1283: Dislike

I find myself thinking more and more about deactivating my Facebook account. I realise that in this day and age doing such a thing is tantamount to unplugging yourself from The Matrix, but I really don’t feel there’s a lot of value there for me any more.

The thing that has stopped me from closing my Facebook account in the past is the fact that “it’s the only real means I have of staying in touch with certain people.” That may be true, but the real question is how often I actually speak to the people for whom the only means I have of reaching them is Facebook? I have a lot of doubling-up between Facebook and Twitter, and in the case of most of my “real-life” friends I have their phone numbers. If I want to make plans with someone, I’ll generally text them. If I don’t have their phone number, I’ll reach for Twitter. Facebook messages are frequently ignored.

The reason Facebook’s value has declined for me over time is because the social media landscape has changed. What was once a cool means of communication has been roughly shoved in the direction of “branding” and advertising. It’s obvious the moment you read anything in tech journalism about social media, whether it’s Facebook or the latest pointless mobile app that lets you manipulate photos no-one cares about in a slightly different way to all the other apps that let you manipulate photos no-one cares about. None of the press coverage about new social media apps has anything to do with people communicating with one another; it’s all about how brands can leverage their social graph and monetize their core demographics. It’s about how a seemingly innocent app that allows you to subtly manipulate photos no-one gives a shit about is actually a means of getting your “brand” in front of as many people as possible. It’s about “engagement”, “ROI” and “CPC”.

I don’t give a fuck. And I don’t want to be a part of it. I don’t want to be confronted with an ad for an app or game I don’t give a shit about before I see anything my friends have posted — which, nine times out of ten, I probably don’t give a toss about anyway. I don’t want to be continually confronted with “sponsored posts” festooned with comments from complete imbeciles who think telling an ad to “fuck off” will make it go away. And I really couldn’t give a flying honk what George Takei’s PR team (spoiler: that’s not George Takei writing those posts) saw on Reddit last week and is only now getting around to sharing with everyone on the Internet.

Even outside of “branding” and advertising, though, the way people use Facebook has changed, too. With more and more different types of post available, the service has become more of a means of simply broadcasting pointless, impersonal shit into the void of the Internet rather than a way to start discussions or have conversations. What was once a two-way discussion is now a largely one-way street. (I’m aware a blog is exactly the same, but at least a blog is under no illusions about what it is and is not; Facebook, meanwhile, has always marketed itself as some form of communication tool, when this is, in fact, a relatively minor part of its reason for existence these days.)

All this may be hypocritical, because I’ve been guilty of all of the above at one time or another. But that was a process of discovery and exploration, leading me to the realisation I’m at today: aside from Twitter, which genuinely is still a reasonably useful means of communication for me, most other forms of social media carry little value to me besides giving me something to fiddle with on my phone when small talk dries up and I don’t want to just sit there looking like some sort of mute twat.

I haven’t decided yet whether or not I’m actually going to close down my Facebook account, but now I don’t work reviewing awful, exploitative and, hell, just downright crap social games for a living, I have no real “need” for that particular ball and chain any more. I’m going to do some very serious thinking about whether Facebook has a place in my life any more in the next week or two, and come to a conclusion then. If you’ve been having similar thoughts to me, then I urge you to do the same. I have a strange feeling we’ll feel better without that particular annoyance in our lives.