08 February 2012

Dear Facebook:

Dear Facebook: Can someone explain to me why every day I have to click to re-sort comments to "most recent" instead of what YOU decide (based on what, I don't know) are "top stories," even though I've ALREADY SEEN THEM when they were "recent?"

Since Zukerberg is about to be a godzillionairre with or without me, I won't hold my breath for an answer. They seem to be dissatisfied with every OTHER massively unpopular change and must continually find new ways to make huge numbers of their customers mad.

Ah, but there's the rub, isn't it? We're NOT Facebook's customers, we're their PRODUCT! They "sell" us en masse to their advertisers! They don't have to please us! They only have to get enough schmucks to click on their ads to convince advertisers that there are hundreds of millions of us willing to indefinitely put up with Facebook's crap!

So why do we let them do it? Sadly, because it's better than any current alternative. Facebook, for all of its flaws (and they are LEGION!), enables us to keep up with what's going on with people tens, hundreds, maybe thousands of miles away. It makes us feel better when our friends "like" our posts, even if it's just "gotta stop at the store on the way home or it'll be a baloney sandwich for lunch tomorrow!" We post our rants (a little irony, anyone?) and cute pictures and jokes and it makes us feel like we are part of something bigger, something worthwhile, something that is... different than our real lives, without having to, you know, actually TALK to people... spend TIME with them... get to KNOW them. Yeah, I know it's just not possible for us to hop on a plane and visit folks back home every night, family in 6 states, or to tell each one of them individually about my shopping trip.

Don't misunderstand me, I LIKE the posts when I click "like," I WANT to hear from my friends, I ENJOY sharing your little triumphs and simple pleasures, I PRAY for the people I say I will when I comment on their posts.

But could it be that we've sacrificed depth for breadth, and surrendered "better" for "better than nothin?"

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