Leaving Facebookistan | Hacker News Reader

Leaving Facebookistan

newyorker.com

75 pointstremblanc18 comments

Facebook is a double-edged sword. I use it because it's the simplest way to keep in touch with all my social circles and also for the mild dopamine-kick that it gives (I'll be honest). Also, because most of them dont use Google+ yet. However, I feel an uneasiness about it because everything I read, like, comment, or try is shared over and over again with people that probably dont care. Everything I log-in I see how they combine a friend liking something and an ad for the thing they liked, it's subtle but ANNOYING. I dont care about McDonald's that much!

I can sense that we are not people to them, we are a commodity. Our value to them is data, this seems to me why the ethical issues keep resurfacing and people keep getting outraged. It has an unshakable Big Brother feeling to it, almost everyone I know feels better about their life because of Facebook yet dont realize how they are the product.

I respect the company and Mark overall, I don't hate them. But...I do feel like it's becoming more and more like the Death Star of startups. Any startup that builds a great feature/app that challenges FB's existing is acqui-hired and now a part of their empire. I can see where this is going, it'll be the Microsoft of the web. Anyone who tries to build a better social network is attempting a herculean task akin to blowing up the Death Star.

I'll stop now.

everytime instead of everything. typo.

Also, because most of them dont use Google+ yet.

Why would Google+ be any better?

Better filtering than facebook.

I see Google as a science experiment on the biggest scale imaginable. I know they have their faults too, but I feel more comfortable with Google's vision of the future than Facebook.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Google its not a "Death Star" too?

They are also eating every microbe that could grow and become a stone in their way.. but this is not just Google, or Facebook.. using the words of google ex-ceo : "this is called capitalism".. they do not invent it, they are using it the same way all others (capitalistic) endeavors before and after them.

Big fish eat small fish

The article is from May 2012, perhaps the thread title could be updated to say so?

To be fair most of these articles could be kept current simply by updating the date and the outrage to latest version.

Sure, facebook is creepy and annoying and provides little value to me but until average people start deleting their accounts it doesn't matter at all.

the fact that the act of deleting one's fb profile is considered newsworthy means fb is here to stay for now

Only if you write for the New Yorker and don't have anything better to write about.

I didn't really glean any new information from this article. essentially it was not the best use of my time.

Could you give an example of an article you feel was a good use of time? I'm curious.

[May 2012] The previous submission of this article

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4018856

received just a few upvotes, and no comments. Meanwhile, I have engaged in hundreds of interesting conversations on other topics both here on Hacker News and on Facebook. I was amused to see how much Facebook's stock price has tanked since the IPO, but that is an investor's problem, not my problem. I use Facebook while its investors suffer, the same way I used AOL for a while during the 1990s. When Facebook fades away (the same way that AOL still exists, but is no longer a big name in the industry), I'm sure I'll still be able to connect with my friends through some new channel.

addlepate, you appear to be hellbanned.

Deactivated my Facebook account this morning and deleted my Twitter account too.

Ironic to see this popup on the front page almost as an affirmation.

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