So, I Left Facebook…
Posted by Andrew | Filed under Social Networking
…and I have never been happier. At least as far as my online social life is concerned. I logged onto Facebook for the first time in nearly three weeks last night, and it was just the same crap hole that I left. I can’t believe that I even gave Facebook the time of day. The only reason I left it open was so that my “friends” (those quotes mean something) could still find my email address and phone number so that they could contact me in real life. My about me right now goes a little something like this:
Do not send me a message, do not post to my wall, do not poke me, and do not invite me to your stupid applications and groups. Seriously, here’s my email address and my phone number. If you don’t know how to use either of those, then I don’t want to hear from you.
I’m happy because if I want to share photos with people online, I can use Flickr. If I want to share some video that I made, I can use YouTube. If I want to update my status, my Twitter account is always up for the job. At least most of the time. FriendFeed ties it all together very nicely for me, and they all work a thousand times better than Facebook could ever hope to work at this point.
Twitter is now the talk of the town, and I’m not referring to Leo Laporte’s obsession with it. Nope, it is the talk of all the major news sources. And I think Mark Zuckerberg (if I misspelled his name, well, whatever) should be afraid of Twitter. People are quickly moving to more open systems of social networking. We no longer want to just talk to our 5,000 closest friends. No, we want to broadcast to the entire world in simple messages. Eventually, the free exchange of ideas, links, videos, and photos of cats will win out against what is really an outdated communication technology.
The Internet Troll Epidemic
Posted by Andrew | Filed under Social Networking
It all started last night when I was recording the second episode of DuoRadio with my friends Andrew Reed and Wyatt Alan. I was once again doing a live feed through Ustream and I had the chat room open as well. Well, except for one exception, everyone who was in that chat room was a troll, and I am under the impression that there was really only one person behind it. But one person is enough to ruin everyone’s time, and unfortunately, the internet is crawling with them.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with what “trolls” or “trolling” is, it’s when people go into chat rooms and forums and begin saying inappropriate things. They get away with it because on the internet, no one really knows who you are. They do it anonymously, because what they are saying are things that they would never say in person, especially to people that they have never met before. That is, if they have decent social skills, which if they choose to spend their time in chat rooms and on forums flaming at people they have never met before, they probably don’t.
I just have to ask all the trolls out their on the internet, do you guys have a life? Because, it seems to me that the only reason you would be a troll is because you have nothing to actually add to the conversation. You don’t have any interests or hobbies, you don’t have a knowledge of recent events or world issues, your life is empty. I know I’m being judgmental, but how else am I supposed to feel about someone who comes into my chat room just to ask about everyone’s latest sexual adventures?
And you do it anonymously, which is the part that is most frustrating to moderators all over the internet, but all it means is that you are cowards. That’s right, you are cowards. Only a coward would attack someone he doesn’t know anonymously over the internet (the key is not being face to face) just to make him or her feel better about them self. You see, that’s the other problem, you have low self esteem. Only people with low self esteem find it necessary to attack people they don’t know just because of one thing that they say in a chat room or on a forum.
I used to be like you, attacking people online because they said “Mac sucks” or “Mariners suck” or something like that. Giving a meaningless opinion about a subject that in the larger scheme of things doesn’t matter. So what if you think Macs suck? I like my Mac. So what if you think my baseball team is awful? They probably are, but I don’t care, they’re my childhood team. So, here’s my advice to trolls, keep your typing fingers to yourself if you don’t have anything to add to the conversation. Your just annoying for moderators like me to deal with, but we will ban you if we find it necessary.
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.