

Why I hate Facebook - browngeek
http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/20/markets/thebuzz/?postversion=2009022012

======
endtime
Summary: Bearded gentleman "hates" Facebook because he doesn't think they'll
be able to monetize their traffic, and doesn't like being shown ads.

Not a very satisfying article. He doesn't really say anything that hasn't been
said a thousand times before. Also, the ad thing? Now, I hate ads, I love
Opera's content blocker, and I have to admit that Facebook is the only site
that has ever shown me ads I want to click. I even bought something from a
Facebook ad once!

~~~
calambrac
Please never do that again, you'll only encourage them. Nobody (except you, I
guess) wants to see or click on ads while they're reading up on their friends
lives. And honestly, fb ads are pretty terribly awful.

You've never seen ads you want to click on Google? Even when you're searching
for things to buy?

~~~
endtime
Facebook's ads aren't intrusive; the pictures are very small and the ads are
way off on the side of the page (unless there are some I don't know about due
to my content blocker). The only time I even notice them is when something
interesting catches my eye.

There are two reasons not to like ads: 1) They are intrusive/distracting; and
2) They show you stuff you don't care about. If Facebook can occasionally show
me ads for things I might actually want, and if they can do so in a way that
doesn't intrude on my browsing experience, kudos to them.

Edit: Oh, forgot to answer your question. No, I don't think I've ever seen an
ad on Google that interested me. I don't really use Google to find things to
buy, though.

------
pg
Strange. It's as if CNN decided they better get hip and make the site more
bloggish, and then they copied the wrong things about blogging.

------
sjs382
Guy who (admittedly) doesn't use Facebook hates Facebook. News at 11.

We've seen this before in other forms:

Guy who (admittedly) doesn't use Twitter hates Twitter. News at 11.

Guy who (admittedly) doesn't read blogs hates blogs. News at 11.

 _yawn_

~~~
unalone
I hate when hating popular things becomes vogue. It's one thing to rant about
it in an enclosed area, but it's hardly news.

~~~
sjs382
I just think its funny that the "Guy who (admittedly) doesn't use" writes a
column about his hate.

------
cookiecaper
This article is bad and silly. :( I don't know why CNN is publishing some
dude's inane diary.

The author assumes that using Facebook and using Facebook obsessively are the
same thing; he complains that after using a computer at work all day, he
doesn't want to use one all night, and that he doesn't see the need to update
everyone about the minor details in his life, and that these are why he
detests Facebook. The author seemingly doesn't realize that Facebook does not
force you to input every minor detail of your life nor does it force you to
spend your entire evenings in the perusal of its pages. When one checks
Facebook merely periodically, and rarely updates, there are times when it
comes in mighty handy, and it's silly for this man to write the whole service
off to everyone else because he doesn't believe that anyone can use Facebook
moderately (for the record, I log in to check things about twice a week and
update my profile about twice a year).

Even less sensibly, the author also hates Facebook because he doesn't see an
immediately obvious plan for profitability. This is a really weird reason to
hate something that you hold no financial interest in (and the author clearly
has none in Facebook). If dude thinks that Facebook's operations will
continually yield negative cash flow, that's even more reason to _enjoy it
while it lasts_. Seriously.

------
timcederman
With a title like that, I thought it was going to be a Matt Maroon article.

