Internet: Time to Break Facebook

Recently, Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes made a bold demand – to break Facebook into smaller separate companies in order to avoid its Monopoly status. I had read the full article on MSN.Com but not able to trace it. But here are some links about it: Mint; NYT

I really agree with this article and the way world is changing, digital media is becoming more and more powerful and at times since it is real-time, can play havoc. Proper moderation and monitoring is needed to make sure that monopolistic companies like Facebook are not abusing their position. In the recent Cambridge Analytica case, it was proven beyond doubt that Facebook does not practice business ethics and indulges in information security and privacy frauds in order to make money. Therefore, if such a proposal comes up, as Chris Hughes has made, I would readily support it.

-      Rahul Tiwary

Social: Mom Proud on Son Scoring 60%; Facebook Post Goes Viral

Recently a mother's Facebook post went viral (i.e.  shared indiscreetly by too many) and the news got huge media coverage.

In her post, the mother tells the world that she is 'super proud' that her son has scored 60% in Class 10 board exam. That she knows enough maths to understand that 60 is less than 90 which kids of people from her social status are expected to get but she does not care. Simply because the boy was such a pathetic student that he was almost a quitter (meant he would have reappeared in exam next year with better %) but decided to study well in last 1.5 months to be able to crack it. That she felt her son was like a fish and passing an exam was like asking a fish to climb a tree. And she wished her son good luck in keeping his goodness and wicked sense of humor alive.

Her post got 15K likes, 7K shares and 2K comments. Her Facebook profile tells that she is the founder of two companies, mother of two sons and studied at Hindu College (DU). The cutoff marks for BSc in Hindu College last year was 98%.

Does celebration of her Facebook post really prove that our society has finally learnt to accept people as they are and does not try anymore to fit them into hypothetical molds? Have we already changed into people we should be? I doubt that.

First, mothers being proud of their loser sons is nothing new. History would tell you that Mother India in a movie was an outlier who punished her son for being different (yes, in modern world, that is how you define people like bandits). The truth is that mothers love their sons no matter what they do. Keep wondering if this is their natural instinct or some parental game of soft power (let me be popular while father be the enforcer of law a.k.a. dictator). So there is no surprise if a mother supports her son after he scores bad marks.

Secondly, there have always been all kinds of students. This year around 91% students passed CBSE 10th exam; last year only 87% had passed. There have always been students who celebrated even if they just passed the exam (cutoff is getting min. 33% marks). So why the bravado at this lady's case? Our social behavior tells about an ugly fact - kids of rich people going to expensive schools are not expected to fail. But if you send your kids to expensive schools and spend so much money on them; and they still gets 60% marks; anyone would feel a bit disappointed. But a Facebook post won't let us know that.

The mother would like us to believe that the education system is at fault if her son scored bad marks (as if it asks fish to climb trees). I wonder why no poor kid tells the same. The mother would like us to believe that her son's last 1.5 month's of study was some kind of Rocky moment where heroes rise to the occasion at the climax. We know that to study at the very last moment is a pretty common pattern. The mother would like us to believe that somehow her son's innate cuteness, curiosity and funny bones are things to be rated over some % of marks. We know that all kids are cute, curious and make fun - it does not prove or disapprove anything.

In some ways, the Facebook mother's 'super proud' post tells about a sad sentiment. Rich people think that their kids would get away with scoring less marks because of their parent's money and power. There is no other way to explain a super proud feeling after seeing poor marks. And in a way, the Facebook mother's post tells that mothers support their sons no matter how good or bad they are. And this has done more harm to the world than good. The above two points are my only two takeaways from her Facebook post. Call it an anti-climax.

- Rahul Tiwary

Disclaimer: I do believe exams put much pressure on kids and parents should support them. But at the age of 15, a kid should know how to cope up with it. And I still believe that we should be honest and instead of criticizing the challenges and justifying our failures we should be pushing ourselves to do better.

#SocialNetwork: How to Delete your Facebook Account

It seems there is some confusing about finding the option to delete one's Facebook account; since the menu path does not show it at all. In order to delete your Facebook account, you can go to below link:

https://www.facebook.com/help/delete_account

If you want you can only deactivate the account instead of deleting it; or else choose permanent deletion. Many users deactivate their account fearing loss of data and connections in case of permanent deletion; but end up remaining 'enslaved' to Facebook since they tend to return back and log in again after a few days/weeks. Hence, ponder over pros and cons of permanent deletion, take necessary backup beforehand and then make your final decision of deleting the account.

Remaining logged into Facebook and its excessive usage has taken a toll on many people's mental and personal wellness. And the recent privacy concerns and instances of users data being sold to third party apps and businesses for making commercial gains has dinned the credibility of Facebook a lot. This is why #Delete Facebook is a live and progressing trend on Twitter for long.

Have a nice day! 

- Rahul 

Long Text Complaints on Facebook

At one point, I thought that people had lost the old art of writing long texts. It went on like that very well for too long. Then truth was revealed to me in the form of some really huge complains they started posting on some company's / online portal's / some shop's / or police's facebook pages.

It was shocking! People who until then posted only photos of their mountain trips 33 times a year on facebook wrote a complain to amazon.com which counted 95893953 letters till last count. Someone who only wrote in one-liners wrote a complain against his car service center which was so huge that I finished reading it in over 3 weekends. The girl with bad handwriting posted against Hyderabad police's apathy which was so impressive; think if she wrote some essay like that in her class 10th exam, where she would be by now? The super smart woman who visited facebook only 3 times in last 19 months used 2 of those visits to post stories of how she was cheated at her neighborhood jewelry shops!

This long text influenza is spreading like influential virus. And it is making life so unpredictable! Now whenever I see the face of a sensible yet funny friend, I fear what lies behind that clean windscreen of his spectacles? Some bad experience at the pizza shop; or some not so cold cold-drink served at McD? Since the days of lizards coming out of khichdi pots and cockroaches coming out of fruit salads are over; the remaining options to surprise us are only limited by imagination!

God please save the writers who write purposeless posts on their own walls. Because the growing tribe of complainers armed with long guerrilla texts will soon outnumber them!

- Rahul Tiwary

Why Facebook DP Change Only For France?

After terror attacks on France, Facebook gave an option to change our profile pictures in a way to show our support to France. If you noticed the pattern, initially people felt "good" when they were changing their profile pictures. Gradually I saw a trend - people were seen criticizing Facebook for being "selective" in its initiatives.

In order to prove their point, some people, pages, journalists etc started posting ghastly images of mass violence from African or Islamic countries and started asking - Why did not FB give an option to display support to "these" countries?

If you think about their reasoning, it appears "correct". Why did not Facebook do it right "every time"? Why "only now"? I think this is a classic case of seeing a glass as "half empty" instead of "half filled".

I think through the profile picture change option, Facebook was giving a harmless means to express grief and solidarity towards a victim nation. If it worked well, it would make sense for FB to do the same next time for other countries also. After all, such activities keep users engaged and it is good for business. But if FB gets mostly criticism and faces a negative campaign against it after this episode; it will not be encouraged to give such options in future all together!

In the event of a humanitarian crisis, if by changing display picture a user feels less burdened; it helps in 'healing'. It does something 'good' even if small or inconsequential in total impact. So I think our criticism for FB does more harm than benefit to this world. Instead of asking "Why only towards France" and in a way insulting French people, or "Why not towards Iraq" and in a way insulting Iraqi people, and spreading negativity at the time of a humanitarian crisis, we should choose constructive feedback like, "I like this feature and hope they give this option even in future."

- Rahul

Unappy with Facebook's Lack of Privacy

Facebook has been known to be uncaring towards users' privacy. It has been a trouble for everyone who attempted, to successfully be in control of what we share and what don't want to; through mired privacy setting and policies. To add to the worry, a few days back when I tried to log into FB, it showed up these many pictures on the first page itself! Is this how Facebook wants to use our profile pictures and other stuff? Has it taken permission from these people before using their portraits? I am not sure. Even if it has taken permission, there seems to be no guarantee of what future awaits for all of us (well, those of us who use FB to be precise)!

I FB's new proposals to make privacy settings more less stringent is not only unethical but also unfair. Till a few weeks back whenever I opened up facebook.com and found it written something like "It is free and always will be so", I always give it a second thought. How many promises need to be broken in order to keep a promise? We know that change is the constant thing in this world, but in what direction? FB already makes money through ads, apps and in other ways from corporates. It should not cross the line to the extent that people would simply get fed up and won't see any benefit of wasting their time only to quite using it some day in the future.

On the other hand, Google+ looks better with its system of circles and more user friendly settings, but we have got used to using facebook for a while and the switch is not easy. But I see facebook's policies harming the general trust in the public about using social networking sites and gradually people may simply stop using it and go back to watch TV - something they are more used to do anyway...

Big Picture of Social Media

You can either take Facebooking as time killing unproductive activity, or else you can try to see the Big Picture. So many engineers are learning technologies enabling companies, which are investing in analytics and Big Data, to make sense of whatever trends you set here. Photographs, videos, and data like your location and spending pattern, are all of so much importance to them! Firms are hiring social media consultants and content creators and even managers to handle FB ‘Pages’ and Twitter handles! Add to these the whole new world of Online Ads, Apps and games. On the other hand, our corruption-free govt is hiring spies and investing in tools to monitor you all here :) Is not all this getting funnier day by day? :)

- Rahul

The Role of Social Networking Sites in our Life

Now a day that I am getting busier than ever, I am getting less time for doing two things in particular: spend time on social networking sites, and to read articles which provide me good food-for-thoughts. I am still spending quality time with my near and dear ones, and I do read books regularly; and this brings the equation to some interesting inferences. Is life better with or without social networking sites like Facebook, Orkut, Twitter, or Googleplus? I happened to read two very enticing articles today; one is on the extreme and the other is rather a sane voice:

The first news says, “Internet hacktivist group Anonymous has urged to destroy Facebook on 5th of November”. I thought it would be interesting to read their allegations hence I read through the buzz, and here is something which was agreeable to some extent for most users (IMO): 

“Everything you do on Facebook stays on Facebook regardless of your “privacy” settings, and deleting your account is impossible, even if you “delete” your account, all your personal info stays on Facebook and can be recovered at any time. Changing the privacy settings to make your Facebook account more “private” is also a delusion. Facebook knows more about you than your family.”

“It is not a battle over the future of privacy and publicity. It is a battle for choice and informed consent.”

“Facebook keeps saying that it gives users choices, but that is completely false. It gives users the illusion of and hides the details away from them “for their own good” while they then make millions off of you. When a service is “free,” it really means they’re making money off of you and your information.”

“Think for a while and prepare for a day that will go down in history. November 5 2011, #opfacebook. Engaged.”

Read complete piece: http://www.buzzom.com/2011/08/anonymous-urges-to-destroy-facebook-on-november-5/

Not that I support hacking as a means to achieve some goal, but I do understand their concerns about lack of privacy and denial of choice and consent. The concern is real.

On the other hand, I found a very interesting article on the HBR Blog Network. Whitney Johnson uses most of the social networking sites and she sees the whole thing in a very different perspective:

“According to the jobs-to-be-done framework, whenever we buy something, we are hiring the product or service to do a "job," the job being a problem we want to solve or a way to advance toward a better self. With few exceptions, every job that people want done has emotional, social and functional elements. Let's start with what I presently hire social media to do:

1. Help me find my personal voice and get published.

2. Help me be found professionally.

3. Help me stay in touch with people I like, even though our lives don't currently intersect.

4. Help me expand my network.”

“While technology can hinder progress by making us hyper-connected, distracting us from those we love, and helping us avoid our to-do list, the important job of technology in general, and social media in particular, is to facilitate human connection, to expand our social circles and strengthen our in real life relationships. That's true progress — a job we all want done.”

Read complete piece here: http://blogs.hbr.org/johnson/2011/08/what-job-does-social-media-do.html

While this second article puts up facts and features in supporting the positive role of social (or socio-professional) networking sites, I wonder why we can’t have best of both worlds. Why can’t we do all good things with the social-networking sites, and yet don’t face risks of lack of privacy which websites like Facebook have inherent in them?

I think ideally the power should be in the hands of the users; sites like Facebook should provide us with features that we demand. But in reality I feel the power is still in the hands of the websites and users follow what is offered to them. This is why I feel the arrival of Googleplus (or Google+) is a good sign in my opinion. Given a serious competition, the s/n sites like FB will not have to look at what users really want (or fear), rather than throwing features and apps at the ever-amazed (or addicted) audiences. I believe the competition amongst social-networking sites will try to bring us to a situation where the users’ fears and demands would be genuinely addressed. And then, there won’t be any need for a hacker group to claim righteous-hacking of websites like Facebook, to teach them a lesson.

© Rahul