Over a year ago, I kicked Facebook mostly out of my life. My reasoning was/is primarily that Facebook is a soulless evil entity that doesn’t give a shit about you, the user.1 My lesser points were/are that Facebook is training people to like when a software product makes life difficult and also that too much “pull” marketing was being used.
Alas, that last point is becoming more prevalent in my life. Several social groups I’m a part of liaise exclusively through Facebook and that leaves me in a quandary: Do I stick with my one-person boycott (and keep having to ask, “Jenn, what’s going on?”) or do I let Facebook eat my soul?
You probably understand that I wouldn’t be writing this if I weren’t going somewhere with it, therefore I’m announcing that my Facebook sabbatical is over. I’m back, however I will be contributing to the community as little as possible because Facebook hates you and hates me and just wants your data, not for you or me to have a useful experience.
If this seems holier than thou, that’s because it is! I would love to be known as the person who killed Facebook. Not a very useful wish, granted, but guaranteed to get me a Wikipedia page. I won’t hate you because you use Facebook, after all I am, too. But I will still actively try to convince you and others that it’s a horrible website run by people who don’t care.
- Remember! You’re not Facebook’s customer; you’re it’s product. [↩]
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