Yesterday, Mark Zuckerberg was flayed by the media for his grim fears around the current financial climate, including but not limited to telling employees that special “meta days” they got through the pandemic were done, and that some of them would be “self-selected” for firing. Meanwhile, Instagram is suffering from a problem where you see seemingly random videos from their algorithm instead of the people you’re friends with. Instagram head Adam Mosseri rushed to try and explain why this was happening - to be clear, the actual reason is “we want TiKTok’s money” -
I hit the eject button on FB right after the Cambridge Analytica reveal, and haven't regretted it for an instant. I'll also say that when briefly I dealt with them in a professional capacity, much like colleagues in other companies who later compared notes with me, their essential business offer was "you should do this for free, because, after all, we're Facebook" which made me explain the old adage to them about how artists often die from "exposure". If Meta erodes down to a nub of what it once was, it will not be too soon.
"And that’s what is killing Meta, Facebook, and Instagram - a constant focus on trying to find ways to trick users into engaging with products rather than giving them a reason to." This right here!
I've largely stopped using social media products, and it has had immense benefit for my mental health.
It wasn't easy at first, but I figured out a way to wean myself. I only allowed myself to use FB/Instagram/etc when I went to use the bathroom. Naturally time limited situation, and now I barely use any of them. 😂
FB's only asset is what the company has plainly loathed about itself for a while: it's the only way to keep tabs on and be able to stay easy in loose touch with a number of older people who don't use any other social media. It maintains relationships that are otherwise a chore to maintain. But FB was never really built to facilitate that and now it absolutely tries to sabotage the only strong card in its deck. As an advertising/selling platform it is unspeakably terrible in that there is zero vetting of anything being advertised or sold. Buying something off of Facebook is almost invariably a catastrophe.
This is so spot on. I left Facebook in 2021, and I've just about had it with Instagram. I started using IG the year it first came out, and it was stellar. I love sharing curated snapshots of my life with friends; I don't want to have to spend an hour in an editing suite just to share the new blooms in my garden with my friends who want to see it (because who knows if they will see it anyway). The reason friends and family are sharing more in DMs is because THAT IS THE ONLY WAY to reach each other on IG at this point. I have been yearning for a new social media app to connect with friends and family for half a decade. I will rejoice and spill the wine when we have a new, and Zuckerberg-Free option.
Only thing you’re forgetting is WhatsApp, which despite Zuckerberg’s best efforts, Meta hasn’t actually been able to fuck up yet. It’s still one of the best messaging platforms and a beloved default in much of the world. (It’s business tools are good too.)
Who cares if IG/FB etc are all allegedly dying? If anything this is a good thing. Even the 'good' IG that people bemoan is increasingly scarce was trash as well. The world was better off before these platforms emerged to make everybody feel unhappy and inscure in themselves and their lives. Social media is an aggravator of phenomena that were not apparent prior to its emergence, such as comparison-culture and FOMO. It has had no positive effects on the world whatsoever.
I agree with this piece, but I stick with FB for one reason: their "memory" feature. I use FB as a microblog tool only posting positive or significant stuff or "check ins" when my wife and I go somewhere or do something. This way every now and then FB tosses me "X years ago you were doing Y" thus providing a stop-and-think-compare-and-contrast moment. I do this only for me, but sometimes it's fun to share memories with people I knew in places we no longer live. In this regard FB remains useful to me. I ignore all the rest. Oh, but it can be hilarious when something goes awry with the mighty algorithm. Just the other day my wife asked "why is your feed filled with dating app ads?"
Meta has only one thing I want: the Oculus Quest and the one app I use, which they also bought up--Supernatural. Best pandemic-era VR exercise experience out there, and instantly essential in our household. I worry for its future. (So far, I’ve been able to stick to just using an Oculus account without connecting Facebook, and hope that holds.) If Oculus could break off from Meta and take Supernatural with it, I would be delighted. Everything else can crash and burn!
Entertaining bit of polemic, this, but the contrasts with Twitter and Tiktok don't really stand up.
Twitter has a different set of problems, for sure, but it's every bit as toxic and every bit as liable to lose customers who leave disgusted (it also doesn't make any money, of course!)
As for Tiktok, this company has the great advantage of being the newcomer in an neophilic industry, and therefore attracts a lot of younger, less sceptical punters. But between the various suffocate yourself/hit yourself with a hammer/cut off your scrotum 'challenges' it hosts (and appears uninterested in controlling) its every bit as hateful as the rest. And of course its owned by who even knows what shadowy figures in China. At least with Zuck we have someone to despise.
I use LinkedIn daily to keep up with what is happening in my industry. (And I’d deeply prefer the experience if the jerks who tell people to keep politics off LinkedIn were even a little successful.) I have a Facebook account. I log in to it once a year to accept invitations from a globally extended friends group. If I need to track someone down, that’s my last resort. I suspect that my use of Linked in is within one standard deviation of the median, but that I’m on the tail for my use of Facebook.
Also who 'loves' being on Twitter either, wth. It's userbase is replete with mentally ill people, pearl-clutching lunatics and depressives. It's definitely the most mentally-ill skewed of all social media platforms and practically unused by normies.
I hit the eject button on FB right after the Cambridge Analytica reveal, and haven't regretted it for an instant. I'll also say that when briefly I dealt with them in a professional capacity, much like colleagues in other companies who later compared notes with me, their essential business offer was "you should do this for free, because, after all, we're Facebook" which made me explain the old adage to them about how artists often die from "exposure". If Meta erodes down to a nub of what it once was, it will not be too soon.
Would add that they're struggling after the IOS tracking changes. One report I saw was that only 24% of iphone users were opting-in.
"And that’s what is killing Meta, Facebook, and Instagram - a constant focus on trying to find ways to trick users into engaging with products rather than giving them a reason to." This right here!
I've largely stopped using social media products, and it has had immense benefit for my mental health.
It wasn't easy at first, but I figured out a way to wean myself. I only allowed myself to use FB/Instagram/etc when I went to use the bathroom. Naturally time limited situation, and now I barely use any of them. 😂
FB's only asset is what the company has plainly loathed about itself for a while: it's the only way to keep tabs on and be able to stay easy in loose touch with a number of older people who don't use any other social media. It maintains relationships that are otherwise a chore to maintain. But FB was never really built to facilitate that and now it absolutely tries to sabotage the only strong card in its deck. As an advertising/selling platform it is unspeakably terrible in that there is zero vetting of anything being advertised or sold. Buying something off of Facebook is almost invariably a catastrophe.
This is so spot on. I left Facebook in 2021, and I've just about had it with Instagram. I started using IG the year it first came out, and it was stellar. I love sharing curated snapshots of my life with friends; I don't want to have to spend an hour in an editing suite just to share the new blooms in my garden with my friends who want to see it (because who knows if they will see it anyway). The reason friends and family are sharing more in DMs is because THAT IS THE ONLY WAY to reach each other on IG at this point. I have been yearning for a new social media app to connect with friends and family for half a decade. I will rejoice and spill the wine when we have a new, and Zuckerberg-Free option.
Only thing you’re forgetting is WhatsApp, which despite Zuckerberg’s best efforts, Meta hasn’t actually been able to fuck up yet. It’s still one of the best messaging platforms and a beloved default in much of the world. (It’s business tools are good too.)
Who cares if IG/FB etc are all allegedly dying? If anything this is a good thing. Even the 'good' IG that people bemoan is increasingly scarce was trash as well. The world was better off before these platforms emerged to make everybody feel unhappy and inscure in themselves and their lives. Social media is an aggravator of phenomena that were not apparent prior to its emergence, such as comparison-culture and FOMO. It has had no positive effects on the world whatsoever.
Facebook is a tool to connect with friends, run by a man who has none. We shouldn’t be surprised that it’s failing to be useful anymore.
I agree with this piece, but I stick with FB for one reason: their "memory" feature. I use FB as a microblog tool only posting positive or significant stuff or "check ins" when my wife and I go somewhere or do something. This way every now and then FB tosses me "X years ago you were doing Y" thus providing a stop-and-think-compare-and-contrast moment. I do this only for me, but sometimes it's fun to share memories with people I knew in places we no longer live. In this regard FB remains useful to me. I ignore all the rest. Oh, but it can be hilarious when something goes awry with the mighty algorithm. Just the other day my wife asked "why is your feed filled with dating app ads?"
If Twitter is the junk food of social media, facebook is cigarettes. Nobody likes having to use it.
Meta has only one thing I want: the Oculus Quest and the one app I use, which they also bought up--Supernatural. Best pandemic-era VR exercise experience out there, and instantly essential in our household. I worry for its future. (So far, I’ve been able to stick to just using an Oculus account without connecting Facebook, and hope that holds.) If Oculus could break off from Meta and take Supernatural with it, I would be delighted. Everything else can crash and burn!
Entertaining bit of polemic, this, but the contrasts with Twitter and Tiktok don't really stand up.
Twitter has a different set of problems, for sure, but it's every bit as toxic and every bit as liable to lose customers who leave disgusted (it also doesn't make any money, of course!)
As for Tiktok, this company has the great advantage of being the newcomer in an neophilic industry, and therefore attracts a lot of younger, less sceptical punters. But between the various suffocate yourself/hit yourself with a hammer/cut off your scrotum 'challenges' it hosts (and appears uninterested in controlling) its every bit as hateful as the rest. And of course its owned by who even knows what shadowy figures in China. At least with Zuck we have someone to despise.
I use LinkedIn daily to keep up with what is happening in my industry. (And I’d deeply prefer the experience if the jerks who tell people to keep politics off LinkedIn were even a little successful.) I have a Facebook account. I log in to it once a year to accept invitations from a globally extended friends group. If I need to track someone down, that’s my last resort. I suspect that my use of Linked in is within one standard deviation of the median, but that I’m on the tail for my use of Facebook.
Also who 'loves' being on Twitter either, wth. It's userbase is replete with mentally ill people, pearl-clutching lunatics and depressives. It's definitely the most mentally-ill skewed of all social media platforms and practically unused by normies.