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To those of you saying Facebook provides no value, here are some concrete examples: - In countries where fraud is rampant and people try to sell basic goods on
by ilovecaching 8y ago
To those of you saying Facebook provides no value, here are some concrete examples:
- In countries where fraud is rampant and people try to sell basic goods on messaging platforms, marketplace allows small business owners and tradesmen to barter goods. This is leagues safer and more efficient than their old methods.
Facebook provides a place where people can plan events and create “websites” for their shops and activities for free via pages. Facebook connects people to their pages and gives people a place to hold forums with public officials without anonymity.
- Facebook pioneered removing anonymity from a social media platform. On Facebook I can have more accountability and I am more likely to be myself. I can keep in touch with the real people who have passed through my life. I met my wife on Facebook this way.
- Facebook allows me to stay connected to people I rarely see. I’m still friends with many people from highschool I haven’t seen in over a decade. No other platform provided that type of value. Even if we rarely interact, they can always reach me on messenger even if they don’t have my phone number.
- Facebook gives me the ability to hear from people I don’t agree with. Instagram and twitter are just echo chambers based on what I like or are just pictures of sunsets. On Facebook I have found that my friends and family often post opinions that I don’t agree with during world events. This has led to discourse that has allowed me to broaden my perspective.
- Facebook’s ADs platform allows small business to compete against much larger entities on a small advertising budget through targeted ads. I have joined several hobbyist communities by having ads targeted at me that were relevant to my interests.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- confounded 8y agoSo what are you doing here with us losers? Are you aware that you sound a bit like a paid ad, or a lobbyist going through a list of talking points in the preferred corporate frames of reference?
- dang 8y agoThis comment breaks the site guidelines, or at least dips a toe on the wrong side. Could you please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and not do that, regardless of how you feel about Facebook?
- confounded 8y agoYou got me bang to rights; apologies.
- dang 8y agoAppreciated!
- vfinn 8y agoWhat you're saying is unnecessary negative and brings little to the discussion as it doesn't include any targeted arguments, and what's more, the site guideline states that: "Please don't impute astroturfing or shillage. That degrades discussion and is usually mistaken. If you're worried about it, email us and we'll look at the data."
- speedplane 8y ago> Facebook pioneered removing anonymity Not at all. There are so many fake accounts on Facebook that it's now impossible to tell who is real and who isn't. True, they removed anonymity, but they replaced it with fraud. > Facebook allows me to stay connected to people I rarely see. If you rarely see them or interact, how much true value are you gaining other than an abstract sense of nostalgia. > Facebook gives me the ability to hear from people I don’t agree with Hearing people that disagree with you isn't enough. You need quality to build a rich library of ideas. Facebook does no vetting, giving everyone a microphone regardless of how thought-out or truthful the message is. > Facebook’s ADs Good advertising on a platform may make the platform less bad, but it doesn't make it good. Who goes to Facebook to enjoy nice targeted ads? Overall, the biggest issue is the first one. It's now impossible to tell what's real and what isn't on Facebook. The site is rife with bots and hacked accounts, you don't really know if you're talking to a person or someone with a hidden agenda.
- mercer 8y ago> > Facebook pioneered removing anonymity > Not at all. There are so many fake accounts on Facebook that it's now impossible to tell who is real and who isn't. True, they removed anonymity, but they replaced it with fraud. While true, it's also true that for most people, most of their facebook friends are real people using their real name. That's decidedly different from how people use Twitter, Reddit and the like.
- daveFNbuck 8y agoOn Twitter, most of the people I follow are verified celebrities or people I know personally. Neither of those are anonymous to me.
- speedplane 8y agoIf just 5% of your “friends” are fake, it ruins any trust you may have in your community, it doesn’t need to be anywhere close to a majority. The other networks have similar problems, but Facebook is the worst offender at promoting a false sense of trust.
- 8y ago
- Jare 8y ago> Facebook gives me the ability to hear from people I don’t agree with. Instagram and twitter are just echo chambers based on what I like or are just pictures of sunsets This is so weird to me. Twitter in most cases is what you make of it, if you want to hear from people you don't agree with, then you just have follow people you don't agree with and read what they say. It doesn't take long to curate a list of people who are not trolls.