4 ms·
Ask HN: Why the Facebook hate?
The company has taken a few bad steps but it doesn't seem like they are as evil as music industry, for example. Sure, the media hypes up their potential but how is it their fault? Or is it that we just need to hate someone and might as well be them?
Apple has proprietary hardware and locks everyone out but no one complains about them.
Google tracks _everything_ I do on the web and shows me really targeted ads but no complains there (search for diamond rings and then notice your ads).
Microsoft has done its share of bad things.
At the end of the day it is a business. Is it wrong for them to make money? Also, before you point out the bot problem, I'd like to see some device numbers. I run a popular site and a lot of my visitors don't have JavaScript turned on.
- mseepgood 14y agoIt's built on PHP.
- nerdfiles 14y agoMostly http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/24/technology/silicon-valley-worries-about-addiction-to-devices.html?_r=2&pagewanted=2&src=twr http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/24/technology/silicon-valley-... ? And its bogus advertising model that leaves our closest friends babbling about their sex lives rather than their creative endeavors. That Facebook compels negative consumption: the consumption of Friends' consumption, rather than the consumption of Friend's production. For instance: Status Update: "X made me feel bad." Comments: "First!", "[meme response]", "like", etc. All of that happens, of course, and ads are still soaring throughout all of that. Facebook is basing its model on the idea of someone interjecting "sound ads" throughout your socializing with people; it's advertising Tourette's. And it's built on PHP.
- muzak 14y agoI use Facebook to keep in touch with my family who live in different parts of the world. Yes, there are my friends who post asinine stuff but I kinda view that as normal conversation that I would have with my close friends. Also, this really struck a chord with me: Does Facebook Cause Loneliness? Short answer, No. Why Are We Discussing this? Long Answer Below. (http://technosociology.org/?p=1035 http://technosociology.org/?p=1035)
- unreal37 14y agoI don't understand all the hate either. 900 million active Facebook users... it's safe to say that most people in the world love it. An average of 7 hours per month spent on the site - that's massive.
- angryasian 14y agofor me its the difference in how they sell your personal information. 1. google is more like a sandbox, businesses just tell them who they want to advertise too, and they'll act as a proxy. 2. Facebook openly sells/hands over your information without any type of control (look at beacon or their special deals with certain api users) 3. Apple does it in a more devious way IMO, in that with IOS they know applications are taking personal information, contacts and locations and never notifies the end user this is happening. In IOS 6 they are making the changes to allow you to control this but this is only after they are losing some market share.
- muzak 14y agoYes, Beacon was a shit show. However, anything recent? Also, tell me more about #2... You and I can both create an ad and see all the data that is shared, which really is none because it is all general targeting. APIs are publicly documented and I'm sure the Europeans (and FTC) would crack down on them if they had any special deals. If anything, Google allows re-targeting, which shares a lot more data than Facebook seems to. Also, I didn't know about #3.
- angryasian 14y ago#2 - http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/11/yelp-security-hole-puts-facebook-user-data-at-risk-underscores-problems-with-instant-personalization/ http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/11/yelp-security-hole-puts-fac... Facebook actively hands over your data to partners Google does retargeting the right way. I don't how you make the assumption google shares more, cause google is very open with their ad retargeting. It never shares any personal identifiers just general aggregate data. #3 .. People won't admit it but its a fact.
- DanBC 14y agoPeople do complain about all the example companies you mention. DuckDuckGo exist to provide an alternative search engine and one of their campaigns is "don't bubble me". Apple is condemned for various policies; their odd process for accepting or rejecting apps is one example. And Microsoft (Microshaft / Micro$oft / etc) has been vehemently hated by large numbers of people. I don't hate FB. I dislike the ever changing user interface. I dislike the sneaky changes to privacy settings. I hate many of the apps - and facebook's lack of action to help keep its users safe. The user interface at the moment is strongly making me not like FB. I set stories to "Most recent" because I want it to stay at most recent. I have to keep resetting it every week or so. Unfortunately there's no alternative - to use facebook you use the facebook website. This is something that's gently weird to me. I'm used to services which run on a defined standard, and which allow you to chose a client. Maybe this is something that "the next Facebook" will do - define a tight RFC for social networking and provide a good quality browser based client, but allowing competition to provide other clients.
- countessa 14y agomainly because I'm (irrationally) jealous of their success.
- AznHisoka 14y agoBecause they have sucked up (and will continue to) valuable time that humanity could've spent on other worthwhile endeavors. It's 2012, where's my colonies in Mars, damn it?