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Bad analogy. Advertising your family update in the newspaper is more like having a blog. It's a totally public-focused thing. While Facebook has a lot public, i

Bad analogy. Advertising your family update in the newspaper is more like having a blog. It's a totally public-focused thing. While Facebook has a lot public, it's really focused on direct stuff of interest to your connections. People used to mail photos to one another or send letters. With digital technology, that's emails. Facebook doesn't get credit for the switch to the internet and digital formats. By design, Facebook pushes people to share photos only on Facebook and forget to email others. Want a test? What's your hypothesis for the following: "How much would I have to pay you to cancel your Facebook account if I made sure that your closer family and friends and other communities you care about all sent updates to you by email instead?"

pavlov 8y ago
Personally I’d hate it if my cousin sent me her vacation pictures by email, but I’m perfectly happy to take a quick glance at them while scrolling by in the FB feed. But that’s beside the point. There’s something you’re missing about the local newspaper analogy: it’s that Facebook works great for communicating and sharing within groups of similar size to “people in my small town community who give a shit about my daughter’s birthday”.
- Legogris 8y ago
  I'd be socially ostracized if I started with SMS groups every time I wanted to have a group chat via phone without first having to convince everyone involved to install some new app on their phone or get everyone's email beforehand, which would basically be the alternative today. > Personally I’d hate it if my cousin sent me her vacation pictures by email, That's kind of the point. People didn't hate this before Facebook. Now it's become the only socially acceptable medium of communication for many occasions.
- quadrangle 8y ago
  Except that FB is actually tragically awful at these things because the way the algorithm is a black box that always changes, you don't have anything reliable about who sees what… and to really promote something so people see it, you PAY for it to be boosted, so it's no better in that sense than the old newspaper analogy! Let me tell you a personal story: My sister is one of those people who just throws stuff up on FB like anyone else. People not on FB miss it. A couple years ago, someone inspired her to send a personal email to close family just sharing updates about what's happening with her and inviting others to reply the same way. It immediately felt more personal and meaningful and brought out different context and closer relationships compared to anything that happens on Facebook. It died away after a little bit because we failed to keep up a routine… but I predict that if your cousin sent you vacation pictures not in a just "email everyone" sense but in actually thinking of YOU, it would actually feel good and bring you together in a more meaningful way… but I don't know you or your cousin, of course.

pavlov 8y ago

Personally I’d hate it if my cousin sent me her vacation pictures by email, but I’m perfectly happy to take a quick glance at them while scrolling by in the FB feed. But that’s beside the point. There’s something you’re missing about the local newspaper analogy: it’s that Facebook works great for communicating and sharing within groups of similar size to “people in my small town community who give a shit about my daughter’s birthday”.

Legogris 8y ago
I'd be socially ostracized if I started with SMS groups every time I wanted to have a group chat via phone without first having to convince everyone involved to install some new app on their phone or get everyone's email beforehand, which would basically be the alternative today. > Personally I’d hate it if my cousin sent me her vacation pictures by email, That's kind of the point. People didn't hate this before Facebook. Now it's become the only socially acceptable medium of communication for many occasions.
quadrangle 8y ago
Except that FB is actually tragically awful at these things because the way the algorithm is a black box that always changes, you don't have anything reliable about who sees what… and to really promote something so people see it, you PAY for it to be boosted, so it's no better in that sense than the old newspaper analogy! Let me tell you a personal story: My sister is one of those people who just throws stuff up on FB like anyone else. People not on FB miss it. A couple years ago, someone inspired her to send a personal email to close family just sharing updates about what's happening with her and inviting others to reply the same way. It immediately felt more personal and meaningful and brought out different context and closer relationships compared to anything that happens on Facebook. It died away after a little bit because we failed to keep up a routine… but I predict that if your cousin sent you vacation pictures not in a just "email everyone" sense but in actually thinking of YOU, it would actually feel good and bring you together in a more meaningful way… but I don't know you or your cousin, of course.