May 10
24
Why I walked away from Facebook
I’ve been a facebook user for years. Quite literally – I was an early adopter.
Going back in my email – I’ve got hundreds of mails from the system prior to 2007. I’ve reconnected with dozens of friends from elementary, junior and high school – many of whom I was delighted to find. As many more I didn’t care to see again, but I was happy to accept that for the opportunity just to say hello.
I know that very VERY few of those people will be a part of my life moving forward, but it was nice to see where people ended up.
I find that I use facebook most for keeping me connected to my siblings and extended family. Recently I’ve also managed to connect with direct relatives (cousins, seconds and thirds) over the Atlantic in Britain.
At worst – that’s one of the things I cared about the service for. It was exceptional at connecting friends and family, particularly those who don’t see each other regularly.
Along the way however, things changed.
What started out as a mechanism for retaining and engaging social relationships with friends and families became a mechanism for gaming. A mechanism for time wasting, a mechanism for less altruistic endeavors.
That’s fine – to each their own, and I simply didn’t use those features that didn’t appeal to me.
I grew weary of ‘Pokes’ and ‘Likes’ and ‘not-likes’ but more – I grew weary of the ever present ‘Join this page’ and ‘Join this group’ and ‘Attend this event’ requests I started receiving. Mostly from people I hardly knew.
Sure I suffered the ‘build my mafia’ blues. Yes – I too felt like spraying round-up all over Farm-Ville. And BOY do I have a lot of poker chips.
Where facebook started to lose me was more recent than for many of the current exodus.
I’ve never shared anything that I’m concerned about protecting. The insidious changes however mean that anything I share is commodity. When I started visiting websites unrelated to facebook, and saw their name flashing by on the file requests at the bottom of my browser I realized that their reach had passed my comfort zone.
When visiting my favourite hunting site – what business do they have with my facebook page – and what information are they being passed? It became apparent that more than my login status must be flying across the aether.
So I started pulling information out, content out, and used the service as a communication tool.
Last week – I was served the final straw.
I logged in, and was presented with a request to link my interests, hobbies, location, hometown, etc. with ‘Pages’ on the subject. I had ‘Pages’ for Edmonton, and ‘Pages’ for books and ‘Pages’ for hobbies shoved at me. Full of people I don’t know, and don’t associate with.
After I said “fuck you…” and unchecked their offer of appropriate pages, facebook informed me that I couldn’t have those items in my profile without linking to the pages.
In my best “Chris” from family guy – “Whhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatttt?”
I continued unselected, and sure enough – facebook DELETED all of my hometown, city, hobby, interests etc. from my profile.
Whhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatttt?
Social connections and relationships are built on the social structure of people.
I’m not dating, and don’t need exposure to thousands of other people who live in EDMONTON or who read William Gibson’s ‘Neuromancer’.
This was the final straw.
Mark Zuckerberg has taken the proverbial shit on my coffee table. Like an unwanted guest at a house party, he’s gotten drunk with power, and taken a shit in my living room. This is the point when most drunken party-assholes get beaten senseless and left in the yard for the morning garbage.
Of course – the analogy isn’t quite right. It’s abundantly clear that facebook.com is Zuckerberg’s living room. So, I left the party, along with thousands of other users. If he wants to abuse and berate his guests and wipe his filth on the walls – so be it – but he’s also watching the paycheques leave as without the data, he has nothing.
My only hope is that as those enlightened users leave, the unaware masses will catch on and make their decisions too.
So on May 21st, I said enough is enough and clicked this link: http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=delete_account
I’ll miss the access to old friends and there are already withdrawal pangs from the changes to routine, but I’ll manage out here in meatspace.
Mr. Zuckerberg seems obsessed with his ‘non-private’ world. He believes that privacy has no place in the new millennium, and I’m happy to tell him he’s nuts.
Seems I’m not the only one who thinks that facebook has outgrown it’s place in the world. Perhaps it’s worth further investigation on your part if you’re still drinking his kool-aid.
When you’ve said goodbye, I’d love to see you on a patio over a beer. If you’re really nice, I might even ‘poke’ you.
Further reading:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ytech_gadg/20100521/tc_ytech_gadg/ytech_gadg_tc2184
http://gizmodo.com/5530178/top-ten-reasons-you-should-quit-facebook
http://www.mediaite.com/online/new-movement-against-the-site-declares-may-31st-quit-facebook-day/
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/Facebook+users+quit+over+privacy/3032677/story.html
