Why I’m Leaving Facebook
Posted by Andrew | Filed under Social Networking
I know, I know, why would anyone care what I think about the world’s largest social network and why I’m personally fed up with it. You’re all just going to continue to use it to post your status, your pictures, your videos, and tell people what 5 actors you think are the hottest. In fact, I shouldn’t even tell you why I want to leave Facebook, it’s fairly obvious. And besides, when I left MySpace in 2007 for other reasons, the world kept on spinning, so this isn’t Earth shattering news now, is it?
I remember when I first signed up for Facebook back in 2005. Back when it had just opened up to High School students, and you needed to be invited to join. It was simpler back then, you could create a profile with your basic contact information, your favorite movies, books, etc., and you could send messages to your friends and write on their “Wall.” Man, times were simpler then, it was great. Then they added the News Feed and status updates which was fine, and easy way to update all of your friends on what you were up to. It was so clean and crisp too, no one could customize your profile like you could on MySpace. Let’s face it, some people should leave web page design to the professionals.
But now, Facebook has become the ugliest place in the world. It all started when they introduced the “Facebook Platform” and those obnoxious applications started popping up. What was completely unnecessary was the default setting that sent an email to all of your friends inviting them to join you on “XYZ” app on Facebook. And then, burying the option not to recieve those emails deep in the user settings. The groups have the same issue. Just because I knew you in High School doesn’t mean I want to join your cause against cruelty to centipedes. Now those applications and groups are all over the place, in the news feed and on the profiles, in the sidebar of your homepage. It’s hard for me to look at.
Another problem that has been getting on my nerves is the constant ToS drama and censorship controversies caused by what I think are ill-advised attorneys. I mean, anyone can, in theory, post anything they want on Facebook. Including slander, offensive material, pornography, all sorts of stuff. So, why would you want to own that forever? Doesn’t that make Facebook liable in some way for these things?
And for the people who praise them for changing their ToS after their users very vocal uproar. Why aren’t people asking the simple question, “Why was that clause in there in the first place?” What possible reason could Facebook have for wanting to own the copyrights to all of the stuff you post on your profile? Mark Zuckerberg, the Founder and CEO of Facebook, posted on the company’s blog that Facebook needed to own the license to your content in order to justify sharing it with your friends. However, isn’t it implied that you want Facebook to share that information when you hit the enter key? Read the old ToS and make your own decision.
