I Watch 'Em So You Don't Have To

FREE AT LAST - FREE AT LAST - GOOD 
LORD ALMIGHTY I'M FREE AT LAST!


No More Facebook!

Just a quick note friends - don't know if you've heard, but Facebook has recently admitted to screwing with us. That's right - two years ago, they messed with our news feed to see if they could 'manipulate' our emotions. That pretty much was the final straw 'cause hey, who says they ever stopped? Are they going to tell us? Ha!

Now my hands are shaking just a little - it's hard giving up something that's taken a lot of your time (and some money) for years - but hey, the games sucked, my so-called 'friends' rarely acknowledged my existence, and the news feed is fixed and you don't know what you're getting so - hey, I'm out!


Here's part of what was the final nail in the coffin. A fellow whose been fighting Facebook 'cause he has an extension he developed that he has to 'fix' on a weekly basis because Facebook kept changing the code made the following observation (although the findings claim the effect was 'nominal'):


In the end, Facebook is a very useful and entertaining service, but because it has such an overwhelming influence on people and is so dominant on the web, it’s important that users understand what they are using and how it could work against them.

Understand that you are not seeing everything you could see, and that Facebook is deciding what it thinks you should see. An unknown algorithm is ranking content and controlling what you are exposed to on a daily basis. If you don’t like that, you should speak up. Facebook makes money by advertising to users. If you get sick of the site and leave, they will lose money. It’s in their best financial interest to keep you. In theory.


Understand that you are not the customer, you are the product being sold. Your eyeballs are being sold to advertisers for the highest bid, and Facebook’s primary focus is to know as much about you as they can so they can serve you the best ads that you might click on. Perhaps their goal is to not just learn things about you, but to influence what you think, how you feel, and what products you like, so it can turn you over to companies who will gladly take your money. If they can slightly manipulate emotions, who is to say that they won’t slightly influence public sentiment in favor of a brand that is a big advertiser with them?

Finally, understand that Social Media can have an impact on how you feel about the world and yourself, even if they aren’t manipulating the news feed. Be careful with how you use it, and the power that you give it in your life.

And that includes your time here friends. While I'm thrilled that you all have visited my blog, I'm also hoping you spend plenty of time with loved ones and enjoying the world, not just the computer.