The Future of Facebook
Rick Bookstaber is a senior policy advisor at the SEC and in the finance world his ideas are taken quite seriously. Departing somewhat from his normal area of expertise, he recently wrote an article examining whether Facebook will eventually become marginalized in our society, or if that social network will continue to thrive even as our culture becomes increasingly defined by existential alienation.
The themes of Existentialism are freedom of choice, authenticity, and alienation. These are themes cast aside by the Internet age in general – the cloud, the hive, the redefining of humans as parameters of a database, the programs that confine our imagination – and Facebook as a particular. Existentialism starts at the level of personal meaning rather than general philosophical theory, the person is the active subject rather than a passive spectator. It deals with choice, while the Internet constricts, even dictates, our choices.
He summarizes his analysis by declaring the inevitable marginalization of Facebook over time.
It will not disappear, it will remain a repository for factoids about one's collection of friends, but the reality of what Facebook friends really are will become evident, as will the effects of standardization of the individual, the cost to individuality of giving up privacy, and the frustration with having Facebook friends that are increasingly fictionalized and flattened versions of their real selves.
I pose the question to all Ricocheters: Would the world be better off without Facebook, MySpace, etc.? Are people becoming dependent upon computers and unable to communicate effectively without the comfort of their keyboards? Or, do the new connections and networking possibilities provided by Facebook benefit us all?
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May '10
Re: The Future of Facebook
I quit Facebook for a while and came back to it. It's simply a good way to stay in touch with distant family and friends in a group setting. You can't share family photos over the phone.
Jun '10
Re: The Future of Facebook
I use it to keep tabs on all the friends I have abroad. I just look and don't contribute much. However, now that I've moved back to the U.S., there's a feeling that it serves as a primary means of communication rather than a secondary one. I can't tell if it will fizzle out, probably somewhat, but I wish people would just pick up the phone more often.
Jan '11
Re: The Future of Facebook
This would be a great question from a central planner. Maybe so and maybe not are the two possible answers here. But let's not forget where individual choice fits in all of this: the people who reveal their preferences through their Internet habits have made their choices loud and clear -- they believe they're benefiting. Isn't that what really matters? Unless, of course, you want to manage other people's activities from up high.
Dec '10
Re: The Future of Facebook
I've seen this story before. Facebook is the contemporary analog of America Online (AOL) at the end of the previous century.
Jul '10
Re: The Future of Facebook
I'd love to tell you that my quality of life has improved since the advent of the Internet. And from a standpoint of convenience and access to a universe of information, perhaps it has.
But otherwise, I find myself spending far too much time at the computer instead of outside, in the real world.
I'm a genetic sensation junkie. Formerly, I'd get my dose by travel, sports, exercise, walking, socializing and just generally exploring. The Web provides a more vicarious, less healthy - and highly addictive - substitute.
As for Facebook, I have a page, but I haven't looked at it for the past six months. I liked the idea of being able to reach out to old acquaintances, but I find there's no depth to the experience. It's sort of the Pringles of social interaction.
Dec '10
Re: The Future of Facebook
People tend to talk as if there is a direct substitution of face time with facebook commenting. Is there any empirical evidence to suggest this? It seems to me that a world without facebook would still have that same time niche occupied by something else mindless and anti-social
May '10
Re: The Future of Facebook
Facebook is a nifty way of keeping touch with family and even some new FB friends. It's also handy for mounting web content without the hassle of setting up a website. The notes from politicians and groups I follow are interesting and informative (I have it throttled down pretty tight though).
I wouldn't perish, or even mourn, if it went away. I expect it will be marginalized by whatever is the next craze though.
Jul '10
Re: The Future of Facebook
Facebook messed with my privacy settings once, and I shutdown my account and blocked them at the firewall. They made their fortune selling data on the accounts without regard for their privacy agreements and changing user preferences to expose data without user consent.
The Google scandal where they provided "behind the wall" data to feed Google search indexes was just the most famous. The savvy users, public figures and kids that get it, are just using it as a PR channel or using deep pseudonym/fictionalization.
Edited on Jan 23, 2011 at 7:29pmJul '10
Re: The Future of Facebook
LowcountryJoe
This would be a great question from a central planner. Maybe so and maybe not are the two possible answers here. But let's not forget where individual choice fits in all of this: the people who reveal their preferences through their Internet habits have made their choices loud and clear -- they believe they're benefiting. Isn't that what really matters? Unless, of course, you want to manage other people's activities from up high. · Jan 23 at 6:03pm
That works as long as the terms are transparent and honored, users enter into a trust relationship with the site, the site gets in a financial pinch, and the agreement goes out the window in favor of a quick payday. Protecting jobs, as Obama might be quick to point out. I tried two sites, including Facebook, and neither was trustworthy. As long as everyone understands there is no privacy regardless of the privacy agreement.
Also be aware, in court cases regarding the ownership of data, there has been a tendency to find for the owner of the equipment hosting the data. As with the $600B federal grab on health data.
Edited on Jan 24, 2011 at 10:27pmMay '10
Re: The Future of Facebook
South Park has a great take on Facebook in an episode titled "You have 0 friends". Everything I've learned, I learned from South Park... y'all have probably noticed!
Oct '10
Re: The Future of Facebook
I earn my living working with internet broadcasting and as a design consultant to the broadcasting industry. I have been in this business for almost 50 years now. I do not have a facebook account, or any of the other claptrap that passes for community. I do have a cellphone, and I do use email all day long. The world I choose to occupy consists of friends who know me and can drop in for dinner unannounced, and we will have a plate and a place for them.
If this is old fashioned, eat your heart out. I am not a part of the virtual world. I choose to live in the real world.
May '10
Re: The Future of Facebook
Seems weird to resort to Existentialism to justify the argument. Existentialism (existence precedes essence) is scientifically wrong. We don't choose our DNA.
Jan '11
Re: The Future of Facebook
Sisyphus
That works as long as the terms are transparent and honored, users enter into a trust relationship with the site, the site gets in a financial pinch, and the agreement goes out the window in favor of a quick payday. Protecting jobs, as Obama might be quick to point out. I tried two sites, including Facebook, and neither was trustworthy. As long as everyone understands there is no privacy regardless of the privacy agreement.
Good comment. And since we're on this topic I would highly encourage Facebook users to click this link* while they're logged in there.
The link is to the "Applications You Use" page and it's downright scary the apps that are lurking in the background, potentially collecting information from you.
*always right-clink a link and check the properties to see wheere it's going to send you if you don't totally trust who's hyperlinked it.
Nov '10
Re: The Future of Facebook
I would post a comment, but I'm trying to wean myself from the online world.
Re: The Future of Facebook
MySpace is the Geocities of our time, on the wane; Facebook will suffer the same fate when something better comes along, unless it can co-opt and assimilate whatever the new flavor might be. Of course there's a downside to all this, but A) I get more information from social media, particularly Twitter, than any other medium, and B) at least people are generating content, instead of sitting on the sofa for four hours consuming it, like we did in the old days of ABC-NBC-CBS.
It just seems . . . interesting that we have the opportunity and tools to converse with people all over, people we would have otherwise never met or known, and some people insist on describing it all as "alienation." I'm not alienated from anyone.
Jul '10
Re: The Future of Facebook
James Lileks: MySpace is the Geocities of our time, on the wane; Facebook will suffer the same fate when something better comes along, unless it can co-opt and assimilate whatever the new flavor might be. Of course there's a downside to all this, but A) I get more information from social media, particularly Twitter, than any other medium, and B) at least people are generating content, instead of sitting on the sofa for four hours consuming it, like we did in the old days of ABC-NBC-CBS.
It just seems . . . interesting that we have the opportunity and tools to converse with people all over, people we would have otherwise never met or known, and some people insist on describing it all as "alienation." I'm not alienated from anyone. · Jan 23 at 8:45pm
Yes, amid the casual betrayals by the usual suspects, let's not lose sight of some awesome capabilities here. I have been experimenting with Twitter and am very happy so far. I see news flashes on Twitter 10-20 mins. before Fox pushes them to my phone.
Jun '10
Re: The Future of Facebook
Most of my friends don't communicate through Facebook. We use it more to post photos for sharing with relatives and to check on our kids' pages. (Of course, the kids take their chatting private.)
Facebook chatting & Skype, coupled with a free international cell phone texting applications are my 19 year old's lifeblood. Sure, like all teens she has hundreds of "friends," but the technology alllows her to strengthen real world relationships with true friends who live overseas she has met in her travels. The technology is so immediate, so readily available, that kids can get to know one another deeply while living across an ocean.
Dec '10
Re: The Future of Facebook
Quick question. Does anyone here actually use Facebook as anything more than a way to casually keep tabs on and in contact with friends and family? Does anyone here actually know anyone who does? Does anyone have anyone in their life who would actually be anything more than mildly inconvenienced if Facebook disappeared tomorrow?(aside from farmville addicts)
It seems to me that the idea Facebook as some proxy for real communication is a myth created by the media and movies. I don't personally know of anyone who's life revolves around Facebook or for whom access to Facebook was a life changing event. Does anyone here know anyone personally for whom Facebook is anything more than a convenience?
The idea that future generations will look back on this era and see it as one defined by Facebook drives me nuts. I am living in this era and Facebook simply isn't that high a priority, it just gets a lot of hype from old people and lazy journalists and that aggravates me to no end.
Edited on Jan 24, 2011 at 6:29amJun '10
Re: The Future of Facebook
Nyadnar17 --Yes, I do know many people who would be wildly inconvenienced if Facebook disappeared tommorrow (assuming it were not replaced with something even better.)
Musicians use Facebook group invitations to promote gigs. My daughter has done this many times, as have musician friends who are much older, so it's not just a generational thing. Actors, authors, etc. use it to announce their new shows & books. The group invite helps create a buzz that wouldn't be possible through simple e-mails.
For her generation, Facebook access has absolutely been lifechanging. For social connections, romance, and promotion of their art.
May '10
Re: The Future of Facebook
Nyadnar17: Quick question. Does anyone here actually use Facebook as anything more than a way to casually keep tabs on and in contact with friends and family?
It seems to me that the idea Facebook as some proxy for real communication is a myth created by the media and movies.· Jan 24 at 6:26am
Edited on Jan 24 at 06:29 am
Well, I can't speak for the younger generations, but I fully agree here. Before I dumped it a couple of years ago, I only used it to keep track of friends who I've moved away from, and that only marginally. I really don't know anyone personally who uses it obsessively.
From my perspective, it's more of a gateway to physical interaction than a substitute. I'm regularly not being invited to social gatherings because I don't use it. I usually hear about such events secondhand, most often followed by the question: "did you not get the facebook invite?"