
Facebook as Neo-Feudalism - thatusertwo
http://www.novelog.com/facebook-as-neo-feudalism/
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wodenokoto
Bridges are worthless if no one is crossing it. By crossing a bridge you are
working for free.

A Mozilla employee once put it a lot better: "privacy is a currency for which
the user doesn't know the exchange rate". We are buying a service from
Facebook, and we pay in privacy without really knowing how much we are
actually paying.

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randomgyatwork
I don't see the comparison with the bridge, the bridge doesn't make money by
being crossed?

Isn't your second point supporting the claims of the article?

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wodenokoto
No. The currency point clearly states that you are paying for a service, but
you don't know by how much. Maybe that old painting in the attic didn't seem
to be worth a lot, so you should it at a yard sale for $5, only later to find
out it was worth millions. Maybe you thought your privacy had low value and
traded it for online services, only to find out, you could have asked for so
much more.

The article claims that you are working for free to make facebook money (which
- at least to me - implies you deserve a kick back).

The bridge example is to show that things not being used are always worthless,
so saying that Facebook only has value because of its users is a pointless
statement. A bridge not being crossed is also worthless.

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jluk
I don't understand the point here I guess. Facebook is clearly a service to
people. People need validation and they can come here to get it quickly and
easily - they also come here to stay in contact with friends and family. The
work being provided is you using their service - so its not unpaid feudal
system work, it is you coming for a personal benefit that in turn produces
profitable output for facebook. This is just an odd analogy in my opinion, one
a bit too simplistic.

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randomgyatwork
Isn't that the point, people worked the fields of a feudal system for the food
they got. The food they got was significantly less than the food the king got
because he owned the land.

Sure people are using Facebook to get some value, but the value they are
getting is nothing compared to the land owners value.

Also, the users of Facebook are the 'product' not the customer(advertisers are
the customer).

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randomgyatwork
I'm glad I've chosen not to be a part of this game, Facebook has always seemed
fishy to me.

