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The death of Facebook might represent a considerable loss of human history. So much online interaction, so many communities have moved to Facebook, but unlike t
by Mediterraneo10 7y ago
The death of Facebook might represent a considerable loss of human history. So much online interaction, so many communities have moved to Facebook, but unlike the various forum websites that people used before, Facebook groups do not get picked up by the Wayback Machine and conveniently stored for scholars or for just anyone who wants to delve into the past. I hope that if Facebook goes – and I would not mourn all the downsides of social media – appropriate archiving of public posts is done.
- buboard 7y agoHonestly what is being missed? I dont use facebook and believe i have not missed any important moment for humanity. At least none that I can think of.
- Mediterraneo10 7y agoLots of stuff is being missed. Here are two examples that I can think of off the top of my head: 1) There are Facebook groups not only for cities, but sometimes even for individual neighborhoods within those cities. People gossip with their neighbours, complain about local politicians, or announce community events. These groups may represent a goldmine for the study of local history. 2) A lot of the travel community has abandoned standalone forum websites like Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree or Horizons Unlimited for Facebook groups. The way people have traveled in the past is something that tends to interest later generations, as one can see from books that still get published about 19th-century round-the-world travelers or the Istanbul-Kathmandu trail of the ’60s and ’70s. Yet much of the detail of travel in the last decade or so risks being lost if Facebook goes.
- buboard 7y agoThere is too much noise in facebook, and there is just so much data that it would overwhelm archive.org. I think whatever is important leaks to other, more public social media like reddit. Gossip and petty politics is not important.
- Mediterraneo10 7y ago"Gossip and petty politics is not important." Any historian would disagree with you. The gossip and petty politics revealed in small-town newspapers, people’s correspondence, or diaries represents a resource they find valuable for understanding the history of a place. With the death of small-town newspapers, Facebook city and neighborhood groups have partly filled the slot that they used to represent. Yes, there is now Reddit, but there are several years where Facebook has a wealth of content for community events but Reddit had not yet grown large enough to cover them.
- mopsi 7y ago> Gossip and petty politics is not important. Robert Caro's experience in uncovering the watershed moment in Lyndon B. Johnson's career might change your views. "The Secrets of Lyndon Johnson’s Archives" https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/01/28/the-secrets-of-lyndon-johnsons-archives https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/01/28/the-secrets-of...
- buboard 7y agoYou 'd need to have an archive of private conversations for such things (not just on facebook). I think the NSA/FBI will take care of that
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- baby 7y agoUsually joining groups for your city, or for communities you belong too, is always a good way to get up-to-date news, tips, or meet people.
- rocky1138 7y agoThis might be true if it was an outlet for human creativity the way MySpace or Geocities were, but Facebook has almost entirely lived its digital life as yellow pages.
- Mediterraneo10 7y agoThings that will interest future generations go beyond intentional creative productions. As I point out in my other comment, Facebook captures a lot of people’s and communities’ everyday lives.
- jeeeeb 7y agoI imagine that even if Facebook goes the data will be bundled up and sold to third parties - a somewhat scary thought. Not that Facebook has been a good steward of the data so far but its hard to imagine vulturous third parties being better.
- netsharc 7y agoIt's not like we'll have historians in the future, because we'll all be dead from climate change anyway...
- dang 7y agoMaybe so, but please don't post unsubstantive comments to Hacker News.
- pier25 7y agoConsiderable loss in volume, but also in value? Unlike Reddit or HN, Facebook is the worse social network for having any kind of meaningful conversation. The UI is terrible once you get past 1st level replies.
- ImaCake 7y agoBut it does have a wealth of useful data! It has the social graphs of a lot of people, it has a somewhat meaningful list of things they are interested in, and it has a bunch of photos of them. Those things tell stories all of their own, regardless of how shit facebook is.
- pier25 7y agoI'm not sure if you are being sarcastic or not.
- ImaCake 7y agoI'm not. Facebook has a massive store of data that will likely be very interesting to future historians. Just because it is biased and unreliable doesn't mean it isn't useful.
- brighter2morrow 7y agoI'm concerned about future powers using data to target me and my family for "re-education camps"
- basq 7y agoPerhaps foolishly optimistic, but maybe they can turn things around. They abused a lot of people's trust, but it isn't impossible to imagine they could win it back.
- pier25 7y agoIt's possible, but OTOH how many sites have lost their users and won them back? MySpace, Digg, etc, went down forever, and new users (teenagers) don't seem generally interested in Facebook.