Facebook- A big nothing

[wilt the stilt]

This is the poorest excuse for anything that really means anything. It really contributes nothing of substance. It's an advertising company. This asshole who is leaving- good riddance. You really did nothing for the real economy. You didn't develop anything to reelly do with high tech. no code, no innovation, just basically a pet rock.

[Walk away]

1. Facebook has been a great way for me to keep touch with my clients....

and keep them posted on my daily doings. They love it and I have grown my business using it. It's free and it helps me reach the exact client base I want.

People use Facebook for all kinds of useful projects from local events to charity work.

Why do you hate it so much?

[wilt the stilt]

3. It isn't like it is in anyway

something that will in the long run really be a titan of benefit to us as a whole. It really only makes money for the creators. People like the true leaders of high tech revolutionized the way we do business and made us far more productive. They designed and were truly innovative. The same can be said of the titans of industry. This innovative ideas helped the country. Facebook is a nothing in the long run.

[Occulus]

13. What is the specific social value of Mahler's 8th?

Or Stravinsky's "The Firebird"?

What does the NFL contribute to society? Isn't the NHL just a fight with a few rules and a puck?

Isn't "The Price is Right", that icon of American television, nothing more than a cleverly disguised, entertaining, hour-long commercial?

I think your ire with Facebook should be redirected to something more worthwhile. ALEC, for example.

(If you have never heard Mahler's 8th symphony, commonly called the "Symphony of a Thousand", please do yourself the favor of listening to the BBC recording conducted by Jacha Horenstein. It is, simply put, glory, from beginning to end.

edit: while you're at it, check out "Das Lied von der Erde"- aka The Song of the Earth- and Mahler's 9th, the "Long Dark Night of the Soul&quot

[wilt the stilt]

15. art is art

your post is irrelevant. I respect art and truly love music but what does it have to do with this discussion.

[Occulus]

17. They are things you can't put a specific price on

What is the dollar value of a long-lost friendship? A successful protest or act of organized civil disobedience? A boycott campaign?

Facebook makes those things a whole lot easier. And let's be honest here: the idea behind Facebook is not only no great thing, but was tried at least twice before, in GeoCities and MySpace. Facebook is the only one that got it "right", but if it hadn't been Facebook, it would have been something like Facebook. The idea behind that has been around in one form or another for a very long time, in internet terms.

Knock Facebook all you like (and there are many valid reasons to do so, privacy being the biggest), but please don't dismiss the things it's enabled people to do. There's a definite social value there, even if it can't be quantified in dollars and cents.

[wilt the stilt]

19. I am talking about technology

that has a change that is truly long lasting and leads to essentially restructuring on society.There were two great movements like this. the industrial revolution and the information age. These had long legs and created great wealth for the innovators and the middle class.
Facebook really does nothing long lasting in the sense of changing economics. It is an advertising gimmick.

[Occulus]

22. Oh, Facebook is nothing at all like the industrial revolution or the information age.

That's blindingly obvious.

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Couldn't the same be said of "The Price is Right", or is that art? Or both?

Does an internet 'thing'- Like Facebook or YouTube- have to change the economic game, or not splash its users with ads and marketing schemes, in order to have 'value'?

I'm as critical of Facebook about many of its policies as the next user (I do not like the Timeline), but really. I don't pay for using it, so questions of economic value really do not make a whole lot of sense to me.

I will, however, go far enough to with your own line of thinking to say that Facebook will have nothing like the social ka-blam of the invention of the light bulb or the telephone, nor will it have the social impact of the invention of sound recording or even the recipe for beer. That's just silly.

But valueless? Facebook isn't that, either.

As for the next "great movement" (the joke writes itself), nanotechnology and a workable mind-machine interface spring to mind, but those are whole other threads each.

[Fumesucker]

4. Here's an explanation from the first page of GD..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002683974

[Mr Dixon]

2. IMO

FB has been great, keeps people in touch and that is all I need it to do, I few games to past the time and read reviews I ask nothing more of FB so I’m not disappointed.

[HappyMe]

5. I have no problem with it.

My family lives in a few states. It's just another way of keeping in touch.

[patricia92243]

6. At first, it is fun to find old friends, etc. After that it is just boring. You alway have one

person that posts every time they breath - and nobody cares. When I occasionally check mine, most people have not bothered to post - including me.

Believe it or not, I think someday it will go the way of "My Space" "yahoo", etc. Just given time, a new toy will be the it place to be

[greytdemocrat]

7. Didn't get in on the IPO eh???? n/t

[obamanut2012]

8. +1

[wilt the stilt]

11. I work in high tech

and i respect true innovation not marketing gimmicks.

[99Forever]

12. No kidding.

Sounds like sour grapes to me also.

[wilt the stilt]

14. let me tell you all

it is in no way sour grapes.

[99Forever]

26. Keep right on telling yourself that.

Perhaps you'll convince you. Sure sounds like sour grapes to me and apparently many others.

... and I'm hardly a "fan" of FB, I didn't even have an account until earlier this year and then only to enable communication with my family and friends spread over many states. I have no idea what you might have "contributed" to my world, so I can't hazard any guess as to your impact on it.

[edhopper]

9. Except for all the lost friends

I have been reunited with and the people in my field that I can now stay in touch with.
Other than that?
What does Dem Underground "do" for the economy? A bunch of lefties bitching about the Republicans, what a waste.

[2on2u]

16. Watch out or the judge may throw the

facebook at you. Myeh myeh myeh.

[Ship of Fools]

18. How far would the world's awakening

to the pricks destroying it have gotten without it?

[trumad]

20. Get off my Lawn!

Come on Wilt---you sound like an old man in his bathrobe screaming at the younger generation.

Facebook is immesly popular with the younger generation.

I review my kids Facebook page and it is very active with all their friends.

[lynne]

21. LOL! Guess you've never heard of the "Facebook Election" -

- you might want to plug in and get yourself up to speed as FB helped elect Obama. I'd consider that a contribution.

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2008/11/19/barack-obama-and-the-facebook-election

[Warren Stupidity]

23. 900 million users say WTF. NT.

[randome]

24. Companies, like paper and metal money, only have the value we decide they have.

If tomorrow we made a decision as a culture to start using paperclips as a medium of exchange, we would value them much more than we do now.

Facebook is as valuable as the market wants to believe it is.

[adigal]

25. It has helped a lot with dog rescue

Getting northern rescues to see and take dogs from the southeast. Many, many dogs have been saved through Facebook posts.

[RadiationTherapy]

27. It is a revolution in communication technology and all that that implies.

It is absolutely relevant, important, and powerful.

[Odin2005]

28. Tell that to the Occupiers.

[cherokeeprogressive]

29. Like it.

[Chorophyll]

30. I've made some better friends on Facebook

than I have in real life. I've been introduced to new music, new authors, and new artists. I've had some fantastic discussions.

As with anything else, you get out of it what you put into it.