Shorts

  1. Wednesday, 14th July, '10

    So, Facebook

    This was initially posted as a note on Facebook, but I can’t be arsed to figure out the privacy controls to make it visible to everyone (whether within Facebook or not) so I’m just cross-posting here so that I can link it to people who ask me why I hate Facebook.

    Today, I disabled automatic Tumblr-to-Facebook posting, and hence severed the last bit of the real me that Facebook1 sees. It’s funny how Facebook is the network which is supposed to be made up of people you know in real-life, but it is the completely contrasting Twitter that has connected me to more people who (for lack of a better word) know me better and I share a lot more in common with.

    It isn’t my nature to just “talk” to people. And of course, with Facebook being full of complete retards from one corner to the other who have severe boundary issues, it makes me even more hesitant to say anything here. I am an opinionated person, and moderately loud about them. However, the things I am interested in doesn’t fly too well around here. This probably says more about me than Facebook, but I honestly believe Facebook has failed as a “network”. Facebook has failed to understand that the people a person knows in real life may not be their friends.

    This is not about Facebook vs. Twitter, or Facebook vs. any other random social network you can think of. It’s about how the concept of social network has been diluted to just a site where you and your friends are registered. That’s it. What are the “social” aspects here? Farmville and photographs. And I’m not too sure about the photographs either. If all you do when you go somewhere new is take pictures of yourself against various backdrops, then power to you—but we can only look at so many vanity pictures before we tell you that you really aren’t as awesome as you think you are.

    If you think about having an active discussion on anything important, the above-mentioned retardedness just washes over you like a flood. I mean, how can someone take a person “hu typez lk dis!!!!” seriously? The concept of status messages has been reduced to cryptic, emo and angst laden lyrics of songs that bring in a torrent of “Oh my god are you alright?!”s and “Call me!!!”s. Facebook has just gave the art of attention seeking a much bigger stage.

    Anyway, as ranting is not in my nature, I’m going to cut this short. This mainly becomes a link for me to point people to when they ask me why I am not active on Facebook or dislike it. I’m only on Facebook because of a few message threads, my relatives and some friends (who really are friends), otherwise I would’ve deleted my account months ago2.

    I’m sure there will be tons of people who have discovered their meaning of existence by being on Facebook and making 1000+ friends who will disagree with everything I’ve said here, but hey, the worst you can do is leave a comment here, right? Go ahead. Make my day.

    1. By Facebook, I mean the 127 “friends” that I have on here. I doubt any more than 10-15 actually see the stuff that gets posted, having more than 300-400 “friends” themselves. Really, how much value do you honestly get out of adding that one person you met 5 years ago at a bar for 10 seconds? ↩

    2. Plus, since I found someone who is actually not on Facebook, I feel better about myself (if that’s possible). ↩

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