints I've heard about Facebook from college students stem from the amount of time "wasted" on it. However, all of this time is spent interacting with other people on the service, actively or not. So, it is hard to see how one could make a Facebook-esque service where the problem of time being "wasted" is solved without destroying the very point of the service.
- Groxx 16y ago
  Oh certainly, I'm not claiming it's an easy fix. It's kind of an inherent quality/flaw of social tools. That said, Facebook has aimed 180 degrees away from productivity. The whole site is designed to be addictive and encourage more pages / more time. (I mean, duh. That's how they make their money. It just ends up sucking for users.)