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Facebook is an unparalleled titan in the realm of advertising and WhatsApp is basically a utility-level communication system for a big chunk of the globe. Insta

Facebook is an unparalleled titan in the realm of advertising and WhatsApp is basically a utility-level communication system for a big chunk of the globe. Instagram is a key cultural driver of the Western world. You many not feel any direct firsthand consequences, but the overall impact would transform the world around you.

TomSwirly 5y ago
> Facebook is an unparalleled titan in the realm of advertising Not unparalleled - Google exists. And we need less advertising, not more. > and WhatsApp is basically a utility-level communication system for a big chunk of the globe. Many other such systems exist - Telegram, Signal, Google Chat. > Instagram is a key cultural driver of the Western world Western culture will get along just fine without Instagram. > the overall impact would transform the world around you. For the better.
drcongo 5y ago
Yeah, but would there be any drawbacks?
- standardUser 5y ago
  There would be a massive opening for new platforms to take over, and the odds that they are also based in the West would be much lower.
  - hkai 5y ago
    What's the advantage of using a Chinese platform instead of Facebook in terms of privacy, freedom of speech or political influence?
- cdelsolar 5y ago
  yes. I want to see what my friends and acquaintances are up to.
  - knocte 5y ago
    How about you call them to set up a meeting to catch up?
    - dkarras 5y ago
      Why? It is not as efficient. I can buy everything from stores but I use amazon, same thing. I don't actually use facebook though because I don't care about anyone really but for people that care, it is a solid platform. There is a gap between "I want to know what people I know are up to" and "I want to meet with those people one by one to see what they are up to". Some people just want to passively watch and that is ok.
      - knocte 5y ago
        > Some people just want to passively watch and that is ok. And this is the culprit for loneliness.
  - dhosek 5y ago
    My time on Facebook made it abundantly clear how racist, misogynist and otherwise vile a large portion of the people I grew up with are. I was much happier having a superficial contact with them once every ten years at a high school reunion. I'm no longer on Facebook (or Twitter). Occasionally, I'll see/hear/do something and think that it would have made a good status update/tweet, but then I remember that these things have happened to me for decade before social media was a thing and life was fine. Some I'll share with my wife or a friend, most just disappear and that's fine too.
    - yupper32 5y ago
      People seem to not know that you can unfriend or at minimum unfollow people on Facebook. Why did you put up with racist and misogynistic people on your feed? Why did you feel the need to delete your account instead of unfollowing people? My feed is nice and clean, with family, some friends, and some pages.
- davuinci 5y ago
  There are several people earning their living through Facebook/Instagram and there is a whole marketplace that would impact lots of people. Don't get me wrong, I don't use or like FB in any way but FB disappearing overnight would definitely have drawbacks for lots of people.
  - SV_BubbleTime 5y ago
    Replace Facebook in your post with human trafficking :) Obvious I'm not serious, and it's popular sentiment here that "Fuck Facebook... Oh but I use Instragram and WhatsApp of course!", but the point was "some people making a living on x" isn't really a great argument for "x is harmful and we might be better without it".
- malandrew 5y ago
  I find this kind of comment fascinating because it's illustrative of how humans can form intentional blindspots as to the utility of a person or institution when when all they care about are the negative aspects of that person's or institution's existence. op: "I don't care about thing X disappearing" re: "While you may not care about it because of Y, X also provides benefit Z to other people" op: "But would there be any drawbacks?" yeah, there would be drawbacks, other people would lose Z, which may matter a lot of them even if it doesn't matter to you. Someone just told you about Z, and you just responded as if you weren't just told about Z" These days I find it incredibly frustrating to deal with people who have conclusively decided they don't like something and that renders them incapable of acknowledging other benefits that said thing provides even if those benefits aren't relevant to them or are less relevant than the things they vocalize caring about.
  - PeterisP 5y ago
    I can agree with the "intentional blindspots" argument but turn it right around. I'd like to explicitly note that the parent post did not say "X also provides benefit Z to other people" - it asserted "Facebook is an unparalleled titan in the realm of advertising" which is a substantially different thing; it's not something that some people simply don't care about and a benefit to some other people and considering those statements as equivalent is a (very large) intentional blindspot. The current way of how advertising is done (driven, in part, by FB) is also a harm to many people and society at large, so publicly making an implicit assumption that "advertising" is at most neutral is not okay, it's something that should be called out. This very "unparalleled titan in the realm of advertising" aspect is a major cost on society, a net harm that perhaps should be tolerated if it's outweighed by some other benefits FB provides (such as the "utility-level communication system for a big chunk of the globe"), but as itself it's definitely not something that should be treated as benign just because some people get paid for it. If FB advertising disappeared with no other drawbacks, that would be a great thing. Of course, there are some actual drawbacks, but even so it's quite reasonable to motivate people to ask about the actual drawbacks of FB being down, because "oh but ads" (with which the grandparent post started) is not one.
    - 5y ago
DevKoala 5y ago
> You many not feel any direct firsthand consequences, but the overall impact would transform the world around you. For the better.
Devasta 5y ago
Facebook is implicated in genocide in multiple countries, and Instagram is nothing but a psychotic lie factory designed to induce depression and self loathing in young women. The world would only improve if it disappeared.
dgemm 5y ago
> Facebook is an unparalleled titan in the realm of advertising Uh, Google? It's definitely paralleled, and also preceded
adolph 5y ago
"Are you alright? What's wrong?" "I felt a great disturbance in the DNS. As if millions of influencers suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I feel something terrible has happened. But you better get on with your content curation."
intricatedetail 5y ago
Facebook is an unparalleled titan in the realm of consumer manipulation There I fixed it for you.

TomSwirly 5y ago

> Facebook is an unparalleled titan in the realm of advertising Not unparalleled - Google exists. And we need less advertising, not more. > and WhatsApp is basically a utility-level communication system for a big chunk of the globe. Many other such systems exist - Telegram, Signal, Google Chat. > Instagram is a key cultural driver of the Western world Western culture will get along just fine without Instagram. > the overall impact would transform the world around you. For the better.

drcongo 5y ago

Yeah, but would there be any drawbacks?

standardUser 5y ago
There would be a massive opening for new platforms to take over, and the odds that they are also based in the West would be much lower.
- hkai 5y ago
  What's the advantage of using a Chinese platform instead of Facebook in terms of privacy, freedom of speech or political influence?
cdelsolar 5y ago
yes. I want to see what my friends and acquaintances are up to.
- knocte 5y ago
  How about you call them to set up a meeting to catch up?
  - dkarras 5y ago
    Why? It is not as efficient. I can buy everything from stores but I use amazon, same thing. I don't actually use facebook though because I don't care about anyone really but for people that care, it is a solid platform. There is a gap between "I want to know what people I know are up to" and "I want to meet with those people one by one to see what they are up to". Some people just want to passively watch and that is ok.
    - knocte 5y ago
      > Some people just want to passively watch and that is ok. And this is the culprit for loneliness.
- dhosek 5y ago
  My time on Facebook made it abundantly clear how racist, misogynist and otherwise vile a large portion of the people I grew up with are. I was much happier having a superficial contact with them once every ten years at a high school reunion. I'm no longer on Facebook (or Twitter). Occasionally, I'll see/hear/do something and think that it would have made a good status update/tweet, but then I remember that these things have happened to me for decade before social media was a thing and life was fine. Some I'll share with my wife or a friend, most just disappear and that's fine too.
  - yupper32 5y ago
    People seem to not know that you can unfriend or at minimum unfollow people on Facebook. Why did you put up with racist and misogynistic people on your feed? Why did you feel the need to delete your account instead of unfollowing people? My feed is nice and clean, with family, some friends, and some pages.
davuinci 5y ago
There are several people earning their living through Facebook/Instagram and there is a whole marketplace that would impact lots of people. Don't get me wrong, I don't use or like FB in any way but FB disappearing overnight would definitely have drawbacks for lots of people.
- SV_BubbleTime 5y ago
  Replace Facebook in your post with human trafficking :) Obvious I'm not serious, and it's popular sentiment here that "Fuck Facebook... Oh but I use Instragram and WhatsApp of course!", but the point was "some people making a living on x" isn't really a great argument for "x is harmful and we might be better without it".
malandrew 5y ago
I find this kind of comment fascinating because it's illustrative of how humans can form intentional blindspots as to the utility of a person or institution when when all they care about are the negative aspects of that person's or institution's existence. op: "I don't care about thing X disappearing" re: "While you may not care about it because of Y, X also provides benefit Z to other people" op: "But would there be any drawbacks?" yeah, there would be drawbacks, other people would lose Z, which may matter a lot of them even if it doesn't matter to you. Someone just told you about Z, and you just responded as if you weren't just told about Z" These days I find it incredibly frustrating to deal with people who have conclusively decided they don't like something and that renders them incapable of acknowledging other benefits that said thing provides even if those benefits aren't relevant to them or are less relevant than the things they vocalize caring about.
- PeterisP 5y ago
  I can agree with the "intentional blindspots" argument but turn it right around. I'd like to explicitly note that the parent post did not say "X also provides benefit Z to other people" - it asserted "Facebook is an unparalleled titan in the realm of advertising" which is a substantially different thing; it's not something that some people simply don't care about and a benefit to some other people and considering those statements as equivalent is a (very large) intentional blindspot. The current way of how advertising is done (driven, in part, by FB) is also a harm to many people and society at large, so publicly making an implicit assumption that "advertising" is at most neutral is not okay, it's something that should be called out. This very "unparalleled titan in the realm of advertising" aspect is a major cost on society, a net harm that perhaps should be tolerated if it's outweighed by some other benefits FB provides (such as the "utility-level communication system for a big chunk of the globe"), but as itself it's definitely not something that should be treated as benign just because some people get paid for it. If FB advertising disappeared with no other drawbacks, that would be a great thing. Of course, there are some actual drawbacks, but even so it's quite reasonable to motivate people to ask about the actual drawbacks of FB being down, because "oh but ads" (with which the grandparent post started) is not one.
  - 5y ago

DevKoala 5y ago

> You many not feel any direct firsthand consequences, but the overall impact would transform the world around you. For the better.

Devasta 5y ago

Facebook is implicated in genocide in multiple countries, and Instagram is nothing but a psychotic lie factory designed to induce depression and self loathing in young women. The world would only improve if it disappeared.

dgemm 5y ago

> Facebook is an unparalleled titan in the realm of advertising Uh, Google? It's definitely paralleled, and also preceded

adolph 5y ago

"Are you alright? What's wrong?" "I felt a great disturbance in the DNS. As if millions of influencers suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I feel something terrible has happened. But you better get on with your content curation."

intricatedetail 5y ago

Facebook is an unparalleled titan in the realm of consumer manipulation There I fixed it for you.