Are Social Media Websites like Facebook and Twitter becoming too powerful?

[Long Island Mike]

Everyone: I had to ask this question:

Are Social Media Websites like Facebook and Twitter becoming too powerful?

I want to ask opinions here at UT because my Internet use does not include either site...

I am not a Facebook member and I do not "Tweet"...

I am a member of posting sites like UT and a couple of others that concern interests and hobbies that I have...

One thing that I was never a fan of was posting any personal information on the Internet...

There are good things about Social Media such as reuniting with people you knew in the past but as everyone knows there is a huge downside also...

Speaking of Social Media: What has become of MySpace? You just don't hear about it any more...

In closing I ask if there could ever be a backlash towards the giants of Social Media?

It would not affect me because that sort of thing is just not for me...

Opinion and thoughts from Long Island Mike

 

[Admiral Beez]

I have several friends who do use Facebook under pseudonyms. They're amazed that people post their real names on Facebook for the world to see. Of course this means that fake or old friends can't find them, but they share their pseudonym with their true and current network of pals and keep a degree of privacy.

 

[doady]

I have several friends who do use Facebook under pseudonyms. They're amazed that people post their real names on Facebook for the world to see. Of course this means that fake or old friends can't find them, but they share their pseudonym with their true and current network of pals and keep a degree of privacy.

Umm... Facebook has a lot of privacy options. You use your real name and no stranger can search for you or view your profile if that's what's you want.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Umm... Facebook has a lot of privacy options. You use your real name and no stranger can search for you or view your profile if that's what's you want.

I think you misunderstand me. It's not that my friends don't want to be found, it's that they don't want Facebook knowing who they are, and using it for datamining or whatever. Facebook, like Google is free for a reason.

 

[wicked willy]

I think you misunderstand me. It's not that my friends don't want to be found, it's that they don't want Facebook knowing who they are, and using it for datamining or whatever. Facebook, like Google is free for a reason.

My exact sentiments. I was on Facebook for a while under an alias and with all false information.(the friends knew who I was. Just false info so Zuckerberg and pals could datamine garbage) I deactivated my account 4 months ago. Reactivated for about a week last week. Permanently deactivated on Tuesday. After spending a full 4 months away from there, I logged back on only to find the same narcissistic people posting the same narcissistic crap, day in and day out. Nothing changed one bit. (did not really expect it to) This was all the convincing I needed to kill facebook permanently.

 

[GraphicMatt]

Facebook is mostly lame these days and increasingly becoming the exclusive domain of boomer parents trying to stay in touch with their college-aged kids and playing dumb games but, still, using a pseudonym on Facebook strikes me as incredibly paranoid.

Oh no! Mark Zuckerberg might find out you like watching Cheers reruns. Sound the alarm.

Twitter's great, though. Barrier to entry is challenging for a lot of people.

 

[doady]

After spending a full 4 months away from there, I logged back on only to find the same narcissistic people posting the same narcissistic crap, day in and day out. Nothing changed one bit. (did not really expect it to) This was all the convincing I needed to kill facebook permanently.

Just because your friends are narcissistic doesn't mean that everyone's is and it's certainly not Facebook's fault.

 

[Thanos]

It's a little funny hearing people say "oh i used a fake name and info so they can't know who i am nor find me".
Thinking that using false information actually makes a difference shows that people are not too knowledgeable regarding todays technology.
You can hide all you want but the fact that your there is not hidding.
I wonder if these are the same people that don't let their kids play in the park because they might catch some sort of virus.

 

[thepatrickblack]

I have several friends who do use Facebook under pseudonyms.

Ditto. Some of them do dealings with unpleasant people at their jobs. They don't want to be easily found online.

 

[gabe]

I have several friends who do use Facebook under pseudonyms. They're amazed that people post their real names on Facebook for the world to see. Of course this means that fake or old friends can't find them, but they share their pseudonym with their true and current network of pals and keep a degree of privacy.

 

[lvteos234]

I'd say yes, they are becoming too powerfull. Just look at the revolution in Egypt. By their own admission, the people behind it admit it would not have happened if it was not for facebook and twitter.

Facebook and twitter are changing the way people communicate and as a result it's almost having an effect on the human psyche

 

[lvteos234]

The other thing is that it seems to be a daily occurrence now that "someone somewhere is getting in trouble for something they said on twitter"

Dont people learn?

 

[Jonny5]

Google Plus, launches in July. It's their Facebook clone, with a likely better interface. The marketing pitch is "Like Facebook, but run by a company you can trust your personal information with."

 

[doady]

YYYeah, I see no problem with wanting to remain anonymous on the internet, I totally understand that. But to do it simply out of some paranoid notions... I don't get it.

I'd say yes, they are becoming too powerfull. Just look at the revolution in Egypt. By their own admission, the people behind it admit it would not have happened if it was not for facebook and twitter.

The people didn't make Facebook more powerful. Facebook made the people more powerful.

Thanks for proving the thread title wrong.

 

[toraerach]

Speaking of Social Media: What has become of MySpace? You just don't hear about it any more...

MySpace was already in decline when Facebook came along, having attracted a lot of bad press, generating way too much drama, and having become way too full with useless crap no one wanted to see. Near the end of its heyday, it really only became useful for reading your "friends" responses to surveys. When Fox bought MySpace, its quality started to decline significantly further.

Facebook, when it was still a college/university-only thing, attracted a generation of young adults who had gone through the MySpace period in highschool and who wanted something more mature. It's straightforward and one-size-fits-all approach made it less intimidating for those who'd never really done the social networking thing before (though MySpace was popular, its reputation kept enough people away). That it was easy to share photos and connect with old friends - especially important for young students who find their friends suddenly scattered all over. It seemed safer, seemed more private, etc. When Facebook opened up to non-students, its popularity quickly exploded. Having your parents on your MySpace was rare - it was supposed to be your space while living under their roof. Having your parents on your Facebook, however, seems to be the norm.

MySpace is still around. It had sort of an identity crisis for a while as it tried to become more like Facebook - a hard thing to do for a site that had set the trends for so long - but it seems to have found its niche, namely the band pages it began with in the first place. It's still probably one of the easiest ways for a band to get some form of exposure on the Internet.

To answer the larger question, I suppose answering it would depend on your own definition of "too powerful." Certainly they've changed the ways in which we communicate, socialize, and (in the case of the Arab Spring, amongst others) mobilize. But change is inevitible with technical innovation. I would imagine some felt, in the early days of the TV, that the networks had too much power. To some people, I'm sure the idea of huddling around a glowing box spewing out ads during dinner (now eaten off trays in the living room!) was a rather odd thing. Change always comes with some form of sacrifice (for example, we sacrificed a whole lot of alone time when we adopted the cell phone en masse), but those sacrifices wouldn't catch on unless there was some convenience or benefit to be taken from the new.