In defence of Facebook
Facebooks flaws make it great. +Jeswin in his blog wrote an article arguing that the usefulness of Facebook is flawed, and that it is the design of Facebook itself which is to be the nails in its own coffin.
In summary the article makes a number of prepositions.
"Three fourths of the most important page on Facebook is is absolutely useless". In counter to this, I would propose that this is actually a feature. If people only told me stories I cared about or knew I would find usefull, then they wouldn't bother telling me anything. As a transmitting platform the useless information gives people the confidence to write rubbish. People need to write rubbish in order to get the confidence to write the interesting stuff. If I felt that I would be pilloried for writing stuff then I, like Pavlov's dogs, would soon learn to cease writing. Art does not need to have a purpose beyond the expression. If you don't want to read it, then skip. The fluffy bit is a wonderful expression of human nature.
"[Sharing] is the most fundamental feature of Facebook, and its broken". This was posted in a blog. A blog that is shared indiscriminately with the world. Sharing in Facebook is configurable. Admittedly most users may need a little help. Facebook in contrast established the perception of a safe zone. This perception of a "safe zone" is precisely what makes people comfortable to contribute. The erosion of trust in this safe zone is an issue which is arguably the biggest issue which faces Facebook currently. In the real world people want to share, brag, and whilst they may be a little afraid to share everything with everyone they know this is a kind of liberating. The average Joe may not want to tell their boss that your daughter pooed in your shoes, but that does not make it a problem. If there is stuff you don't want people to know remove them from your list.
"Loudmouths now have gigantic megaphones" Again this is a feature. Their megaphones also have a reply feature, a perfect memory, and great audio quality. The block feature works just fine. The originality of people's posts as a user you need to take responsibility for what you read. Nobody complains about the telephone network when they speak to a person who grunts down the phone.
"We need to go back to smaller communities" At last we get to the point, I would suggest that we don't. Small communities don't communicate their ideas well. It is the communication of those ideas that move things forward. I would propose balance, spend a bit of time on Facebook, share the picture of the poo in your shoe, but talk to the person next to you. If you want privacy send a text message, if you want to broadcast big ideas, blog, but Facebook has a space, and its occupying it well.
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