I now feel myself fortunate to have smelled the sewer the very first time I heard of facebook, watching a friend try to cure her loneliness with it, only to be hopelessly diverted. It's truly regretful that a mendacious opportunist like MZ is now one of the planet's richest pitch men of futurism with the nefarious power that entails. Overall, make every dollar vote against their kind of future!
5
Nice video and I like that there is no like icon.
4
What a waste of time...
1
Where's the like button for this?
Sociopathic Media
The development of surveillance economics grew out of traditional advertising models. Metaphorically conceived extensions of the magazine business, where narrowly defined content packets efficiently channeled advertising messages. But the metaphor was, at it heart flawed, because it depends on what can only be called "sociopathic" rather than social behavior. Let's lay that out: imagine that someone tells you "I'm going to be a great friend to you. Like Johnson's Boswell, I'll hang on your every saying and do all kinds of great stuff for you (like promote you to others). In fact, in some ways, I'll know you better than you know yourself, because I'll devote my complete attention to you. Oh, by the way, I hope you don't mind that I'll also help a bunch of people, who might not have your best interests at heart, to persuade you to do things in their interests." What would you call such a friend? How about "sociopath."
The physics of money guarantee that this business model traps companies. The assembly of the dossiers by these companies should never have been permitted.
1
There is a show on Netflix where a guy is able to find out everything about this girl that he likes by looking at social media. He then proceeds to find out everything about her friends and decides which ones stand in the way of him being with her. He gets passwords and makes fake postings trying to drive her in his direction and away from her friends.
He uses social media to stalk people and weaponizes it to humiliate them.
When another character asks why he is not on social media himself he says, "Too many risks with no upside."
That is how I feel about Facebook. "Too many risks - no upside."
4
I find more intelligent discussion in the online comments section of this newspaper in a single day then one would find on social media in a lifetime.
66
If you don't want to use Facebook, don't use Facebook, but all this feigned indignation over its use of data, come on now. I use Facebook, it's handy for me as I travel and it's an easy way to let people know where I am and that I'm safe. I have also seen it used for other good, safety check ins, missing people, missing pets. I am often amazed by what people do post, even smart people and what they fall for as truth and share. People rarely take time to fact check and they love to play those silly games that are designed to gather even more information about you. I think the Europeans are right to impose restrictions on the internet for privacy concerns and I think the US should do that as well. The adamant people who say they would never use Facebook, remind me of the people who hate Apple. I limit my time on Facebook, because I don't have much to waste, and a lot of it is a waste of time, but still it has its uses. If you don't want your privacy breached, don't use the internet for anything. Don't use it for banking, or booking hotels, buying stuff or checking movie times. Just say no and then try doing all that stuff the old fashioned way: pick up your phone. LOL.
25
When FB came out 15 years ago I was 53 and it was all the rage with teenage kids like my son and daugter, and it was extremely uncool to “friend” one of your kids.
As FB became more ubiquitous as a social networking platform for all ages, all major US companies, including the Times urged folks to employ it to communicate with them.
My wife and I shied away from the FB siren song back in the day because we didn’t have the time or interest to “social network” in the same way we weren’t interested in cocktail parties and dinners with social climbers and fair weather friends.
As time went on it became clear that FB was not only a banal waste of time for the most part but a threat to one’s privacy in the myriad ways discussed in the media of late.
It’s surprising to me that FB has been with us only 15 years. It seems much longer than that...
21
You may not have have asked for facebooks friendship
but politicians have
Nancy Pelosi
Campaign Committee Fundraising, 2017 - 2018
Top Contributors, 2017 - 2018
1. Facebook Inc
2. Alphabet Inc (parent company of Google)
3. Salesforce.com
FB is the #1 friend of Ms. Pelosi
THAT counts
Data
https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/summary/nancy-pelosi
7
Facebook is both the best and the worst of all worlds. It has shrunk the world and given access people on all corners of the planet to one another. This is what Howard Rheingold meant when he wrote The Virtual Community in 1993.
But Mark Zuckerberg has replaced altruism with greed and has abused the public trust. He has put profit over privacy.
3
Facebook, the wrecker of Democracy.
I do not think business people, sociologists or psychologists fully comprehend the pernicious effects of the Facebook platform on society.
It has brought us to a "Gray Age" an era that harks to the Dark Ages, an era in which basic truths, and the metaphysical or epistemological bases of society are in question. Not to mention the implicit sellout of personal information by users and friends. All parties, Facebook management and users, should have shame for the erosion of American society.
Zuckerberg and Sandberg have no compunction or doubt about the Facebook business model. As long as the revenue flows, most everything is copacetic to them, and they are slow to change the inertia of the ship.
Historians will view these times as a period in which the eternal verities became a mirage of shifting sand as any parochial or provincial could broadcast any odd tendentious, fatuous claim on Facebook.
To the Facebook hoi pollo, books mean next to nothing, serious journalism nothing, and the value of the University nothing because a smart phone and a Facebook app allows them to buttress gut instincts with mishmash of uncorroborated information.
Trump is the ideal leader for these people. Contemplation means nothing to them. Just shoot from the hip, and avoid the difficult task of getting to the truth.
4
@Joe - As one of the "Facebook hoi pollo [sic]" you tar with the same brush, I emphatically disagree with your all-encompassing claim that "...books mean next to nothing, serious journalism nothing, and the value of the University nothing" to us.
The problem with blanket statements such as yours is that they are easily dismissed and debunked.
I am an avid reader of more than 50 books each year, a digital subscriber to the NYTimes, The New Yorker and New York magazines, and regularly read other online quality news sources. And while I never made it to university, I can assure you that I place a high value on university study, and certainly encourage those who qualify and are able to pursue a university education. Oh, and I also happen to be a longstanding user of Facebook.
The end is not nigh, Joe. The sky is not falling. Take a chill pill, and relax.
1
"When the time comes to hang the capitalist West, the American businessman will sell us the rope." - Nikita Khrushchev
Facebook is one of the ropes.
6
The best thing I ever did was to delete my FB profile a few months ago. Now I don’t spend endless hours scrolling through garbage content all day.
4
Kind a like the old Groucho Marx saying (paraphrased by Woody to) “I’d rather not be a member of any club or organization that WOULD have me as a member“… Anyway I don’t like people too much, So I’m glad I never got on the bandwagon with all those facebox people.
3
I love the subtitle of this article! I am sure after all the debacles of Facebook news feeds and Russian bots, many Facebook users must be saying, "Please, unfriend me Facebook!"
I joined FB in 1-2009 and left 18 months later. 7-15-10 is my parole date from Facebook!
2
Never been there. Don't care to go.
6
It seems that a significant portion of our country's GDP is just the never-ending vomiting up of information about me, me, me. Zuckerberg is an absolute genius for coming up with a "product" which can actually harness and make a profit off of that. Ugh.
Jesus, you're late for the show. The end times already got started 15 years ago.
3
I never signed up, but my wife is at the point where she rarely looks at it any more. So many people trying to airbrush their lives and brag about their kids. It seems to be basically one very long, long, long Christmas letter from some acquaintance that you just cannot get through, ever. Please! Make it stop!
I think they should just change the name to Fakebook.
5
FB is pretty much like other tool set we have to communicate, you need to know a little about how to set your privacy, how to turn things on and off (like notification and news or IM)
personally I find it useful to stay in touch, especially as live o/seas. I can see what my friends and family are up to and comment, I can call and message for free. I do not use it for news as I;m very selective about what I want to spend my time reading.
Is this worth me giving away some of my personal data - I' m OK with that as I'm not sharing anything you couldn't get from another source with a bit of patience or mid level IT skills.
remember, a fool with a tool is still a fool.
FB is only doing what it gets reward to do, how you use it, or not, is up to you.
Seriously? This video looks to me more like a case of sour grapes.
Ever since the advent of the PC and the rise and fall, and rise again of Microsoft and other computing platforms, the technology has been used - and continues to be used - for purposes it was never originally intended for.
That people around the world are misusing modern social networking platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and others should come as no surprise.
Just as there are malicious users still trying to hack into the Windows and Apple operating systems today, so are there users hacking and abusing the privilege that comes with using social networks.
Love it or hate it, Facebook is not going away anytime soon. If you can find another social networking site that comes anywhere near close to Facebook, let me know. In the meantime, I and millions of other users will continue to use FB to share our stories, keep in touch with family and friends overseas, and follow updates from favorite news organisations (like the New York Times), museums and galleries, bands, and many other sources.
My problem with Facebook was realized when I saw an ad they were running for themselves a year ago. They said you got to know your friends, and *friends of your friends.*
I don’t want to know friends of my friends. I have enough trouble keeping up with my friends. It’s beyond annoying when I can’t see pictures of my own siblings but I get pictures of people I don’t even know. That’s just one of many reasons I have not been on Facebook for two years.
3
If Facebook didn't exist, I can say with absolute certainty my marriage of 9 years wouldn't have ended and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
7
@CharlesFrankenberry
It is called "a Facebook Divorce" and it is a thing.
3
So much negativity! That is on the writers. Facebook did not create the negativity. FB is voluntary. No one forces anyone to participate. No one forces anyone to buy the products that are advertised. No one forces anyone to accept "friends" or look at nasty postings. No one forces anyone to believe false information or act on things uncritically, There is a phrase for that - "personal responsibility". One can quit any time they choose (assuming they have a real life and will power, as demonstrated by several commentators).
-
I have a FB account with a very limited number of FB friends, which correlates directly with family and friends in real life. I do not post anything that could be used against me or my family and friends. Pictures of my kids did not appear until they had (supervised) accounts of their own. I don't see nasty postings from "friends", I don't buy the items advertised. and I DON'T GET MY NEWS FROM FB!
-FB in that context is fun, links me to people to whom I am truly connected, gives me a venue to share my hobbies with people who care and is worth having ads (that I do not click on or read) posted on my page.It would be egotistical of me to think anyone would really care to have any of my photos. I manage a page for my job, and use it to educate and spread positive messages. Interacting with FB is a business transaction. When the cost is too high for what I get from it, I will walk away.
5
Bumbling, naive, overinterested in short term gains... what 15 year old isn’t? Fortunately the gift of being a teenager is that you get to grow out of it.
The relatively ancient NYT, however, should be better than this petty, not terribly clever and selective-fact-based journalism. It makes you look your age and it isn’t pretty.
2
If Mark Zuckerberg is really sorry for all the damage Facebook has caused, he would change the business model. Not holding my breath. He is either clueless, too stupid to understand or an evil genius.
6
If you are on Facebook you are Zuckerberg's saleable product. Advertisers pay and get access to you and your friends. To make FB go away we have to take his product away.
8
Who ever could have imagined that the mathematics which unlocked the power of the atom might cause some problems when translated to computer code?
That would require at least a moment of circumspection.
1
I'm not Facebook's biggest fan, but this video seems pretty sophomoric. Beneath The Times. You can do better.
5
Wow! Great video! It was the NYT exposes that motivated me to delete Facebook. I am now no longer on ANY social media at all. I’m doing just fine. I’ve discovered who my REAL friends are; I am reading about a book each day, now that I’m not sucked into the FOMO vortex.
Again....really great video. You captured that smarmy Facebook style, but told the truth about Zuckerberg and Facebook instead of laying on more creepy lies.
4
If only twitter hadn't been invented, too.
11
Harsh! ... But who's to blame? Haven't we voluntarily opted in? Can't we voluntarily opt out any time? ... In the timeless words of Pogo, "We have met the enemy and he is us!"...
4
Just. Quit. Nobody will notice.
11
Peoples' character does not change. I suggest readers look up an old article, 'The Face of Facebook' by Jose Antonio Vargas.
1
That was literally the most one-sided video I've ever seen. Everything in it was true, but there was nothing — not one single thing — positive about Facebook in it, and that is simply unfair.
It's human nature to tear down a success story this big, so have at it. But if you "hate" Facebook, but "love" Instagram? You're not being honest with yourself.
No social media platform is private and if you're concerned about privacy you shouldn't be on any of it. I still use FB. It's like my town square. I can scroll past or hide things that I don't want to see. I follow all my elected representatives, and family who are not nearby, and once in a while I post a photo of my dog. And the marketplace is great. I don't play games or quizzes and as for privacy? We gave that up the minute we started using credit cards.
5
Ask any therapist and they will tell you that Facebook has been a driver of divorce, family division and ending friendships. If “connection” is what they are about, they have failed miserably.
4
I never joined Faceboo, have never even had a look at their website. Yet lately I’ve begun to receive e-mails from Facebook touting the advantages of joining one of their groups. How is that possible? My demands to be deleted from their mailing list are ignored. Rapacious jerks, the lot of them.
4
Sometimes it's cool to be a Luddite. While I have FB on my mobile so that I can check in for free whilst travelling, I do not post anything about my life and do not "Like" anything. I've never used Twitter, Instagram, SnapChat, or any other social media platform. If someone wants me to know something, s/he will send me an email - or gasp! - pick up their phone and call.
4
TANSTAAFL
It's as true to day as the first time it was uttered.
The same thing that drives people to play the lottery is the same thing that let's them think "free" websites are okay. Something for nothing.
My more ruthless side says, boo hoo, how sad for you that Facebook got your stuff and sold it to everyone they could find...
My kinder side says we need to bring back the idea of self-preservation and critical thinking.
All of the recent coverage of Facebook can be reasonablly framed as a defence of the legacy business of journalism. Buggy whip journalism if you will.
I like it. Small manufacturers in my neck of the woods had no voice when it was their turn to be obsoleted. It's instructive to have the death throes of an industry so carefully and lovingly documented.
Regulation/censhorship will feel good but won't work. Maybe elect Bernie sanders?
1
I have Facebook and I don't feel it controls me at all. I have full control of my privacy settings and what I choose to see and share. Mostly, I'm on it to follow organizations, companies and groups that interest me and I only post to a handful of true friends. I've blocked all things and people who are political or otherwise incendiary or just plain annoying. The posts that appear on my wall are mostly about cooking, travel and interior design (those are my interests) plus my children's school and a few relatives and friends. Often my wall barely moves. Just as I set it up, just as I like it.
3
If you are not on Facebook or never have been on Facebook, but your entire extended family is on Facebook and posts family pictures, old and new, then I am guessing my face has been booked hundreds of times.
Match that against any banking and state licence permanent record, which is close to impossible to live without, and it does not matter that I, individually or personally, have an account at Facebook now, does it?
5
If I have taken a flight in the last 15 years, my body has been booked, too.
My default sigh has evolved to:
how you present yourself in public and in discussion is very important. This is the modern world. Now back to brushing up on fifth grade spelling and grammar. I am that far behind.
What we need is a nonprofit facebook, funded like Wikipedia or PBS. User information should be available only to further our understanding of society and ourselves, not to make it easier for others to bother and tempt us.
5
I never joined Facebook for privacy reasons. The Internet has been something of a Wild West of capitalism since it became popular in the 1990's. As far as Facebook is concerned, it is a case of buyer beware. That goes for individual users, as well as businesses that advertise on it.
3
I was opening a new bank account online. The site said the fed gov't makes them try to combat fraud so they needed additional information to be sure it was me.
I expected the usual name, date of birth, ss number,, etc. But They also asked for occupation. They gave a choice of "retired" which I am. But then site wouldn't let me go further without inputting an employer name and address. I don't have one. The site also asked what my total assets were, what the source of my assets was (gift? inheritance? lottery? gambling? real estate? retirement funds?). I wasn't trying to get credit, just open an account and make a deposit. I even called to ask, their weak explanation - oh yeah, we've gotten a lot of feedback about that and we're trying to get it changed. But in the meantime, list the last employer you remember - I'll help you look some of it up.
I declined, didn't finish the application and didn't open an account with them.
4
During the Pleistocene Era, aka: the early 80s, a former sex partner asked me to pose for revealing pix and to be filmed having sex.
My "No" was instant. Intimate activities should remain private and intimate and, as significant, I knew that once that image existed as physical matter (a picture or film) no matter what assurances I would receive that it remain private, there really was no such assurance. In a rare act of wisdom, therefore, I wouldn't allow it.
Why here offer too much info? Because that very same insight guided me in staying away from the portals of shared social media.
I agree with everything posted here about Zuckerberg and the false assurances he made to account holders. In good faith, they relied on those only to have their data sold and exposed.
Still, I don't think its "victim blaming" to point out that it was your fingertips that opened the portal. Some accountability for that is appropriate.
I lead a fascinating, riveting, life; to me. You do too; to you. I wouldn't dream of boring you with my choices and I'm really not interested in yours, unless we sit face to face and ear to ear conversing (and yes, I'm aware of the irony of posting this on the internet).
I'm beginning to wonder, with all these devices, if humans eventually will evolve away from having a larynx and ears, but our fingers will multiply.
Now, please avoid stepping on my lawn.
6
I remember when I was in middle school (in the late 2000s/early 2010s) everyone wanted to have Facebook. All the "cool kids" had Facebook so you felt compelled to have facebook. Getting a Facebook account was a sign you were becoming "cool" and popular. It was definitely a "must have".
But now, lots of them stopped using it, or even deleted their accounts.
Guess it was just another trend, which is now replaced by Instagram or Snapchat..
1
You know Instagram is Facebook, right?
As Tim Cook of Apple observed Zuckerberg is perpetually "sloppy". But then we may have set too high of expectations from what was started as a "hook up" site for college kids.
4
A few other observations:
1. Sheryl Sandberg is responsible for Faxcebook's operations. Some of these issues are policy, in which she is also always involved, and most are her doing. Any reason the Times won't make a female the villain? I mean, she's a billionaire too you know.
2. The Times plays a huge role in polarization. It is largely a far-left leaning paper whose op-ed pieces are very polarizing
3. Google is much more responsible for spreading the dangerous things you attribute to Facebook. If I need to learn how to build a bomb, I'd go to Google more than Facebook.
4. Twitter disperses more hate per tweet ("hot") than Facebook, and Times' editors publish angry, polarizing tweets every day.
5. The scandal over the 87 million data points is ridiculous. Those data are read by computers, not people.
I dislike Facebook and all that it stands for. But please, it s privacy greed policies don't reveal anything to any person who can harm you. Then again, LinkedIn reads my mail. Most of this privacy stuff is overblown hysteria. Google will spread your secrets involuntarily much faster than Facebook, which all disclosures are voluntary.
5
@Allan H. The Times plays a huge role in polarization? What meds are you on?
1
While most of the comments seem to focus on privacy concerns, that's not what drove me away. In the run up to the 2016 election, I could see fake political advertisements pop up in my feed; ads aimed at generating division, hatred and racism. Well turns out a lot of these ads were bought by Russian agents trying to influence our election. That was strike one for me. Then there were other strikes like Cambridge Analytical, FB leveraging user data for advertisers like Netflix, and the straw that broke the back for me: advertisements for "MAGA Coffee" that literally had the word "libtards" in the advertisement. Are there no advertising standards at FB? The hits just keep coming.
For me its seems that FB has been more obsessed with growth than monitoring or controlling their platform. I for one have lost all trust in them to do the right thing and have deactivated my account. Its been months now and I don't see myself going back.
Too bad really.
3
A little harsh, I think. No one was ever forced to use Facebook. I agree Dan from fl (on of the Times' Picks) that we have to be angry with ourselves for giving away our privacy so easily and willingly. I would bet you that many of the people criticizing Facebook today are still on and it and use it. Somehow along the line we got thinking that Facebook was our birthright and that there weren't people behind it trying to make a profit. And it's not just Zuckerberg behind curtain.
I'm reading Cal Newport's "Deep Work" (recommended by the Times) and I have a feeling his book will lead me to delete Facebook, or at the very least delete it off my phone. Fifteen years isn't that long ago. We are learning how this stuff effects us and we'll see an ebb and flow in how we deal with the problems these forms of entertainment and tools lead to.
4
So when is the Times going to remove the Facebook tracking pixel from its webpages? Facebook Connect is gathering the data of every individual who watches this video, almost certainly matching it to profiles to create interests and then selling that to advertisers. The next time you see an ad for privacy software, thank the New York Times and Facebook.
17
The advent, growth and current state of the social media frenzy has peaked. The rush to post every conceivable aspect of your life, your friend's life, your parents life, and your children's lives has peaked. Now, the great transformation is underway. It will leave the best parts of social media and allow us to dump the bad parts. In the meantime, I'll stay off of it with anonymity is the new status symbol.
69
@Harley Leiber
I'm not sure if you're speaking with a slight tongue-in-cheek here - however, my thoughts are that the more likely scenario is the opposite – "it will dump the good parts and all that will remain is the bad parts" – because all the "good parts" have - or soon will - decide that anonymity is - to your point - the new status symbol.
8
@Harley Leiber The frenzy is neither over nor will it dump the bad parts. I would suggest that social media may have morphed, but it is alive and well among younger users who will indeed decide that future. The only thing that has stopped growing is Facebook.
3
@Wilson1ny I don't know if I agree or not with you but I do know that splashing your personal likes, dislikes, preferences, family pics, pics of your kids bris, the cake, your dog, your cat and your hamster...is fuel for the social media ersatz life phenom. Keep it private, personal and confidential...maintain some personal data that you curate on your own page...not Facebook . Your friends will know know where to look.
4
I think this 'opinion' piece condemns Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg much too severely for my liking. I've been using it pretty heavily for more than a decade. Facebook is *part* of a revolutionary time in information processing and social media. I'm semi-retired and trying to use my spare time to promote my 'twin loves' of peacemaking and music. Facebook is GREAT for what I do. I'm very grateful to Mark and the folks he has working for him, the Facebook developer team.
3
I get the anger at Zuckerberg and Facebook but some of this anger should be focused on ourselves. We have given away our privacy and it’s not entirely FB’s fault. It’s a little too late to blame it all on FB. I still think FB is a great idea. And it’s not all about “baby pictures”. I have reconnected with so many people in my life in a way that I doubt could have happened otherwise. And these are meaningful connections that have led to renewed relationships and I mean real time, face to face connections. I post things, stories about my life, images of my art work, and my friends respond in meaningful ways. FB is a tool like any other tool, using it wisely, effectively and personally has enriched me. Sure there are dangers, I try not to forward anything I’m not certain of the origin. I focus on personal content and try hard to keep it real. My conversations with people I don’t agree with politically in my life has also been respectful and I hope enlightening to both sides. One of the most profound side effects of FB is the way people from parts of my life, people who have never met, interact through me. It’s as if all the parts of my life conjoin. I truly love that. It’s a tool, as humans we have lots of them and we learn to use them wisely.
59
@Dan We also need to regulate bad actors in the marketplace. With Facebook, you're the product, not the customer. That's not an equitable, explicit or remotely honest business model.
The fact that so few people realize the long-term consequences of selling themselves and their entire social network to bad actors engaged in a slick psychological manipulation, makes the threat of misuse, abuse and exploitation all the more insidious, demanding strict governmental regulation.
10
@Dan Exactly. My father in law winning his age group in a 5K. My childhood best friend's new job. My friend's band playing at the corner bar, an event I only made because another friend reminded me on FB. If you know how to manage it it's great.
Facebook epitomizes the old adage, "There's no such thing as a free lunch."
Facebook's founder and senior executives have become billionaires by providing a platform in exchange for as much of its users' personal data as they can mine and sell to as many buyers as want it. In return, the user is paid nothing.
Since long before the revelations of fake users, fake news election interference and privacy failures, I've refused to have a Facebook account because who would want to participate in such a business model?
64
@D Price
Unfortunately, about 2.2 billion users each month like that business model.
1
@D Price The user gets the otherwise free use of the platform, which he or she doesn't have to use. Another example would be me selling some privacy for a grocery store card that saves me money. I'm just not that concerned that someone can track my purchases.
@Lazlo Schwartz It's a lot more than that! If Facebook were a grocer, you wouldn't be the customer, you & yours would be the cabbages. And they would slice you, or dice, or sell whole or by the lot the most intimate details of your lives, to whomever had an interest in using Facebook's expertly designed manipulations to influence and control entire populations.
No Skinner pigeon ever thought to get out of the box. They were too busy "clicking" for their pitiful rewards!
8
Yawn - sure - the whole world is deleting Facebook - meanwhile back in the actual metrics-world that are reported quarterly: FB continues to grow revenue at double digits (37% yoy) and Net Income (39% yoy); subscribers continue to grow all over the world - 2.27 billion monthly active users and 1.49 billion daily active users Q4.
So yeah - I am still invested and participating - just in passing - if you were - you would have seen a 22% return in January alone or 11% in the past quarter.
FB still connects families across the world with their relatives, their friends and yeah - the grandkid pics.
If it is used to promote hate and internecine violence by a host of bad actors - how is that any different than what has been occurring for centuries via newspapers, the radio, graffiti, the town square, and virtually all channels of communication?
But we do love to punchingbag FB don't we?
37
@SteveRR "just in passing - if you were - you would have seen a 22% return in January alone or 11% in the past quarter"
Because of course that's what *really* matters after all isn't it? "Promoting hate and internecine violence" [your own words], not so much.
25
@SteveRR To paraphrase Upton Sinclair, it is hard to persuade somebody that something is wrong when his investment returns depend on it being right.
17
@Barry
Thanks for taking the time to read and reply Barry - but a charitable reading of my comment would not support your interpretation.
On another path - you will recall Serbia/Bosnia, Rwanda among dozens of others occurred just fine without FB enablement.
And Frank - I do enjoy Upton but more in a humorous way than in a life-strategy way.
1
I think Facebook is wonderful. I can keep track of my "friends" and relatives without having to talk to them or see them. It is a way to be sociable without having to interact with people. It also cuts out buying birthday cards and Christmas cards to say nothing of postage. Just wish them a Happy birthday and Merry Christmas on Facebook.
Seriously, I do connect with some relatives and friends with whom I actually do want to interact. It is easy to do with Facebook.
It know a lot of people are overwrought about privacy. But anything that I want kept secret, I definitely would not put on Facebook.
We tend to blame others for our own actions. People blame Walmart for putting mom and pop out of business. Forgetting that shoppers shop where they want to. The shoppers who left mom and pop and started doing all of their shopping at Walmart put mom and pop out of business.
Just like a lot us put too much information on Facebook and then blame Facebook for a lack of privacy.
32
@Aubrey
Yes- and people misguidedly blame the pied piper for luring their children away when the little ones went willingly because they chose the sound of the flute over the safety and love of their families!
14
@Aubrey If you haven't already, you should go to Face Information in Settings on Facebook and see what data on you Facebook has collected (and in many cases shared). This is especially important if you have ever used Facebook to link to accounts like Amazon. You can download and erase any data you don't want Facebook to continue to share. Many people have quit Facebook after seeing what Facebook has captured in Information.
11
@Bart Thanks for your suggestion, I will do that.
I said that I like to look at things on Face book; but I actually do very little on Facebook. Mainly just look at pictures posted by relatives and send private messages to a few. I have never thought of linking accounts.
Thanks again and have a good day.
3
Facebook and Instagram both make me want to go back to life without a smartphone or computer at home. I wish it would go the way of Myspace.
82
It will. But with a bigger bang.
7
@D. Gregory
Myspace still exists and is profitable.
3
@Mary A I can't wait. Right now I'm doing a trial of 2 weeks sans social media and if there's no ramifications to my relationships offline, I'll be downloading my data and deleting permanently.
6
I quit Facebook in absolute disgust about a year ago. I was sick and tired of everything I came to understand that Facebook is, which is a tracker of my personal life and then selling what it learned about me to people who want to sell me something. Zuckerberg is a professional "apologizer" to anyone who calls him out, while he does nothing at all. He's all about money, nothing else.
I also don't use Twitter and I don't use Google as little as possible, certainly, I use a secure search engine and browser. (And I still don't feel completely secure.)
We need to get control of these guys. The Europeans are miles ahead of us in terms of protecting personal information.
156
@Bob Burns In the US, politicians can be more easily bought via political campaign contributions.
5
@Bob Burns I’m with you. FB is a soul sucking time hole of fake connections. I cancelled my account about the time you did since I found it a waste of energy. No meaningful “connection” to anyone I wanted to keep in my life ever occurred.
3
@Bob Burns What secure search engine and browser do you use?
The most liberating thing I have done recently is delete my Facebook page (they don't make it easy to do). It immediately removes so much negativity from your life. I'll miss seeing some baby pictures, but it's a small price to pay for eliminating the ugly politics of so many people and the anger I would feel at people I once liked and respected when they posted their garbage. I feel free.
83
@Maureen, my mother passed away almost 4 years ago. As executor of her estate I have tried since to no avail to delete her account. I guess one could take solace that she'll live on forever but it is extremely annoying that apparently I must answer a Rumpelstiltskin-like question or hand over another family member in order to get the account deleted. Very frustrating.
15
Never been there and no intention of ever going to any of them.
3
Love it.
Facebook is terribly boring. Been on it since 2006. Can't stand to look at the redundant junk and stupid memes people pass around that FB keeps in the forefront of my news feed. And I have almost 5000 friends. If it wasn't for the music groups I run, I would have deactivated a long time ago. That and the fact they allowed a Russian operative to manipulate it to elect a crackpot, the loser Trump. Facebook is responsible for the downfall of democracy. And they dont care.
10
Facebook was cool from 2004-2011 or so, when it was just a place to post funny pictures of your college friends and set up parties.
Then a critical mass of people over 50 got on there and blasted us all with Farmville requests, then a constant stream of fake or highly biased news. Unfortunately we can never go back.
5
Brutal takedown!
Video covers a lot of the bad results, but doesn’t include the basic problem: putting profit before ALL else!!
5
It kinda does by noting MZ’s net worth at $55BN. But I agree they could have hit the profit motive a bit harder.
Most of Facebook's wrong doing was foreseeable. The moment Facebook transitioned from a digital Rolodex for college students into an emotionally manipulative profit engine, we knew there was going to be trouble. I have a really intelligent ex-girlfriend from around the time who called it. I feel dumb for underestimating her foresight. Like everyone else, how bad could obnoxious parents endlessly posting baby pictures get? Apparently pretty bad.
Speaking of parents, I had an interesting conversation with a soon to be parent this weekend. We both agreed you shouldn't post pictures of children on social media before you can have an informed discussion with the child. By all means, take pictures. Share them with Grandma and Grandpa. However, you shouldn't be posting the child's image to any cloud source without at least a juvenile understanding of privacy.
I think about all the people who came of age in the period where a public life history of their child wasn't just normal but expected. I'm completely aghast. You don't need social media to document a childhood. It's called redundant local storage. Take the picture and back it up offline. If you want to get creative, you can start photo-booking analog copies of your favorite prints. Share a copy with your family if you want. Your child's image never needs to touch the internet.
6
The headline says "the friendship no-one asked for." For those of us who avoid Facebook entirely, or who use it for a barebones way to find people or be found by those whom we wish to have find us, it's not an issue.
Those who have problems with Facebook have, contrary to the headline and text, asked for it. Some of us live the same deeply satisfying lives without it that we did before it existed.
6
@Allan H. If you don't think social media is influencing every sphere of your life from politics and entertainment to the environment and healthcare—whether you actively participate in it or not—you should probably revisit some of the major news stories of the past 15 years...
@Marke B. Since I have been reading the Times, Wash. Post and Wall Street Journal, plus others, for over 35 years, I'm fairly familiar with the news.
My point is, Facebook and other forms of social media a/k/a/ showin' off and a/k/a marketing oneself a/k/a/ spreading the news one likes is voluntary
Facebook, Uber, etc., are all wildly successful because the Internet is FREE. They don't pay to create and maintain the huge infrastructure investment. We users are the only ones that get charged (taxed if you think about it) for the whole thing, instead of per application.
Socialism funds extreme Capitalism. And Capitalism claims the credit and the profits.
1
Fifteen years ago I wondered why people had to be so childish as to spend time maintaining a thing that was a giant waste of time. I have since become convinced that most people are permanently children. This is much different than just being young at heart, or having a positive outlook on life. It is a form of gullibility that many seem unable to change about themselves. I do not think it is caused by Facebook, but that Facebook is really a symptom of a brainwashed society that feels that all of their personal information, their lives, needs to be exposed for all to see. Indeed, they insist that their personal life should be of interest to everyone else.
I myself am a very boring person. I don't think that is uncommon and I have no interest in entertaining others with stories of my life. Anyway, anyone who would listen to me is likely just looking for a way to manipulate me for their own benefit.
I contend that many people are bred to be good children and thus good serfs. We have a democratically elected government yet the wealthy prosper and everyone else scrambles to keep afloat. Their is no better evidence for the people being brainwashed than that.
15
@Chris
You see that underbelly very well.
Narcissism & infantilism were crucial to Facebook's growth (notice I avoid the word success). And this country reinforces infantile, adolescent, narcissistic behavior at all levels.
3
Deactivated my Facebook account and never looked back. I also have urged my teenage daughter not to join. She swears she won't since "Facebook is only for old people."
11
This cute little broadcast confirms that 2.27 billion people apparently consider the loss of privacy so minor that they have not closed their accounts. That is a significant point that needs to be addressed.
10
Perhaps I was fortunate to have had a career in IT data security starting in the late 1990's that added to an inbred suspicious personal nature. Once Facebook and sites of similar nature became popular I cautioned family and friends to think twice the unintended consequences by using those. LinkedIn (acquired some years after launch by Facebook), is for most a necessary evil. It is not possible to avoid sensitive personal information being gathered and shared in a digital world.
It is possible to take steps to try and limit the amount and type of personal information others readily leverage. Providing Mr. Zuckerberg and others of his ilk near unfettered access to your digital presence is akin to leaving your home unlocked upon leaving for vacation. Then posting a neon sign informing those that pass you will be out of town for two weeks. Please come in and help yourself to whatever you desire.
5
All true enough but very, very far from the whole story. Is Zuckerberg a saint? Far, far from it, but Facebook has brought people together in good ways. It's a fascinating new medium with good and bad, just like radio and television in the 20th century. I'm proud to say I've enjoyed most of my Facebook time, even if it can be a little too addictive.
3
I'm proud to say that I have never joined Facebook or even looked at a page. So, for those saying this is the fault of subscribers, I am blameless! As a private person, I knew this was a bad idea from the beginning and feel it is ultimately a part of Kardashian Syndrome.
Why can't people interact with other people and live in real time? For that matter, why can't people spend even 5 minutes without utilizing a cell phone?
Get and live a real life, people!
20
@Edie
Great comment. Spot on.
Simply love alternative means of storytelling that get right to the point. Bravo!
BTW, Some time ago I decided to limit my Facebook postings to non-political and non-braggadocio: lovely vistas or flora and fauna. Nature. Horses, dogs, squirrels, wild turkey, deer
FaceBook’s analytics redefined me to a feed limited to chatter from my high school classmates in an ag district.
No more convos from folks in my profession, worldwide travels, college.
My experiment showed me what I needed to know about Facebook.
We don't need FB. I got off of it and never turned back. There are so many other ways to connect and get the word out about something.
Plus, our society needs to do real face time with others helping, volunteering, serving, exercising, working, rallying, etc.
Get off FB and drop back into a real community.
7
I am glad that you get it too. The more I read and know about Mark Zuckerberg the more I see him as an unconscionable liar who says whatever is required in that moment and then takes no steps to support those same words. Horrible and odious person and company.
18
To me, facebook is simply a brag fest. Who cares.
7
I deleted my account last July from this malevolent platform of doom. Search online for "how to". FB is not your friend.
& FYI, "Signal" is a securely encrypted SMS /text messaging / calling free app for confidential communications.
7
I loathe Facebook. It's electronically amplified gossip. And, of course, people love to gossip.
11
What is Facebook and when is the Superbowl scheduled?
4
Good ol' fb -- where you and your friends are Commodities firstly, and Citizens ... well, if and when they happen to get 'round to it.
They're pretty Busy, at the moment, counting their Riches, citizen. In the meantime, keep quiet and keep on posting! There's still tonnes and tonnes of Stuff to sell! Like, YOU!
3
Great video all true. Life is so much better without Facebook. So much better than ads streaming down your feed, so much better than the impulsive rants people post preaching to their own choirs.
7
It’s funny how this video censures Facebook as if they’re the cause of these problems, when in reality it’s individuals and groups who leverage the platform to do so. Let’s get angry at Ford, one of their cars was used to run down pedestrians! Quick, let’s get Apple because someone used a MacBook to organize a bombing! This logic makes no sense and the people making this argument using it are fighting against the tide of technological advancement and social evolution. I’m not saying Facebook doesn’t play a part in regulating their platform and protecting privacy, but PEOPLE are the problem. Fix that first.
14
@Sean L
Victim blaming...?
Facebook users are consuming a product whose terms of agreement made false claims, misrepresenting their service. Consumers were drawn into FB on the premise of "sharing" and "getting closer to others"; they were never told that their data was effectively being stolen & sold for profit.
Had that been made clear at the outset of their usage, how many FB users would never have signed on?
FB exploited / exploits a generation of bamboozled users. How many are to blame for not reading fine print that was, BTW, comprised of lies & omissions?
Agreed, those who remain, having been informed, are indeed responsible. That notwithstanding, point your blaming & shaming in the correct direction, please: at Zuckerberg, et al, & no one else.
4
We hyperfocus on Facebook while letting a slew, almost everyone else, off the hook.
From yesterday's news timeline:
"How your health information is sold and turned into ‘risk scores’
Information used to gauge opioid overdose risk is unregulated and used without patient consent.
Companies are starting to sell “risk scores” to doctors, insurers and hospitals to identify patients at risk of opioid addiction or overdose, without patient consent and with little regulation of the kinds of personal information used to create the scores."
This runs counter to every rule in ethics. Yet, more companies engage in these behaviors than not. It isn't only Facebook we should be focusing on, but absolutely everyone else. It seems the corporate world has run out of ideas on how to make things to turn a profit. So, here we are. The last bastion of riches is monetizing all of us.
It's time to write the book of business ethics, turn it into law, and stop this invasion of each and every one of us.
---
Things Trump Did While You Weren’t Looking [2019]
https://wp.me/p2KJ3H-3h2
13
We need the digital privacy regulations that are being enacted in Europe. We do not control our own data, others are making money off of us and we are not getting our share. It is not too late to take back control.
49
I have suddenly realized why Facebook has brought so much grief into our lives in recent months - it's a teenager!
9
When is the Times going to do its part?
The Times and the PBS Newshour have a “book club” - on Facebook! Why is that? Both of you have websites!
I’ve never been on Facebook. And I sure as heck am not joining Facebook just to participate in a BOOK club!
Please, Times, do you part here!
104
Never had an account, never will. Total waste of time and dignity.
36
Deleted mine at the weekend and feel lighter already.
6
Clever bit, thank you.
But, I just don't get the whole hubbub. I've never used facebook, never will, don't care even a little bit. (Though I do recognize the huge impact.)
It seems so simple....."Just Say No!!!!!"
10
Why is Facebook so controversial? Why don't people who find it loathsome simply cancel their accounts?
6
So many people say the hardest part about leaving is "missing the baby pictures". I have to say - that is one of the main reasons I left (not too many friends with toxic/fake news politics). But the babies! How, dear god, did FB make babies of loved ones mundane and even foreboding? They all started blending together in a surreal and blurry montage of supposedly meaningful milestones and events. Not cool.
20
@Maria
I've noticed that far too many baby pictures make them resemble Winston Churchill.
2
So much snark from so many people who never used Facebook. I remember hearing that civilization was dying because of TV (60s). FB is a great way to stay in touch with far flung friends and family. Don’t “friend” strangers, don’t fill in any but required information in your “about” section. Set privacy to friends only. Don’t identify family members. Done. Will there still be ads? Yes, as that’s the revenue stream, just like in/on other media. Use some common sense - please. This technology isn’t going away, so learn how to make it work for you. And continue to demand responsibility from the platforms.
13
@Jean Sims
How is it possible that you've missed the last two years' of reporting on Facebook's scams? If you'd read any of it, you'd know that Facebook doesn't work for you; you work for it.
9
Wow! So it has been 15 years since Facebook told me that I was too old to get an account. Somehow without a Facebook account, I have struggled through life, enjoying real, in person relationships with other people rather than through a computer screen.
32
The decision to leave Facebook was easy. Its had turned from a pleasant diversion into a monotonous, time-consuming part-time job. And with "feature creep" slowly weighing it down and eliminating any vestige of simplicity, I was glad to go.
One problem remains: Many causes, issues, non-profits, and candidates have made it the centerpiece of their outreach. Staying connected can be a challenge.
I hope these groups will think seriously about how they will do outreach for those not on Facebook and -- perhaps someday -- how they will do it in a post-Facebook world.
37
@Horace Dewey
Couldn't agree with you more - I despise not having access just because I don't have, never had, and never will have a FB account.
1
I hqve refused to have a FACEBOOK account because of their sleazy practices. But what I find so appalling is the number of sites, like Politico, that require you have a Facebook ID to sign on to comment. I consider that as cooperating and approving Facebook's sleazy practices.l
104
I have never joined the Facebook lemming charade. Which has cost me much family and friend news and events.
Mark Zuckerberg is the new gilded age robber baron malefactor of great wealth. Controlling international personal information and cyberspace makes Zuckerberg a titan compared to microbes such as John D. Rockefeller, J. P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie. William Hearst and Henry Ford.
Bust it up! Regulate it up! Lock him up! Fine him up!
37
The Sci-Fi books of my childhood predicted how our descent into mind control would happen.....without a whimper. And with happy smiling faces.
47
@David
"Shockwave Rider" by John Brunner
"This Perfect Day" by Ira Levin
If you haven't read them, they're worth a look.
3
If some how democrats used Facebook creatively to help elect Clinton, all of you would love Facebook. Zuckerberg would be loved by all the liberal Elitists, writing editorials about the wonders of social connection and his philanthropy. Alas, that is not the case and Clinton was the worst Democratic candidate in decades. Facebook is now the liberal scapegoat for the Trump presidency in order to focus the blame away from the revered Clinton. The hatred of Facebook is simply a proxy against Trump. Everybody sees through your charade.
4
@Kevin ... hey, let's be fair. Zuckerberg still kicks in some rather heavy envelopes to Democratic political campaigns.
3
@Kevin
“If democrats did … democrats (liberals) would…”
It's easy to set up a straw man that you can knock down because your argument has no merit.
2
All the things we never wanted. . . and more.
35
Facebook is a legacy product which is too many things for far too many people.
Unfortunately, it’s a monopoly of a kind no robber baron ever dreamed of.
What’s really worrisome is further integration of even more messaging products
by Facebook into its baroque privacy thwarting vortex! Oh yes it’s encrypted, I’m
sure it’s totally safe, because Zuckerberg says so.
Even the Russians and hate groups find it Facebook indispensable.
Just think about Facebook in another 15 years.
8
There will be no FB in 15 years.
2
Facebook is not much but because of near universal computer illiteracy has become big.
Building a personal web page with the proper meta data to be found is something a kid can do. The web page language is not much more than plain English.
Past that many of the problems are because users are not smart about how much they share or understand.
In the election stuff..... if Russian troll farms put out propaganda does anyone have to believe any of it?
I am not trying to give Zuckerberg a pass.... they have done their share of harm in secret but the users deserve much of the blame for putting up with the abuses that Facebook creates.
Anyway I have used Facebook a few times and that is all. Bye for now
1
@Mike R
In the earlier days of the internet, many sites hosted their own discussion forums. (remember newsgroups?) Those are mostly gone now and I miss them. Everything has migrated to Facebook partly for the reasons you mention. Many people like the convenience more than they value their privacy.
3
I like postcards.
Everyone used to send postcards. The mail was delivered twice a day. Relative to Pony Express and clipper ships and with postcards, you were "in the loop."
Piet Mondrian, when he lived in the w. 40's, was poor and didn't have a phone. If you wanted to visit Piet to see his new paintings, Tuesday afternoon you'd sent Piet a postcard with the message that you'd be dropping by at twelve p.m. Wednesday, and would ring the bell so that he'd look for you from his window and toss down the keys.
If great art is a signifier of a great society, smartphones and social media are a bust. I move that we return to the tactile hard copy of the handwritten message, and to the delayed excitement it contained.
Maybe we'll get a Mondrian-quality society. Worth a try.
17
@Taz
What a wonderful comment. You talk about something that the last 2 generations have never known: slow living.
The speed at which we live today does not allow for reflection or deep conversations. It merely encourages the twitter sound bites void of nuances and promoting an ever-shallow culture.
Speed is the preferred mode for autocrats & tyrants; it disempowers the individual, keeping him/her constantly busy & focused on the trivial.
Look up the works of a great intellectual named Zygmunt Baumann. His works are quite prescient.
1
Incisive. How can I share it on Facebook?
2
@Bklyn13 Just press the Facebook button near the top of the page, to right of the byline.
With friends like there, who needs enemies?
3
This is excellent! Thank you!
3
Five years ago Facebook was the open arms of the internet. But overtime, it revealed human behavior for what it is. And that makes me sad.
4
Sad and a bit funny in some ways. Great creativity BTW. It’s best to just delete FB and not be connected to any of this mess.
40
Nicely done. And yet, sadly, it will have little impact. Although, one can hope for better.
12
This is brilliant. I fear that progressive politics and grassroots organization has become way too dependent on Facebook groups. I have made the decision to start withdrawing from some and soon may leave altogether. I would rather spend one hour with a real person than an hour alone in my office reading the blurts of hundreds. I think the problem for most people is addiction and a fear that if they leave it they will feel alone and disconnected. Let's all try and see. (Note: they gave away users' data, not users data.)
65
@Me Yes.
I am affiliated with several progressive groups and for years, I have pointed out that using either Facebook or Google groups for such causes is anathema. It also drives people away. I am part of a small and reticent minority who complains. I am thrilled that the size of that minority rapidly is growing.
For those in political activist groups who want to look at alternatives, a group in Seattle provides one that is politically oriented. Here is a link to the About page that competently explains the need: https://riseup.net/en/about-us .
Those of us who came of age in the 1960's remember how the government (e.g., the FBI) spied on the civil rights movement using available technology. Can you just imagine what government is doing today?
Many thanks to Zuckerberg, Trump, and the Russians for fueling the rising discontent with the tech industry that for many years has socially and economically exploited millions of Americans and gotten away with it, until now.
37
@Me
My husband and I never signed up for Facebook. I could never see what the big deal was about taking pictures of your dinner or chronicling your every move.
26
@Me
Where are they going to go? We'll have to wean them first as they no longer know how to make friends in person or where to start finding them.
3