Au Revoir Facebook
Facebook used to be great, really great. Like many social networking sites it started out as a way to meet up with old friends, share information and generally have fun.
Then popularity hit and that’s when the crap came. A huge torrent of the stuff, and every morning I would check my e-mail and find that “X wants to compare colours with you!” or “Y just took this quiz, DO IT TOO!!” and what it really adds up to “Corporation XYZ has added this CRAZY app that you should really check out!” also known as stealth marketing.
The grumblings of an old fart? Well perhaps, but when I got home from work yesterday and eagerly fed GTA IV into my Xbox 360 I had ten Facebook e-mails in a row “X has added this video to your Fun Wall” or some such nonsense. Then I decided that enough was enough, I liked Facebook when it was just a communication tool that I could use to chat to my friends but I draw the line with all the marketing junk and constant stream of “wacky” videos and invites that assault my eyes every time I login.
But of course you can’t actually delete your account, merely disable it until a time you may see fit to come back. But I can’t see that being any time soon.
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By day I work in IT as an infrastructure manager, specialising in Microsoft technologies, primarily Windows and Exchange Server. On here I write about my passions, movies, videogames, technology and particularly the world of high definition.Subscribe
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Why not just turn off email alerts? There’s a very comprehensive system to allowing and disabling alerts for almost every function. Facebook have done a lot to make notifications in general a lot less annoying like put them all in 1 section so they don’t clog up your homepage and being able to check them quickly through the chat bar. They’re still innovating too, just look at the new chat function. It basically blows MSN out the water, they could potentially include voice and webcam chat on there too.
It’s incredible how they’ve managed to tie in so many different features so seamlessly and unobtusively. Also, the ads have been really well handled, I barely notice them. Nothing like MySpace or any other social networking site.
All these sites have their problems, nothing can be perfect. In Facebook’s case I guess that’s just a result of being so open, certain developers have made apps that basically spam you but most people have enough common sense to ignore them. Facebook are taking active steps to combat the spam and are still making the site better in lots of little ways. So, saying it “used to be great” is a little harsh.
I may re-enable my account and muck around with the settings at some point. Perhaps when my current GTA addiction spins out.
Hi Pete,
I think you should give Facebook another try some time. I’m new to the site and have been reading some of the older posts and given that your Dad is sick I’m not surprised stuff is irritating you right now.
Great site by the way, keep it up!
You know Pete, I feel the same way you do at times with Facebook, but then ppl like Ben remind me that unlike MySpace, they do have features to help us who don’t want to be bothered with all teh crap. Even though I’m not big on any social networking scene and don’t spend ANY amount of time on any of them, I do have to say that if I had to pick one to go with it’d be Facebook because the site REALLY does try to keep the annoying stuff to a level you want to deal with. I esp like how if you decide to shut off one thing, or give ppl limited looks at your profile, they don’t go and tell the other person that.