> Why would you invest yourself in a space like that?
Low barrier to entry. Convenience. Ease of use. Sign-up and now you can talk to your friends from across the world!
Now, you have to be force-fed shit ads along the way.
I don’t think anyone who values their social life would like it if you put it like that, but inertia and the gravity of network effects are a bitch.
The real problem is these private platforms have the power of public utilities, and we treat them like public utilities until they pull the rug from under us, and siphon our data to profit psychopathic overlords.
Furthermore, these companies don’t just throw ads at you, they also aid the surveillance state which can compromise your basic rights to privacy and fair elections. Malicious foreign governments use it to influence elections with false information and propaganda. Malicious domestic government can use it as a easy spying tool by buying or scraping data.
No one will be safe on these things until we get proper government regulation. The EU’s GDPR is a step in the right direction but more work needs to be done.
Low barrier to entry. Convenience. Ease of use. Sign-up and now you can talk to your friends from across the world!
Now, you have to be force-fed shit ads along the way.
I don’t think anyone who values their social life would like it if you put it like that, but inertia and the gravity of network effects are a bitch.
The real problem is these private platforms have the power of public utilities, and we treat them like public utilities until they pull the rug from under us, and siphon our data to profit psychopathic overlords.
Furthermore, these companies don’t just throw ads at you, they also aid the surveillance state which can compromise your basic rights to privacy and fair elections. Malicious foreign governments use it to influence elections with false information and propaganda. Malicious domestic government can use it as a easy spying tool by buying or scraping data.
No one will be safe on these things until we get proper government regulation. The EU’s GDPR is a step in the right direction but more work needs to be done.