3 ms·

Doctorow continues to be as wise as ever.

idlewords 4y ago
Devastatingly harsh but true
esperent 4y ago
Unfortunately I disagree. I always want to like Doctorow. In theory we have similar political views and I love that there's a famous writer who espouses them. But then I read his work and pretty much always find it lacking. For example, this post. It starts with a very clear point: huge numbers of users are leaving Facebook and Twitter, to the point where these companies are in serious trouble and will soon go the way of Myspace. But then... There's nothing to back it up. No data. You're just supposed to believe it's true because Doctorow said it and he's famous, I guess. Except that he always does this. Leaves out critical data, doesn't back up his points. So I don't trust him. Worse, I think he essentially writes wish fulfilment narratives aimed directly at people with my political leanings. These are close enough to the truth and even closer to what I want to be true, so they come dangerously close to short-circuiting the scepticism I work so hard to apply to everything I read.
- andirk 4y ago
  I too align with his critique of capitalism, but why does every article start with a picture of his head?
- ako 4y ago
  Trends can be observed without the actual data. The fact that he doesn’t have the data to proof it, doesn’t mean he’s wrong. I’ve observed the same trend, hardly anybody I know still uses Facebook, same for Twitter. WhatsApp however is an essential communication tool: sportclubs, schools, all use WhatsApp for last minute info. Not sure if Facebook/meta is in trouble, as instagram and WhatsApp seem to pretty popular.
  - midoridensha 4y ago
    >Not sure if Facebook/meta is in trouble, as instagram and WhatsApp seem to pretty popular. Realistically, how profitable is WhatsApp? Facebook itself obviously has profit potential because it can bombard you with ads. WhatsApp, not so much. I feel like some of these services (WhatsApp, FB Messenger, etc.) may not be very profitable by themselves, but only serve to keep people on the site/ecosystem. But if they're ignoring the profitable part of the system, then the whole thing might not be sustainable.
    - andirk 4y ago
      Enter stage left: some weird email I got from Facebook about the messages will be melded with Instagram or some horrible idea like that. I'm sure bookface has plenty of good uses, but it has become the least interesting of all of the social media sites and is mostly just for logging in to other websites. Btw, that data they get from any tiny snippet of facebook Javascript code on any website is probably invaluable. They see all. That's why we gotta use Ghostery, Brave browser, etc. as defaults.
- nehal3m 4y ago
  Thanks for posting this. I consider myself a Doctorow fan and I didn't realize I let myself slip. I will continue to be a fan but a more critical one.
Existenceblinks 4y ago
Tbh, the gist of this article would fit in one tweet. Something somthing onboading / locked-in / network effect / switch cost. He didn't even touch the actual psychology part as its addict materials.

Devastatingly harsh but true

Unfortunately I disagree. I always want to like Doctorow. In theory we have similar political views and I love that there's a famous writer who espouses them. But then I read his work and pretty much always find it lacking. For example, this post. It starts with a very clear point: huge numbers of users are leaving Facebook and Twitter, to the point where these companies are in serious trouble and will soon go the way of Myspace. But then... There's nothing to back it up. No data. You're just supposed to believe it's true because Doctorow said it and he's famous, I guess. Except that he always does this. Leaves out critical data, doesn't back up his points. So I don't trust him. Worse, I think he essentially writes wish fulfilment narratives aimed directly at people with my political leanings. These are close enough to the truth and even closer to what I want to be true, so they come dangerously close to short-circuiting the scepticism I work so hard to apply to everything I read.

andirk 4y ago
I too align with his critique of capitalism, but why does every article start with a picture of his head?
ako 4y ago
Trends can be observed without the actual data. The fact that he doesn’t have the data to proof it, doesn’t mean he’s wrong. I’ve observed the same trend, hardly anybody I know still uses Facebook, same for Twitter. WhatsApp however is an essential communication tool: sportclubs, schools, all use WhatsApp for last minute info. Not sure if Facebook/meta is in trouble, as instagram and WhatsApp seem to pretty popular.
- midoridensha 4y ago
  >Not sure if Facebook/meta is in trouble, as instagram and WhatsApp seem to pretty popular. Realistically, how profitable is WhatsApp? Facebook itself obviously has profit potential because it can bombard you with ads. WhatsApp, not so much. I feel like some of these services (WhatsApp, FB Messenger, etc.) may not be very profitable by themselves, but only serve to keep people on the site/ecosystem. But if they're ignoring the profitable part of the system, then the whole thing might not be sustainable.
  - andirk 4y ago
    Enter stage left: some weird email I got from Facebook about the messages will be melded with Instagram or some horrible idea like that. I'm sure bookface has plenty of good uses, but it has become the least interesting of all of the social media sites and is mostly just for logging in to other websites. Btw, that data they get from any tiny snippet of facebook Javascript code on any website is probably invaluable. They see all. That's why we gotta use Ghostery, Brave browser, etc. as defaults.
nehal3m 4y ago
Thanks for posting this. I consider myself a Doctorow fan and I didn't realize I let myself slip. I will continue to be a fan but a more critical one.

Existenceblinks 4y ago

Tbh, the gist of this article would fit in one tweet. Something somthing onboading / locked-in / network effect / switch cost. He didn't even touch the actual psychology part as its addict materials.