Remember when Facebook really was a private club? In the days before we called anything a “social network?” When “sharing” and “connecting” wasn’t bait for the switch of “monetizing” the stuff and nonsense of our lives? - Wired magazine
While studying for finals at the end of our last term, I deleted my iPhone Facebook app and came thisclose to deleting my online account as well. The reasons I joined Facebook in 2004 - to connect with college classmates, to see who was in my next semesters' classes, and to see who had textbooks to sell - have become null, even for the college crowd. Nowadays, it's about who has the most friends and who updates the most, plus Mark Zuckerberg seems to want to stop at nothing to make sure we all get our identities stolen in order to line his pockets. We no longer use Facebook as to to to facilitate more human relationships, we use it to artificially "keep in touch" with friends through their newsfeeds and "like" buttons rather than even sending a text or an email. In short, I'm done with it.
Of course, given all this, I chose not to delete my account. I specifically had in mind a few awesome people I had fun with through random travels and experiences who I would want to keep in touch with - not on an every day basis, but when they visit NYC / I visit their hometowns. As we discussed in Professor Toubia's class, I'm just using this whole machine for one small attribute, so when something else comes along, I'll be more than ready to switch (blue ocean strategy). I'm just waiting for what these NYU kids are incubating to close my account completely.
NYU Kids Aim to Invent Facebook (Again), Wired.
Four Nerds and a Cry to Arms About Facebook, NYTimes.
No comments:
Post a Comment