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Mar 17
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Yesterday I got another email from Facebook telling me that <insert random name here> has added me as a friend, so I diligently log in (and it seems to ask for my details every damned time) to see who it is and despite the photo and location and other scant details I have no idea who the hell this is. The question I find myself left with is who is the guy, why does he want me to be his friend and more importantly why do I even give a toss? The last 4 or 5 people to add me as a friend have been random people who I had little or nothing to do with at school and back then probably wouldn’t even have pissed on me if I were on fire. The other thing that bothers me significantly is the absurd number of bloody applications you get on there, I had to remove over 100 invitiations to be a zombie, werewolf, post on this wall, that wall, be a member of the christ-knows-what group, rate this, complete that, etc. etc. and it’s way too much for any sane human to bother with. If this is what the 21st century is going to turn friendship into then I’m out.
I find the most disturbing part of Facebook relates to it’s revenue model, sure advertising works and I’m sure that the founder Mark Zuckerburg (sickeningly named ‘Zuck’ by adoring fans) will end up being mightily rich if he sells at a good time but it’s the violation of privacy and the open mauling of personal data that really gets to me. The problem I have is that many of my friends use Facebook as their primary communication tool so I’m basically shafted if I don’t continue to use it. You never know, I might change my mind and I might have a renaissance – I’m always willing to give things a second (or third) chance so maybe one day I’ll be back on there but deep down it’s not the principle of Facebook that annoys me, more the execution and they seem to be sticking with the design they have so for the time being I’ll stick with Twitter and the Gamercast Network for my social networking needs.