Firstly I'll just clarify that I actually like Facebook for a number of reasons; it's a brilliant way to kill some time if you have nothing to do and it makes contacting your friends en mass really easy. If people have something interesting to say or want to use it to organize their lives it's brilliant, inviting friends to come to a birthday party couldn't be easier. Granted most of them will probably ignore it and much rather get an email or a phonecall but at least it's a nice reference point.
However, there is one large problem with facebook that makes it a so very difficult for it to be seen in a good light; The 85 percent.
Up until now the principle of the internet has pretty much been that you search for or click on the things you want to see. It has always been your choice who you read about or what views you decide to base your opinions on, but not anymore. Now the average internet surfer is bombarded by adverts and pop-ups everywhere they go and the slightest cursor mislocation can mean a big flash movie will pop up on your screen which then requires a five minute detection of how to find a "close" button.
Now facebook is a bit different. Instead of bombarding you with adverts and offers you don't want to hear it does something else. From the moment you log in it fills your screen with everything you're friends have done over the past 24 hours or so. The term "friends" I use very loosely here. True I have a number of people in my list that are my friends; people I talk to all the time because I find their conversation interesting and am genuinely interested in what they're doing. Then you have the other "friends" which consists of people that for one reason are another are on you list and you can't remove them; like people at work or friends of the family. Removing these people is not an option as 1) The will presume there was a system problem and they'll just try and add you in again or 2) They will question you or spend the rest of your days in the office avoiding you (which could be good or bad).
So these people remain on your list and you are forced to scan through the goings on in their lives every day as you try to find you're actual friends on the site. This alone is not necessarily that bad unless the people you have as your "friends" are the type of people I often find when I log in; those people that, unlike the normal facebook user who just wants to talk to his actual friends, feel a compulsion to find any way whatsoever to broadcast the most inane and pointless information about themselves on an hourly basis.
Every day I see the little "status" thing at the top of the screen telling me what people are up to; something taken far too literally by the 85percent. Fine, if you're going on holiday for a week put it up there, or if you are doing something that may affect your friends then fine but why somebody would repeatedly give updates on the most specific and irrelevant details of their lives is beyond me. "...is tired", "...is bored", "...doesn't like people who can't be honest with her" are all things I really can do without knowing. Whenever I read one of these messages all I see is"...is an attention seeker with an enormously overexagerated level of self importance".
And yes, I know I can turn the status thing off, but I actually do want to read what my real friends are doing without having to clamber through the last 12 messages that someone has updated about whether or not they hangovers is dwindling or a boy likes them.
And don't even get me started on people that have albums called "ME" which contain about 30 of their favourite pictures taken by themselves at arms length.
However, there is one large problem with facebook that makes it a so very difficult for it to be seen in a good light; The 85 percent.
Up until now the principle of the internet has pretty much been that you search for or click on the things you want to see. It has always been your choice who you read about or what views you decide to base your opinions on, but not anymore. Now the average internet surfer is bombarded by adverts and pop-ups everywhere they go and the slightest cursor mislocation can mean a big flash movie will pop up on your screen which then requires a five minute detection of how to find a "close" button.
Now facebook is a bit different. Instead of bombarding you with adverts and offers you don't want to hear it does something else. From the moment you log in it fills your screen with everything you're friends have done over the past 24 hours or so. The term "friends" I use very loosely here. True I have a number of people in my list that are my friends; people I talk to all the time because I find their conversation interesting and am genuinely interested in what they're doing. Then you have the other "friends" which consists of people that for one reason are another are on you list and you can't remove them; like people at work or friends of the family. Removing these people is not an option as 1) The will presume there was a system problem and they'll just try and add you in again or 2) They will question you or spend the rest of your days in the office avoiding you (which could be good or bad).
So these people remain on your list and you are forced to scan through the goings on in their lives every day as you try to find you're actual friends on the site. This alone is not necessarily that bad unless the people you have as your "friends" are the type of people I often find when I log in; those people that, unlike the normal facebook user who just wants to talk to his actual friends, feel a compulsion to find any way whatsoever to broadcast the most inane and pointless information about themselves on an hourly basis.
Every day I see the little "status" thing at the top of the screen telling me what people are up to; something taken far too literally by the 85percent. Fine, if you're going on holiday for a week put it up there, or if you are doing something that may affect your friends then fine but why somebody would repeatedly give updates on the most specific and irrelevant details of their lives is beyond me. "...is tired", "...is bored", "...doesn't like people who can't be honest with her" are all things I really can do without knowing. Whenever I read one of these messages all I see is"...is an attention seeker with an enormously overexagerated level of self importance".
And yes, I know I can turn the status thing off, but I actually do want to read what my real friends are doing without having to clamber through the last 12 messages that someone has updated about whether or not they hangovers is dwindling or a boy likes them.
And don't even get me started on people that have albums called "ME" which contain about 30 of their favourite pictures taken by themselves at arms length.
1 comment:
I liked Facebook until I broke up with my girlfriend.
Now it spends all day taunting me with "single at 26?", "STILL single??" making me feel ever so slightly pathetic...
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