Why I hate Facebook | Hacker News Reader

Why I hate Facebook

money.cnn.com

12 pointsbrowngeek13 comments

Summary: Bearded gentleman "hates" Facebook because he doesn't think they'll be able to monetize their traffic, and doesn't like being shown ads.

Not a very satisfying article. He doesn't really say anything that hasn't been said a thousand times before. Also, the ad thing? Now, I hate ads, I love Opera's content blocker, and I have to admit that Facebook is the only site that has ever shown me ads I want to click. I even bought something from a Facebook ad once!

Was it an informational product the reveals the secret to getting $10,000 in Government Grants in ONLY 2 WEEKS!!!

I normally hate the summaries, but this was excellent.

Also, the author seems like he's really not very fun to hang out with. I bet his friends are glad he isn't on Facebook.

You hate summaries? Why?

Because they usually try to capture the essence of an article in 1 sentence, and they usually fail.

Please never do that again, you'll only encourage them. Nobody (except you, I guess) wants to see or click on ads while they're reading up on their friends lives. And honestly, fb ads are pretty terribly awful.

You've never seen ads you want to click on Google? Even when you're searching for things to buy?

Facebook's ads aren't intrusive; the pictures are very small and the ads are way off on the side of the page (unless there are some I don't know about due to my content blocker). The only time I even notice them is when something interesting catches my eye.

There are two reasons not to like ads: 1) They are intrusive/distracting; and 2) They show you stuff you don't care about. If Facebook can occasionally show me ads for things I might actually want, and if they can do so in a way that doesn't intrude on my browsing experience, kudos to them.

Edit: Oh, forgot to answer your question. No, I don't think I've ever seen an ad on Google that interested me. I don't really use Google to find things to buy, though.

Strange. It's as if CNN decided they better get hip and make the site more bloggish, and then they copied the wrong things about blogging.

Guy who (admittedly) doesn't use Facebook hates Facebook. News at 11.

We've seen this before in other forms:

Guy who (admittedly) doesn't use Twitter hates Twitter. News at 11.

Guy who (admittedly) doesn't read blogs hates blogs. News at 11.

yawn

I hate when hating popular things becomes vogue. It's one thing to rant about it in an enclosed area, but it's hardly news.

I just think its funny that the "Guy who (admittedly) doesn't use" writes a column about his hate.

This article is bad and silly. :( I don't know why CNN is publishing some dude's inane diary.

The author assumes that using Facebook and using Facebook obsessively are the same thing; he complains that after using a computer at work all day, he doesn't want to use one all night, and that he doesn't see the need to update everyone about the minor details in his life, and that these are why he detests Facebook. The author seemingly doesn't realize that Facebook does not force you to input every minor detail of your life nor does it force you to spend your entire evenings in the perusal of its pages. When one checks Facebook merely periodically, and rarely updates, there are times when it comes in mighty handy, and it's silly for this man to write the whole service off to everyone else because he doesn't believe that anyone can use Facebook moderately (for the record, I log in to check things about twice a week and update my profile about twice a year).

Even less sensibly, the author also hates Facebook because he doesn't see an immediately obvious plan for profitability. This is a really weird reason to hate something that you hold no financial interest in (and the author clearly has none in Facebook). If dude thinks that Facebook's operations will continually yield negative cash flow, that's even more reason to _enjoy it while it lasts_. Seriously.

With a title like that, I thought it was going to be a Matt Maroon article.

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