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Comment by guynamedloren | Hacker News Reader

Create something meaningful with Facebook? The last time I checked, Facebook is not a creative outlet. Sure, you can let your collection of virtual friends know that you despise public transit, and post a few photos - but create something meaningful? I don't think so.

As for your analogy - a paper is quite literally a blank canvas. You can create anything that you can imagine, assuming your talents allow. Facebook, however, is not a blank canvas. Far from it. Facebook confines its users to a predetermined set of rules for their own benefit ($).

Edit: to elaborate on my last point - when was the last time you saw something truly incredible created entirely via Facebook? Something absolutely amazing that just blew your mind. Please let me know. I'm ready to be educated.

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Create something meaningful with Facebook? The last time I checked, Facebook is not a creative outlet

Then you're not using it right. For me, Facebook is absolutely a creative outlet-- it is a blogging service aimed at a limited audience of readers, i.e., my friends.

Furthermore: all genres have limitations; that's what makes them genres. There are predetermined sets of rules for almost every type of creative endeavour.

As for your final question: why does created entirely via Facebook come into it? Facebook, like all good communication channels, includes citationality. You might as well say that YouTube cannot be used as a creative medium, because the videos were not created purely within Youtube.

My sister recently posted an old photo with herself, some friends and me on it. For a few hours all those people who often haven’t seen each other in years met in the comments.

It seems obvious to me that a service like Facebook is useful and desirable. The specific implementation has much I don’t like but the concept is great.

While Facebook may not be a "creative" outlet, at least not in the common definition of "creative", it can still be useful. I co-founded of a non-profit, and we do most of our organization, event planning, and networking through Facebook. It's been incredibly useful to get the word out, not just about our organization in general, but also to spread word about specific events we hold and other organizations we support.

Have we done anything particularly creative using just Facebook? No, not really, but we have helped gather support for local artists and musicians, who do do creative things. As rimantas noted, Facebook is just a tool. It can be a waste of time [1], but that doesn't mean it's always a waste of time.

[1]: A pen and paper can be a waste of time as well. Just look at all the people doodling during lectures.

A tangent on doodles. Apparently doodling has been shown to be a mental self-defence mechanism. By engaging some small part of the mind in a boring situation it enables you to continue paying attention at the same time rather than check out completely into a daydream.

Wired article summary with citation of the research paper: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/02/doodlerecall/

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