{"id":528,"date":"2008-04-06T17:30:54","date_gmt":"2008-04-06T07:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/?p=528"},"modified":"2008-04-07T19:01:49","modified_gmt":"2008-04-07T09:01:49","slug":"why-you-shouldnt-use-facebook-and-why-you-shouldnt-not-use-facebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/2008\/04\/06\/why-you-shouldnt-use-facebook-and-why-you-shouldnt-not-use-facebook\/","title":{"rendered":"Why you shouldn’t use Facebook and why you shouldn’t not use Facebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Non-Facebook User,<\/p>\n

I completely respect that you don’t wish to use Facebook. I am pro-heterogeneity. For the same reasons we should be wary of monocultures on farms, I think society is generally well-served by not having everyone using exactly the same software\/systems.<\/p>\n

I am happy for people to consider the facts, to factor in their personal preferences and circumstances and to come to different decisions about what software to use.<\/p>\n

However, if you are going to share with me your reasons for avoiding Facebook, they should at least be sensible ones. <\/p>\n

Let me help.<\/p>\n

\n
    \n
  1. Bad reason:<\/strong> I am a parent worried about paedophiles. I don’t think children are safe on Facebook.\n

    That’s a reason for children not to be on Facebook, not for you.<\/li>\n

  2. Good reason:<\/strong> I am a child, and my parent is worried about paedophiles and my ability to interact safely on the net.<\/li>\n
  3. Good reason:<\/strong> I don’t have time.<\/li>\n
  4. Good reason:<\/strong> My dislike for targetted adverts outweighs the perceived benefits of the service being offered.<\/li>\n
  5. Good reason:<\/strong> My personality means I get more enjoyment from bucking a trend, even if I lose out on some benefits.<\/li>\n
  6. Bad reason:<\/strong> I speak to my best friends all the time by phone.\n

    Facebook offers benefits for interacting with people who aren’t your best friends.<\/li>\n

  7. Bad reason:<\/strong> Facebook is making too much money; I should get some of it.\n

    If Facebook is offering you a worthwhile service to you, the amount they make behind the scenes is irrelevant for your rational choice to take up the service.<\/li>\n

  8. Good reason:<\/strong> I get too many chain-mail-style messages (including hoaxes) and other low-value crapola from my so-called “friends”.<\/li>\n
  9. Bad reason:<\/strong> I don’t like the idea of Facebook using my Hotmail\/Gmail password to scrape info.\n

    Don’t give it then.<\/li>\n

  10. Bad reason:<\/strong> I don’t want strangers looking at photos I’ve taken.\n

    Don’t put them up then, or restrict the access.<\/li>\n

  11. Bad reason:<\/strong> I don’t want strangers looking at photos of me that other people have taken.\n

    I’ve got some bad news. The photos are up there anyway, even if you don’t log into Facebook.<\/li>\n

  12. Good reason:<\/strong> I am in the witness relocation program.<\/li>\n
  13. Good reason:<\/strong> I am a bigamist.<\/li>\n
  14. Good reason:<\/strong> My ex gets jealous and is rude to my new friends.<\/li>\n
  15. Good reason:<\/strong> I am George Costanza, and I don’t want my worlds to collide.<\/li>\n
  16. Bad reason:<\/strong> I am generally unhappy with the privacy issues.\n

    When I ask people for details here, they vague out. I am still waiting for a realistic example of their concerns.<\/li>\n

  17. Good reason:<\/strong> I don’t trust the Facebook people to stick to the privacy agreement.<\/li>\n
    \n

    There! Now you can have a rational reason for declining to use Facebook.<\/p>\n<\/ol>\n

    [Update: Added numbering, event though it makes the formatting uglier, to aid discussion.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Dear Non-Facebook User,<\/p>\n

    If you are going to share with me your reasons for avoiding Facebook, they should at least be sensible ones. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[261,62],"class_list":["post-528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-influencing-others","tag-facebook","tag-social-networking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}