The Facebook Matrix

Everything in moderation – that includes viewing photos and news about your friends and uploading photos and news of yourself. Of late I have come to realize that if a person spends on average 1 hour per day on a site like facebook starting at age 15 and lives until 90 (not an unreasonable life expectancy), then that person will have spent over three years non-stop on Facebook. Think about what can be accomplished in three years – a college degree, a three year prison term, etc.

Facebook and online social media including the blog you are reading right now are sapping people of time that they would have otherwise hopefully used in a more productive way. This blog, while in my opinion better than Facebook in that it belongs to me, the ads are mine not Facebook’s and much of what I write requires research and learning, is still most likely going to take up at least a year of my life before I’m finished (literally and figuratively).

In essense, what I’m trying to say is next time you want to ‘poke’ someone on Facebook consider driving over and phyiscally giving that person a poke (after considering the legal implications and of course the social acceptability of the action). Next time you decide to peruse someone’s photo album, take a moment and consider whether it’s worth it – perhaps the time would be better spent getting on the ground and doing 50 push-ups.

A few things to consider:

• Facebook will never tell you how many hours you have spent on the site, it would reduce popularity!
• Advertisements can utilize any information you put on Facebook, such as exact age, political party, music interest, religion, etc. in order to fool you into thinking they are specifically catered to you!
• All photos submitted to Facebook may be used by law enforcement, employers, news papers, etc. without your permission – the photos are no longer yours.
• Blackmail – Facebook rarely deletes your information, even if you change or delete it from your profile.
• Profiles are never deleted, they are only archived and put into hibernation until your revive it.

At first it sounds absurd that social networking sites will lead to suicide, but the more I think about it the more it makes sense. Less real relationships, more prone to superficial judgment, and lots of sad people looking for online friends. I could only imagine what it would be like to be someone on one of these sites, be it Facebook, Myspace, or even XiaoNei (the Chinese Facebook) and care about how many comments I get on my photos etc.

Personally, I find social networking sites to be a tool to “add” people you get to know so you don’t forget them. However I do find their “apps” distracting and a waste of time. Thankfully, my premiere summer destination forbids Facebook so I an disinclined to visit there anyways.

Now the ways Facebook will make money with it’s new layout are simple, more clicks to get where you need to go means more space to shower you with traditionally discrete ads. More ad views means more potential ad clicks, and more ad clicks means more money for the bottom line. Now there are quite a few members against this new idea, as there were quite a few members against letting Facebook open up to the public. However there is little doubt in my mind that the plan will proceed.

What can you do? Traditionally we as Americans tend to think that Democracy is always the way, be it in government or the website we frequent ever so frequently. The truth is, there will be no popular vote, and in a few more weeks the “switch back to old facebook” link won’t be there any more. Now I know that this is sad news, and I know you have a lot to say about it, so please comment on this post and tell me what you think. To comment simply click the post title.

From the previous findings, I will hypothesize that those who use Facebook in a effective and efficient manner will consequentially earn at least 5 percent more than those who do not. The reason I am choosing Facebook here instead of Myspace etc. is that Myspace has a lot of junk that clutters my and perhaps others “user experience”. If you ever find any studied related to this, please comment.