Facebook is Many Things; Often Ridiculous. | Eastern North Carolina Now

And yet hordes of people flock to Facebook for the connectivity, supplied by the World Wide Web, to friends - some real, some imagined - but all easily accessible by a platform that many consider free, moreover, many do not understand.

    First and foremost dear people connected by the internet, nothing in life is free, certainly not Facebook. While some folks awake each morning to scurry to type their latest musings on Mark Zuckerberg's online platform, these folks are actually building out his website, Facebook, for free. In other words, you Facebook users are indispensable to his plan, yet he sells your private information /data collection by Facebook to others, like Cambridge Analytica, while using that same data to promote certain people and issues, especially their advertisements over others on that same Facebook user's timeline that they built for Mr. Zuckerberg.

    Confused yet? I kind of am, but that thing that I am certain of is that I, and many others, have been conned into building our Mr. Zuckerberg's website, and all I get in return is a poor placement in this monolithic memory bank of controlled and sold data. There are so many ways to stay in contact with others on the internet, yet Facebook is the solid choice by many people seeking connection with others. It is the way of this world, where humans often act like cattle waiting for the stampede. Meandering about in some sameness of presumed purpose.

    'So, Like me, Friend me; do it now while I still possess a modicum of concentration, or just ... let me drift here aimlessly. Aimlessly until I receive the the stimulation of approval ... so like me ... Please?'

    What a sad, sorry world we have made for ourselves if we can only see ourselves through the eyes of others; the personal gratification of being Liked on Facebook; a popularity contest far from high school past or present, where we exist in a plane of equilibrium on Mark Zuckerberg's platform, where all of you, and, sadly me, build out his website; a site originating from his desire to categorize certain young woman's attributes relative to barnyard animals while he was a college boy.

    And now, we find that some of our personal information is being sold to the highest bidder; that Facebook sells its ad space for the Fake News, the entrapment ads leading nowhere real, and we all continue to build out Zuckerberg's website, by employing his dumbed-down content management system, where you are given a whiff of control, but, you control nothing - not the content you create, not even your own personal data.

    Wake up people! Isn't it time to cut the virtual umbilical cord? Nothing is free in this world, but, with a bit of work, you can still free your mind; instant gratification of "Like me" on Facebook is not the answer.
Go Back


Leave a Guest Comment

Your Name or Alias
Your Email Address ( your email address will not be published)
Enter Your Comment ( no code or urls allowed, text only please )



Comments

( March 30th, 2018 @ 12:22 pm )
 
Well said Bobby Tony. Now, America is a collection of self-absorbed neo-celebreties.

The only pathetic part of all this is that there are too many people who think that being any kind of celebrity makes them somehow special.
( March 30th, 2018 @ 8:12 am )
 
Facebook did not start this problem, they just made it easier to spread the word.

( March 28th, 2018 @ 8:50 am )
 
I doubt that Andy Warhol understood the technology would invalidate his statement that "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." It is still true today but with the addition of the ability to store everything in a silicon chip, we can all be famous several times over and over for our 15 minutes. Just ask any politician who has tripped over his own words when they are repeated back to him in crystal clarity.

I dusted off an old article on technology at your suggestion. It is in the queue.
( March 27th, 2018 @ 8:38 pm )
 
Hey B.T. This commentary of yours would make a fine post, or a group of posts.

You have an intimate knowledge of this tech stuff and this media stuff that belies your age, and challenges the precepts of fairly intelligent folk far younger. You really get it.

Not having real privacy as one travels the world wide web makes one want to pull back a bit, and tell the over zealous, like Facebook and Google, to get out of my face; leave me alone.
( March 26th, 2018 @ 7:53 pm )
 
We should all be so lucky. I don't begrudge him the success as a private company but I do think that the premise should be more transparent. I constantly click on "don't want to see this again" in my Facebook timeline. As a result most of my time line is from 'Friends' and I have unfollowed those that overly post political etc. I check back with them about once a month to see if anything of interest to me is posted on their time line.

I agree with your assessment of Local Advertisement. I was not clear enough on the over use of mass ads targeted to me. The one thing the whole social media has brought is the quick scan without applying thought. That is what is currently going on with the political debate. We have devolved into the Shoot out at the Meme Corral.
( March 26th, 2018 @ 9:49 am )
 
Zuckerberg was lucky to catch it at the right time, and then be willing to keep it so generic, and from a functional aspect. It is not like one can publish a well developed post on his site.

But local advertisement may not be dead yet, but what advertisement could be done will have to be done well, and quite informatively.
( March 26th, 2018 @ 7:50 am )
 
I started using Facebook to keep in touch with old friends and the kids. While I have never been an frequent poster, I did enjoy the ability to keep track of people long since gone from my present circle. Like you illustrate, MZ struck gold when he provided a format for the non-technical public to stay in touch. Perhaps it is the ultimate realization of "If you build it they will come."

For years I have felt that there was an opportunity for a paid subscription of Facebook or a similar format where you could personally tailor the content. Perhaps several layers on a monthly basis which still allows contact with friends but allows you to opt out of advertising at various levels.

I think that Facebook and Google have placed the stake in the heart of advertising. It may be a slow death but eventually the clicks or views will be irrelevant due to over exposure.

My best example is an add showing Chicken Little, The Wicked Witch, and Pinocchio telling their favorite scams. Then a kid from AT&T tells his story and everyone looks at him with displeasure. The Witch tells him "Words have consequences young man." I still don't know what company they are advertising but I did remember AT&T.



5 Things you Need to Know About the Bombshell House Intelligence Memo Local News & Expression, Expanding Kowledge, Clarion Call, Technology Issues, Intellectual Property, Editorials, Business, Op-Ed & Politics Beaufort County Commissioners General Meeting's Agenda, February 5, 2018


HbAD0

Latest Op-Ed & Politics

Biden abuses power to turn statute on its head; womens groups to sue
The Missouri Senate approved a constitutional amendment to ban non-U.S. citizens from voting and also ban ranked-choice voting.
Democrats prosecuting political opponets just like foreign dictrators do
populist / nationalist / sovereigntist right are kingmakers for new government
18 year old boy who thinks he is girl planned to shoot up elementary school in Maryland
Biden assault on democracy continues to build as he ramps up dictatorship
One would think that the former Attorney General would have known better
illegal alien "asylum seeker" migrants are a crime wave on both sides of the Atlantic
UNC board committee votes unanimously to end DEI in UNC system

HbAD1

Police in the nation’s capital are not stopping illegal aliens who are driving around without license plates, according to a new report.
Davidaon County student suspended for using correct legal term for those in country illegally
Lawmakers and privacy experts on both sides of the political spectrum are sounding the alarm on a provision in a spy powers reform bill that one senator described as one of the “most terrifying expansions of government surveillance” in history
given to illegals in Mexico before they even get to US: NGOs connected to Mayorkas
committee gets enough valid signatures to force vote on removing Oakland, CA's Soros DA
other pro-terrorist protests in Chicago shout "Death to America" in Farsi

HbAD2

 
Back to Top