Dear Mark Zuckerberg,
Over the past several years that we have been associated with one another, my feelings toward your little company, Facebook, have gone from the top of the emotional scale—loving—all the way to the bottom—loathing. What started out, seemingly, as a beautiful concept that would enable people to stay connected and to reconnect, has turned into a communist-minded machine of population control, commercial interest surveillance, and creative oppression.
During the early days of FB (remember when it was for college students only?), the business model lacked that key ingredient that defines a successful business: profit. So, you included more space for ads. To build upon the profitability of the ads, you expanded your customer base to include individuals in the professional community and eventually everyone in the entire world, including young children. You were now worth millions.
After conquering the likes of MySpace and Friendster, it must have felt as if there weren’t many other places to go—after all, you were now the king of social media. But what tends to happen when individuals ascend to the throne? As history has so often pointed out, they resort to whatever measures they feel are necessary to maintain power. In the business world that essentially means back room deals, creating ripoff versions of up-and-coming rival products, or just acquiring the rivals altogether. Cornering the market. Monopoly.
Recently, I deactivated my Facebook account because, to me, it feels like a waste of time. I think it is great for most people that are constant social butterflies and blah blah blah, and especially small businesses that know how to utilize it. However, I guess my top reason for leaving Facebook rests in the fact that you won’t stop following me around.
Case-in-point: Instagram and Spotify. What an amazing concept Spotify is: listen to almost whoever and whatever you like for free while musicians and labels still make a buck through subscriptions and ad revenue. While it might not be a total killer for music piracy; it has, or, maybe had, the potential to slow it down. Unfortunately, Spotify, as a result of your endless sacks of money, is only available to people with Facebook accounts. This put me in a predicament when I deactivated my Facebook account last week and was subsequently unable to log into Spotify to listen to my Sonny Rollins albums. Actually, I was able to log into Spotify. But later, I found that my Facebook account was reactivated as a result.
“Just when I thought I was out…they pull me back in.” – Al Pacino (The Godfather III)
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPw-3e_pzqU]I want my cake, and I also want to eat it without that acrid taste of Orwellian-Facebook! So stop sticking your dirty thumbs into every slice of the cake in the bakery.
Your grey hoodie and pajama pants do not fool me, sir. You’re not one of us, probably never were, and you never will be.
—joe