Why the end of the line is my destination, not the city
Facebook: Why the end of the line is my destination, not the city
You might also like to read:
It's been a strange start to the year so far. I'm running across people I haven't seen or heard of for many years and I'm not sure quite why. Now it seems every time I run into someone and I mention are they online they respond more than likely with, "yes on Facebook".
I've had an account for a long time, but I never use it. Why? I'm certainly not that interested in having to learn the ins and outs of the interface and permissions. But faced with an increasing number of people I know using it I've come up with a plan.
It's pretty simple. Grab all my open content and funnel it back to Facebook. Just find a content aggregation site, Add all the sites you want to collate and point the RSS file to Facebook. Instant content without having to touch the site.
"... Facebook is to the Internet, what Microsoft was to the PC ..."
This solves a couple of problems in one hit. Firstly it means I don't have to worry about my *stuff* being sucked up and dictated by any one company. The other is I still appear on Facebook to anyone I know who lives there. Facebook reminds me of the large shopping malls. You can see people walking around at a lower level, call them over if you
want to or simply ignore them if you feel like it. That kind of behaviour is creepy. I know it happens but ... Even creepier is closed pages. People want to exist in Facebook (or travel through the mall) yet remain anonymous. Anonymity in a computer system is an illusion.
Pumping my open content into Facebook has some interesting side effects. Because the information is search-able on the open web, I don't need to close access to most things. I don't bother putting phone contact details. I simply use phones for outgoing calls. The rest of the time it's turned off. So what else is there to put up?
Anyone can view my page. They just can't edit or comment without my permission. Pretty much as it exists on the Open Web. The only thing exposed is my friend network. Have to think about that. On the other hand these networks are exposed on other sites but not to the same degree.
The people I list on Facebook I have know some since I was age 4, all before the age of 18. All except Yotam, a fellow nerd. I give him stick about being mossad while he gives me cheek for eating bacon and asks why I have a cross on neek?
So If you can imagine all the sites I add stuff as being far-flung towns away from the city. What I'm doing is sending all my *stuff* in neat little RSS packages into the city to be unpacked and displayed for others to look at. The problem is it's just more interesting on the edges.
I've been living and working on the Internet for a long time. I like the open web. You don't need to ask permission to do interesting things If you own your data you simply do stuff. You don't have to worry that much about the owners of the malls changing the internal walkways, making you pay to get in. For example over the years I've been a member of the "bluesnews", "slashdot", "perlmonks", "reddit", "joelonsofware", "hackernews", "twitter", "flickr", et.al. Each had or will have their day and wane. You simply end up leaving because the friction using them becomes to great.
I fear this will also happen with Facebook and all those contacts you make are going to be broken. Just like a High School, you go there, complete a certain number of years then disappear along with people you know only to find it's been torn down if you return years later.
I live at the edges away from the city in the Open.
next >>>
Why the end of the line is my destination, not the city
Facebook: Why the end of the line is my destination, not the city
You might also like to read:
It's been a strange start to the year so far. I'm running across people I haven't seen or heard of for many years and I'm not sure quite why. Now it seems every time I run into someone and I mention are they online they respond more than likely with, "yes on Facebook".
I've had an account for a long time, but I never use it. Why? I'm certainly not that interested in having to learn the ins and outs of the interface and permissions. But faced with an increasing number of people I know using it I've come up with a plan.
It's pretty simple. Grab all my open content and funnel it back to Facebook. Just find a content aggregation site, Add all the sites you want to collate and point the RSS file to Facebook. Instant content without having to touch the site.
"... Facebook is to the Internet, what Microsoft was to the PC ..."
This solves a couple of problems in one hit. Firstly it means I don't have to worry about my *stuff* being sucked up and dictated by any one company. The other is I still appear on Facebook to anyone I know who lives there. Facebook reminds me of the large shopping malls. You can see people walking around at a lower level, call them over if you
want to or simply ignore them if you feel like it. That kind of behaviour is creepy. I know it happens but ... Even creepier is closed pages. People want to exist in Facebook (or travel through the mall) yet remain anonymous. Anonymity in a computer system is an illusion.
Pumping my open content into Facebook has some interesting side effects. Because the information is search-able on the open web, I don't need to close access to most things. I don't bother putting phone contact details. I simply use phones for outgoing calls. The rest of the time it's turned off. So what else is there to put up?
Anyone can view my page. They just can't edit or comment without my permission. Pretty much as it exists on the Open Web. The only thing exposed is my friend network. Have to think about that. On the other hand these networks are exposed on other sites but not to the same degree.
The people I list on Facebook I have know some since I was age 4, all before the age of 18. All except Yotam, a fellow nerd. I give him stick about being mossad while he gives me cheek for eating bacon and asks why I have a cross on neek?
So If you can imagine all the sites I add stuff as being far-flung towns away from the city. What I'm doing is sending all my *stuff* in neat little RSS packages into the city to be unpacked and displayed for others to look at. The problem is it's just more interesting on the edges.
I've been living and working on the Internet for a long time. I like the open web. You don't need to ask permission to do interesting things If you own your data you simply do stuff. You don't have to worry that much about the owners of the malls changing the internal walkways, making you pay to get in. For example over the years I've been a member of the "bluesnews", "slashdot", "perlmonks", "reddit", "joelonsofware", "hackernews", "twitter", "flickr", et.al. Each had or will have their day and wane. You simply end up leaving because the friction using them becomes to great.
I fear this will also happen with Facebook and all those contacts you make are going to be broken. Just like a High School, you go there, complete a certain number of years then disappear along with people you know only to find it's been torn down if you return years later.
I live at the edges away from the city in the Open.
next >>>