

Ask HN: Why the Facebook hate? - muzak

The company has taken a few bad steps but it doesn't seem like they are as evil as music industry, for example. Sure, the media hypes up their potential but how is it their fault? Or is it that we just need to hate someone and might as well be them?
Apple has proprietary hardware and locks everyone out but no one complains about them.
Google tracks _everything_ I do on the web and shows me really targeted ads but no complains there (search for diamond rings and then notice your ads).
Microsoft has done its share of bad things.<p>At the end of the day it is a business. Is it wrong for them to make money? Also, before you point out the bot problem, I'd like to see some device numbers. I run a popular site and a lot of my visitors don't have JavaScript turned on.
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DanBC
People do complain about all the example companies you mention. DuckDuckGo
exist to provide an alternative search engine and one of their campaigns is
"don't bubble me". Apple is condemned for various policies; their odd process
for accepting or rejecting apps is one example.

And Microsoft (Microshaft / Micro$oft / etc) has been vehemently hated by
large numbers of people.

I don't hate FB. I dislike the ever changing user interface. I dislike the
sneaky changes to privacy settings. I hate many of the apps - and facebook's
lack of action to help keep its users safe.

The user interface at the moment is strongly making me not like FB. I set
stories to "Most recent" because I want it to stay at most recent. I have to
keep resetting it every week or so. Unfortunately there's no alternative - to
use facebook you use the facebook website. This is something that's gently
weird to me. I'm used to services which run on a defined standard, and which
allow you to chose a client.

Maybe this is something that "the next Facebook" will do - define a tight RFC
for social networking and provide a good quality browser based client, but
allowing competition to provide other clients.

------
angryasian
for me its the difference in how they sell your personal information.

1\. google is more like a sandbox, businesses just tell them who they want to
advertise too, and they'll act as a proxy.

2\. Facebook openly sells/hands over your information without any type of
control (look at beacon or their special deals with certain api users)

3\. Apple does it in a more devious way IMO, in that with IOS they know
applications are taking personal information, contacts and locations and never
notifies the end user this is happening. In IOS 6 they are making the changes
to allow you to control this but this is only after they are losing some
market share.

~~~
muzak
Yes, Beacon was a shit show. However, anything recent?

Also, tell me more about #2...

You and I can both create an ad and see all the data that is shared, which
really is none because it is all general targeting.

APIs are publicly documented and I'm sure the Europeans (and FTC) would crack
down on them if they had any special deals.

If anything, Google allows re-targeting, which shares a lot more data than
Facebook seems to.

Also, I didn't know about #3.

~~~
angryasian
#2 - [http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/11/yelp-security-hole-puts-
fac...](http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/11/yelp-security-hole-puts-facebook-
user-data-at-risk-underscores-problems-with-instant-personalization/)

Facebook actively hands over your data to partners

Google does retargeting the right way. I don't how you make the assumption
google shares more, cause google is very open with their ad retargeting. It
never shares any personal identifiers just general aggregate data.

#3 .. People won't admit it but its a fact.

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unreal37
I don't understand all the hate either. 900 million active Facebook users...
it's safe to say that most people in the world love it. An average of 7 hours
per month spent on the site - that's massive.

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countessa
mainly because I'm (irrationally) jealous of their success.

------
AznHisoka
Because they have sucked up (and will continue to) valuable time that humanity
could've spent on other worthwhile endeavors. It's 2012, where's my colonies
in Mars, damn it?

------
mseepgood
It's built on PHP.

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nerdfiles
Mostly [http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/24/technology/silicon-
valley-...](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/24/technology/silicon-valley-
worries-about-addiction-to-devices.html?_r=2&pagewanted=2&src=twr) ?

And its bogus advertising model that leaves our closest friends babbling about
their sex lives rather than their creative endeavors. That Facebook compels
negative consumption: the consumption of Friends' consumption, rather than the
consumption of Friend's production. For instance:

Status Update: "X made me feel bad." Comments: "First!", "[meme response]", "
_like_ ", etc.

All of that happens, of course, and ads are still soaring throughout all of
that. Facebook is basing its model on the idea of someone interjecting "sound
ads" throughout your socializing with people; it's advertising Tourette's.

And it's built on PHP.

~~~
muzak
I use Facebook to keep in touch with my family who live in different parts of
the world. Yes, there are my friends who post asinine stuff but I kinda view
that as normal conversation that I would have with my close friends.

Also, this really struck a chord with me: Does Facebook Cause Loneliness?
Short answer, No. Why Are We Discussing this? Long Answer Below.
(<http://technosociology.org/?p=1035>)

