> "I have learned about so many things and met all new kinds of > people on Facebook."
Facebook uses its psychological profile of you to determine what information to display at what time in order to addict you. As a side effect, you may find much of the information interesting. However, relying on this side effect as a source of information is quite dangerous, as you make yourself vulnerable to manipulation. For instance, Facebook suggests new articles based on which ones you have clicked on in the past. (Note that even if a news article is posted by a friend, you should consider it a suggestion from Facebook, as it was Facebook's decision to select that post of your friends to show you at that moment.) The more you participate in this feedback loop, the more similar these articles will be to each other. You may miss important information that Facebook does not show you because it does not think that seeing it wil make you more addicted to Facebook. As a result, it is easy to become trapped in a "bubble of ignorance" whereby all of the information you see conforms to one veiwpoint and you are not exposed to other perspectives. When appplied selectively, this technique is a form of mind control that may be sold not only to advertisers but also political campaigns or governments in order to radicalize users who hold certain veiwpoints. Facebook has also found that by displaying a message to a set of people, they can great increase that set's voter turnout. This gives them the power to swing elections. > "Through Facebook, I am able to share works that I have created > quickly and to many people." You should be very careful when posting your work to Facebook, as you may be giving Fecbook certain legal rights to your work. http://www.nyccounsel.com/business-blogs-websites/who-owns-photos-and-videos-posted-on-facebook-or-twitter/ If you feel certain that you require Facebook to promote your work or share some other information publically, consider this compromise suggested by RMS to do so in a way that protects your personal information and does not empower Facebook via the Network Effect. https://stallman.org/facebook-presence.html > "Most of the Web, including Facebook, exists because it is funded > by advertising. In order to keep it going, it might be necessary > to allow data to be collected." This is just arguing with reality. Plenty of websites exist that do not collect your personal data. It is possible to provide relevant ads without tracking or data collection. The Trisquel website has a ThinkPenguin ad that is sure to be relevant to many visitors because Trisquel and ThinkPenguin have similar audiences. It is also possibe to have a website that contains no ads. For example, the Diaspora pod that I use has no ads. I suspect that this is true for most Diaspora pods. > "Personalisation is useful; it provides me with tailored content > that appeals to me. Anyway what's the harm? Don't we pick and > choose what we want to see in real life?" The difference is that with Facebook you are not the one who picks and chooses. You have influence, but ultimately Facebook decides. Any benefits of Facebook's "personalization" are a side-effect. The only reason it shows you anything you want to see is to tempt you into giving it control, at which point it can expose you to what it wants you to see. > I often respond to these comments by saying that the "price" one > pays by using Facebook is their own personal information, which is > being disseminated to who knows where, and that the "benefits" of > Facebook are never enough to outweigh the abuse that it inflicts > on its users. Yet, I feel that these kind of responses don't have > much effect. You are absolutely right. People should value their privacy regardless of the practical consequences of losing it. However, providing specific examples of ways in which Facebook can harm people may help the issue seem more "real" to them.
