Antisocial – Ello and Facebook(adamwilcox.org)
adamwilcox.org
Antisocial – Ello and Facebook
http://www.adamwilcox.org/2014/09/27/antisocial-facebook-ello/
6 comments
I only started a FB account this year. Put it off forever, but was finally convinced when I moved to a new city and a) wanted to keep in touch with friends back home and b) wanted to make it easier to keep track of new people I met.
I have to say it's a lot better than I had imagined. I first I was really excited to express myself amongst friends without forcing them to email me.. the next step was when my family found me, and now I express myself on there... less. Finally, I've gotten used to it and it's just another communication tool. I basically use it to track events and chat with people. So.. pretty boring, but a useful tool.
My initial hesitation wasn't really a "badge of honour" or a principled stance of any kind, although when I told people I didn't have an account they usually took it that way. When I joined, lots of comments along the lines of, "I thought you were too cool for FB! lol". It was never about that for me. It was just a general... unease.. about the idea of writing down in a database who was, and was not, my friend.
I don't find that, in real life, friendship is a binary yes/no relation, and therefore I find it weird to explicitly encode this more or less ephemeral thing that is friendship and social dynamics into a formal data structure. However, on joining, I quickly realized that FB "friendship" has little to do with the real thing, and is simply a way to stay connected with people. So no biggie after all.
I have to say it's a lot better than I had imagined. I first I was really excited to express myself amongst friends without forcing them to email me.. the next step was when my family found me, and now I express myself on there... less. Finally, I've gotten used to it and it's just another communication tool. I basically use it to track events and chat with people. So.. pretty boring, but a useful tool.
My initial hesitation wasn't really a "badge of honour" or a principled stance of any kind, although when I told people I didn't have an account they usually took it that way. When I joined, lots of comments along the lines of, "I thought you were too cool for FB! lol". It was never about that for me. It was just a general... unease.. about the idea of writing down in a database who was, and was not, my friend.
I don't find that, in real life, friendship is a binary yes/no relation, and therefore I find it weird to explicitly encode this more or less ephemeral thing that is friendship and social dynamics into a formal data structure. However, on joining, I quickly realized that FB "friendship" has little to do with the real thing, and is simply a way to stay connected with people. So no biggie after all.
I'm not sure why people consider not having a FB account such a badge of honor.
To some extent I think it's just because there's such an expectation of it in some circles, that people either give in and get one after the Nth time being pestered about it, or become somewhat defiant about not giving in and getting one. It's difficult to just not have a Facebook account in a low-key way in such a context.
That does vary hugely based on demographics and social circle, though; for some people, having or not having a Facebook account is not a big deal and they barely think about it either way.
To some extent I think it's just because there's such an expectation of it in some circles, that people either give in and get one after the Nth time being pestered about it, or become somewhat defiant about not giving in and getting one. It's difficult to just not have a Facebook account in a low-key way in such a context.
That does vary hugely based on demographics and social circle, though; for some people, having or not having a Facebook account is not a big deal and they barely think about it either way.
Fashion is more than just clothes. If everyone you know is on FB, then not being on Fb is like being the only person in a room without a purple hat on. You stand out. You end up being the only person that your buds have to call/text to talk to. People remember the exceptions. It's not always a statement, true, but it is noticed.
Or, in likely more regular instances, that person is actually forgotten and left out of conversations and events; simply because it's easier to select from a list of friends provided to you rather than think about who is left out. This regularly happens to coworkers I've had who have deleted their FB pages over the last three years.
The reason people don't like Facebook is that advertising is suppose to be very targeted towards them in a minority reportesqe way. FB advertising was overly creepy to me the every time I use it in this regard.
Honestly, everything you do online is tracked unless you use addons/extensions to counter these and block these trackers. You're always going to be tracked no matter what you do. Unless you recycle names online you're going to be tracked.
Honestly, everything you do online is tracked unless you use addons/extensions to counter these and block these trackers. You're always going to be tracked no matter what you do. Unless you recycle names online you're going to be tracked.
cough, cough
https://www.torproject.org/
https://www.torproject.org/
> (And Ello? I care even less than the author. PG has the canonical technique for building a product like this: concentrate on a very small market subset, and then expand. I don't see that they have done that.)
Isn't "Silicon Valley hipsters" a small market subset?
Isn't "Silicon Valley hipsters" a small market subset?
> Newspapers have been subsidised by advertising for years (the cost of the paper basically covers distribution costs). That never made them any less useful.
Are you kidding? I can come up with better, but John Oliver is funny: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDylgzybWAw
> Yes, I understand "if you don't pay for it you are the product". I think that's bunk - or rather, I don't think that makes it any less useful.
That's like saying smoking's long term carcinogenic effects don't make it any less enjoyable.
By the way, advertising doesn't subsidize anything. Advertisers get their money from us. There is no free lunch. In fact, advertising gives us lunch that is less tasty, costs more, and gives us food poisoning: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8372640
Are you kidding? I can come up with better, but John Oliver is funny: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDylgzybWAw
> Yes, I understand "if you don't pay for it you are the product". I think that's bunk - or rather, I don't think that makes it any less useful.
That's like saying smoking's long term carcinogenic effects don't make it any less enjoyable.
By the way, advertising doesn't subsidize anything. Advertisers get their money from us. There is no free lunch. In fact, advertising gives us lunch that is less tasty, costs more, and gives us food poisoning: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8372640
You know why people dont like facebook ? Because they fucking manipulate people.
Large social experiments are conducted to manipulate opinion of people.
How ethical is that ? You must be some shill for facebook or US gov to ask why people leave facebook ?
These experiments are so subtle that you would not even notice they are being conducted.
You feed is manipulated to show you content that either make you angry, rage and on and on.
Beside, there are always some kind of campaigns going on. Male hate campaign, feminism campaign, black racism awareness campaign on and on. I mean come on, once in while getting some message is okay but 90 % of time peoples feed is filled with some campaign, message.
Plus, kids and dogs -- dont even get me started. Stupid kids everywhere.
Beside you can't block everybody and every message otherwise what's the purpose ? So its better to leave facebook. You should too. I guarantee you will feel more happiness. Try for a week.
and yes, please go shilling somewhere else.
FBPurity add-on to the rescue! http://www.fbpurity.com/
filters out the junk you don't want to see, leaving behind the stories and page elements you do wish to see
filters out the junk you don't want to see, leaving behind the stories and page elements you do wish to see
Sounds interesting but I was immediately put off by the 1990's web design.
Does anyone else feel that Ello's design is really poor? It feels "over designed," actually.
Also, who just calls their FAQ/Help a "WTF page?"
https://ello.co/wtf
Also, who just calls their FAQ/Help a "WTF page?"
https://ello.co/wtf
Yeah, it's not beautiful at all. It's just trying too hard.
tl;dr: if you don't think FB has value, then you won't think an "improved" FB like Ello has value.
Fair enough.
Of course, most of the planet thinks FB has value, so this observation is of relatively limited utility.
Fair enough.
Of course, most of the planet thinks FB has value, so this observation is of relatively limited utility.
"I guess I’m just not a social network kinda guy."
...
"I can’t work up any enthusiasm for Ello"
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
...
"I can’t work up any enthusiasm for Ello"
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I like ello. Looking forward to it. Looks clean and simple. There's room for this sort of thing out there I think.
Aside: FB will likely buy out ello if it gets big enough, just like whatsap. I wonder what will happen when Fb runs out of cash to do competitive acquisitions like this? A bifurcation of social networks?
If you learn to use it, it's pretty good. There is real value is in the many, many useful groups (both public and private) as well as the event invitations.
Yes, I understand "if you don't pay for it you are the product". I think that's bunk - or rather, I don't think that makes it any less useful.
Newspapers have been subsidised by advertising for years (the cost of the paper basically covers distribution costs). That never made them any less useful.
(And Ello? I care even less than the author. PG has the canonical technique for building a product like this: concentrate on a very small market subset, and then expand. I don't see that they have done that.)