That's good news to me! Too many people assume I have a Facebook account, and I have to tell them I have just one communications link: EMAIL! Hal
@Hal Pollner I don't mess with FB at all, but my wife chatters away as needed with her sister in IN, who is caring for their Mother. My wife leaves for there Sunday at 7AM. Frank
I have a FB account but only to keep an eye on what my family are up to and even then I only look every few weeks ..I rarely ever post. I wouldn't miss it one bit if it was to disappear
Yup, I have a face book account but I’m extremely picky about who I accept and who (or what) I follow. At the onset of FB, Twitter and other groupings it was a just another way of making the world a bit smaller and pretty innocent but that again, was in the beginning. Now, a large element political soapboxers crowd the bandwidths with their form of public information which to me is more rhetoric and hatred than I wish to read. Also in the mix we have a group of censors who decide which opinions are acceptable according to their own political and religious leanings. Face book (and twitter) have pretty much become major avenues by which people can say what they wish without a face to face confrontation which to me, is rather cowardly. If I know who it is, and know their character and what they have to say is well researched, then there is a small chance I will follow them. Otherwise, my immediate family (sans my left wing brother) and a couple of friends plus a couple of REAL informative sights are the only ones I have any interest in.
I LOVE Facebook ! It is probably one of the things that I like best on the whole internet. Since the only person in my extended family who actually lives close enough for me to see, is my daughter, Robin, Facebook is basically how I keep in touch with all of my friends and family. I really enjoy seeing what is happening in their lives, and sharing the little things about my life, things that are too trivial to deserve a phone call, but that it is fun to share anyway. A good example would be that when I was swimming this week, I swam a whole mile. I have been gradually sneaking up on that goal, starting at reaching a 1/4 mile, then a half, 3/4 and finally, I swam a whole mile. This made me really happy, and of course, I wanted to share it with everyone, but it is not the kind of thing that you wold call friends and family clear across the country just to tell them. So I posted it on my Facebook page, and now all of my “peeps” sent me little happy comments about reaching another goal. Another thing that I really like on Facebook, is “Groups”. This is where you can connect with like-minded people on just about any topic that you are interested in, or want to learn more about. Since I am from Idaho, and I love Idaho and miss living there, I belong to several of the Facebook Groups about northern Idaho. I also belong to several health-centered groups, a few political ones, plus the local yard sales, as well as the group for lost and found pets here. Most of these are groups that I just read (or enjoy pictures), and don’t post very often; but they still are something that I enjoy, and they are a great way to share a hobby, or interest that someone has.
I would rather see Facebook replaced by something similar that didn't feel the need to censor opinions and filter information through a liberal lens but, until then, I like Facebook. There are other Facebook-like platforms but until everyone moves to one of them, they won't replace Facebook. In fact, the platform that Facebook runs on is available in the public domain. The thing that makes Facebook valuable is that so many people are there. Through Facebook, I can still be in touch with people in my family, with people I went to school with, worked with in various jobs, and old neighbors who I had moved away from but still enjoy keeping up with. If something else came along, without the liberal bias, and people were migrating to it, as they did from MySpace to Facebook, I'd be there.
I heard one person appeal to Jeff Bezos to do to Facebook what he has done to brick-and-mortar retailers. It was proposed that Amazon start its own messaging service similar to Facebook, but open only to Prime members. There are over 100 million Prime members now worldwide. The thought were that if it was only Prime members, no one could be anonymous since you would be linked to a credit card or debit card. If you violated whatever rules were set up, you would forfeit your Prime membership. As to Facebook, I don't belong, but my wife does and uses it to track the goings-on in the family. She is also a member of a few groups.
I like that idea, except that we do family sharing with our Prime membership, and some of my friends do not have Prime. However, if Amazon does decide to do something like that, they would also know that not everyone would have Prime, and would make some sort of accommodation for the Prime members to add on friends and family. I had not heard anything about Facebook “taking a dive”, either, and wondering what that is all about. Does anyone else know ? Can you give us more information about what is happening and where you read this at, @Hal Pollner ?
Facebook has been involved with a lot of lawsuits recently, here and overseas, some over privacy issues, but there was also a class action suit filed by shareholders over something having to do with the sale of stock, I think. Concerns over Facebook sharing private information with political entities and corporations, as well as their foray into liberal politics, has probably led to some people leaving the social network, as well.
I was just reading today about Facebook losing so much investor money almost overnight, and it sounds like Facebook is only the beginning of what is happening to the giant tech corporations. Apple (-) 1.1% (-) $5.3 bln Amazon (-) 2.1% (-) $18.6 bln Alphabet (-) 1.8% (-) $15.9 bln Microsoft (-) 2.2% (-) $17.7 bln Facebook (-) 2.2% (-) $11.1 bln Intel (+) .02% (+) $46.1 mln Cisco (-) 0.9% (-) $1.8 bln Oracle (-) 1.9% (-) $3.6 bln Netflix (-) 5.7% (-) $8.8 bln Here is an interesting article that has more information about the Facebook crash, as well as the other possible tech crashes. http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/...h-stock-crash-that-will-take-your-breath-away
Good article, @Yvonne Smith. I am always leery of companies that market things that are not tangible. Just as in the tech crash of 2001 (or thereabouts), people suddenly realize that the "market value" of stocks that deal in intangibles is kind of a big Ponzi scheme, since people have to keep signing up or buying for something that has no substance (Like Facebook or MySpace before that) to have or retain any value. Add to that, Facebook users suddenly realizing that their entire profiles are for sale to the highest bidder, the impact has to be huge. Nothing, however, compared to what will happen when the world's population realizes that the value of fiat currencies they hold is based on nothing but "Faith and Trust".
@Don Alaska The world's population is I think far more educated today than many decades ago, to the extent that it has already realized that it's "money" is nothing more than intangible promise and debt obligation. But with consolidation of wealth in fewer and fewer hands, "hard money" as an investment tool is beyond the means of most. IOW, the wealthy will buy and hold precious metals, diamonds, and the like, as protection, whilst the average working man cannot. Money talks while the Peon walks! Frank