
Pavel Durov Has Unfriended Everyone - agronaut
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-04-18/why-social-networks-are-becoming-too-viral
======
electic
This is a puff piece designed to puff up Telegram. If you look at, say,
Instagram it is growing rapidly. Specifically to Facebook, the issue is 3
pronged:

\- Disassociated Graph. The truth is the friends you had in high school and
your family are all great but it is highly likely you don't share a lot of
things in common with them. For example, your love for kayaking and the
outdoors might resonate with no one on your graph. Instagram, and other
networks like it, you build graphs based on interest. If your Instagram
account is about the outdoors, it is highly likely everyone else will be
outdoors people as well. That's more rewarding.

\- Bad Content. Graph aside, the content is terrible. The feed is full with
click-bait articles, and fake news. You actually feed bad after spending any
time on Facebook because you know it is was a waste.

\- Ads. A good chunk of your feed now is full of ads. Terrible ads. Instagram,
for example, is a relatively clean interface.

I would say Facebook is clearly on the decline based on the above but to say
all networks are on the decline is false. Instagram has proven otherwise and
there will be other networks, in the same Instagram vein, that will grow
quickly as well.

Lastly, all of these networks and messengers have one glaring flaw. They
isolate you. President Obama touched upon this a week ago. They do little to
connect you with your surroundings and I would hardly call any of them "social
networks." They don't connect you to your neighborhood, your city, and the
places you frequent the most. It is pretty shocking, but most Americans now
only, on average, have about 2.5 friends they see regularly in real-life and
most people don't even know who their neighbors are. It's sad.

~~~
madprops
I think you're not using Facebook appropriately. There are many groups and
pages that keep you engaged and entertained as well as informed to some
extent. You join the ones that cater your interest. I actually spend a lot of
time on facebook daily because I managed to get a good selection of
interesting sources. I have heard the same old tired tale that facebook is
dying etc and it feels so vibrant right now. I guess some people don't realize
that facebook is more than following your friends.

Also instagram is a very limited platform compared to facebook. It doesn't
have a vast array of communication tools that facebook has. It's basically
just sharing pictures to other people and some limited comment system.

~~~
konart
>I think you're not using Facebook appropriately

Can't use this shit the right way. Can I sort the posts in my feed in
chronological order by default yet? not to mention threaded comments.

~~~
madprops
"Users can select a “Most Recent” tab to show posts as they appear, but the
setting stubbornly switches back to Facebook's algorithmically-driven feed
after a certain amount of time."

Also there is 1 level of threads in comments. A reply in a post can become a
thread.

~~~
konart
>Also there is 1 level of threads in comments. A reply in a post can become a
thread.

I'm not sure if you are trying to prove my point or point out something
different.

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bitexploder
I wiped out (actual permanent deletion) my Facebook account late 2016. Email
and long form communication for people that matter. Gathered anyone I
regularly chatted with or wanted to IM with onto Signal. Don't miss anything
about Facebook other than a group or two I was a member of. Decentralized
forums still exist and work fine. We deserve better than Facebook.

~~~
nitemice
I have been wanting to do this for literally years now, but I don't think I
could convince the vast majority of my friends to move onto anything together,
let alone Signal. Most of them are non-technical, and it just holds no appeal.
Plus, because they would basically just be installing it just to talk to me,
they would probably nearly never be online or check their messages, so I'd
almost never get to talk to them again.

I basically don't use Facebook (the website), but I am still stuck using their
Messenger for communication with most of my friends. That said, Facebook's
events system is still the best that I've seen. If it was stand-alone, I would
probably delete the rest of FB, and just keep that part. Nothing else on
Facebook adds any value to my experience. Nothing you need to be logged in
for, at least.

~~~
nash_tr
You could unfollow everyone. i did this a few months back and haven't missed
it at all. way less distraction.

~~~
keypress
You are basically saying your friends were a distraction. Which is a little
rude (UK perspective).

~~~
icantdrive55
In the US, many FB'ers friend anyone. I had this girl I worshiped years ago.
She finally seemed interested, on a chance encounter. She said, "I'll friend
you?" Blah, blah, etc.

I got home, and looked her up. She had 550 friends. I can't figure out if I
don't like her now because she rebuffed me years ago, or she has 550 FB
friends. And yes--I took into account she might be insecure now, and filled
with self-doubt; which would explain why she needs to have a following.

All I know is I don't feel the same way about her as I did before I saw her FB
page though. Weird?

~~~
tempestn
I think you're reading too much into it. I barely use facebook and have a
couple hundred friends. I'll accept an invite from anyone I know and like,
regardless of how well I know them. Do that for a decade, or however long FB's
been around, and you build up quite a few.

~~~
keypress
It's very tempting to friend anyone. But because of Facebook's tendency to
then cross pollinate posts via comments etc. I'm more reluctant to do so
(privacy of others). I post to Facebook almost as if I'd post in public. But
it's different for everyone. I know there are settings and ways to make
circles, but it seems a faff.

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m52go
Despite its imperfections, which in my cursory understanding are largely
academic, Telegram is an amazing messenger.

It's very quick, feature-rich, and developer-friendly.

Perhaps best of all, it's a nonprofit. So I can expect, with a high degree of
confidence, that the organization won't abruptly switch course one day to
appease investors.

~~~
Aloha
Telegram has solved the communications problem for me mostly. Before telegram,
I had, all of the legacy messenger services (AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Skype, etc),
plus Slack, IRC and whatever I used at work - now I have Telegram, and no
longer sign into those legacy services anymore.

What makes telegram a winner for me is that the desktop is a first class
citizen, I'm in front of a computer like 18 hours a day - I don't want to have
to stop what I'm going and respond on my phone. Yes, perhaps Signal is more
secure, and I may try it someday.. but for now.. Telegram has largely solved
my 'communications' problem.

~~~
mullsork
Are you using Telegram instead of Slack at work?

~~~
Aloha
Work is still skype for business, plus iMessage between co-workers.

------
steevenwee
Actually using Durov's messenger app. Have created a couple of personal bots
myself, which took less than an hour each. The only downside will probably be
the time when Durov is out of money, and they will start monetizing the
platform.

------
konart
>Vkontakte, which quickly beat the original in Russia because it became the
medium for sharing pirated movies and music

While true - one of the big reasons VK is more popular is simple and light UI,
something that Fb lacks for some reason. Many people here won't switch or even
register simply because everything is hidden somewhere, and instead of
chronological feed of articles from your friends and groups you have tons of
"the most popular posts". Nobody want's that. Nobody cares about how much
likes the post have. Just give me the content I'm here for, not the content
you think is more important or trendy.

------
rebuilder
I'd love to see an FB replacement with just groups and events. All the rest is
just noise to me, but I guess it's hard to get a viable userbase without the
fluffier features of FB. And of course there's the whole problem of everyone
already using FB.

Ideally, it'd be federated, perhaps an extension of GNU Social, but wishes
ain't horses...

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theprop
This is interesting because I thought that Durov after selling VK invested the
proceeds into FB?!

I don't know that the decline of usage of Facebook means Facebook is
necessarily in decline (though I agree with the anecdotal notes about using FB
less). It could be that usage has moderated a bit from the migration from
desktop to mostly mobile. It may mean that social network activity is split
say between FB and Snapchat (and messaging clients). If it does indicate FB is
in decline, it doesn't necessarily mean social networks are unneeded or in
decline, it may just mean we need new social networks :-).

------
pmontra
I've been using Facebook for eleven years and I almost stopped logging in. I
used it almost only to say happy birthday to friends in 2016. This year only
to post some work related news and events. The point is that ten years are a
long time and I lost interest. It's all the same routine again and again.
Luckily I meet in person with most of the friends I care about and there are
many different ways to reach people, messengers and other sites.

------
la_oveja
I hope Telegram makes a Mozilla-style move in the future. We needed open-
source on the web, and we will need open-source on the IM.

~~~
andrewshadura
Have you heard of matrix.org?

------
Aoyagi
I'd think Durov was the kind of person who uses social network only for PR and
is not otherwise interested in it...

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yakshaving_jgt
Please don't let Dave Shing see this!
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq5h9Uacq0w&feature=youtu.be...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq5h9Uacq0w&feature=youtu.be&t=48s)

------
atemerev
I have unfollowed (not unfriended) everyone in Facebook about a year ago
(before it became mainstream).

What a happy year it was. 12/10 would do it again.

------
zmix
I have no friends.

~~~
nitemice
I'll be your friend.

I see we have the same phone. We have things in common already!

~~~
doubleplusgood
Be my friend, too?

~~~
ziggysak
Can we all be friends together?

~~~
doubleplusgood
I don't see why not!

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squozzer
Here's my 4x10^1000 Zimbabwe Dollars -

FB = Show N Tell. Messenger = Passing Notes.

Both have their place.

------
viach
And Messenger Lite is just out. Coincidence?

