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This seems overly glib. Facebook’s monopoly status means it’s necessary for many people. As per the post, if this person were a small business owner, or simply
by stonecraftwolf 6y ago
This seems overly glib. Facebook’s monopoly status means it’s necessary for many people. As per the post, if this person were a small business owner, or simply not well-connected elsewhere, this could be both financially and personally devastating. As it is, he’s only protected because he has other access to business and personal pages.
One company shouldn’t have this sort of arbitrary power over people’s lives.
- root_axis 6y agoFacebook is not a monopoly. If you choose to build your business on Facebook then it'd be wise to stick to business rather than publicly criticizing the platform you're leveraging to make you money.
- reycharles 6y ago> Facebook is not a monopoly. Are we not living on the same planet?
- root_axis 6y agoDefine monopoly.
- iujjkfjdkkdkf 6y agoNo true Scotsman
- root_axis 6y agoA Scotsman is a man from Scotland. Now that we have that out of the way can you answer my question?
- Animats 6y agoLess than four reasonably attractive consumer choices, says the EU's study commission on that.
- johnchristopher 6y agoWhat he says. My previous job had a lot of government funded small attractivity agencies that got locked out of their facebook page "because reasons". They end up owning "the web".
- dheera 6y agoYes, this. Unfortunately the general public has stopped looking elsewhere to discover things, and if you're not on Facebook you're going to take a huge hit. Hell, people don't even look left and right when they drive around town anymore, they just have Google route them to their destination that they discovered on Facebook, or get an Uber driver to take them there as they spend the ride staring down at their phone looking on Facebook for destinations for the next time. Similarly in China if you're not on WeChat your business is effectively dead. I very much also disagree with this monopolization over peoples' lives but its starting to become a worldwide phenomenon on at least a per-country basis.
- drcongo 6y agoI find the idea of Facebook being "necessary" for anyone quite spectacularly laughable. This isn't, air or water. You can live without it, and many people happily do. Facebook is about as essential as essential oils.
- coryrc 6y agoPhones, like food and water, are considered "essential" by the US government and provided for free to citizens who can't afford them. The definition of "essential" grows every year. AFAICT you need a FB account to apply for a job at FB and to look up some business' address.
- root_axis 6y agoFB is not a phone, it's a website that you don't have to visit.
- wizzwizz4 6y agoA website containing the only copy in the world of a lot of information that Facebook has no real right to monopolise.
- drcongo 6y agoNone of that information is "necessary" though otherwise I would be dead. Painting Facebook as some kind of loft extension built on top of Maslow's hierarchy of needs is disingenuous at best and propaganda at worst. I've lived happily without Facebook for many years, not using it has had zero impact on my life. Not zero _meaningful_ impact, but _zero_ impact. Facebook is NOT a necessity.
- root_axis 6y agoYou're conflating monopoly with popularity. Take it up with the individuals that willingly put their information in there, nobody is forcing them to do that.
- 6y ago
- nkrisc 6y agoI haven't used anything Facebook-owned for years and haven't noticed any difference in my life. Never used WhatsApp, never used Instagram, and deleted my Facebook account years ago.
- benhurmarcel 6y agoThis is highly dependent on your location and social circle. For example in many countries, not having Whatsapp is like not having SMS/iMessage in the US.