Your business model is not inviolate.
Now let me get this straight... The techies disrupted music, retail, seemingly every walk of life, but when it comes to them disruption is off limits, they must be protected? Who protected MySpace when Facebook disrupted the first big social media site? Who protected AltaVista and HotBot, never mind Yahoo, when Google came on the scene? This is the ultimate in hubris.
In case you haven't been paying attention, Apple wants to give you the opportunity to opt out of being tracked. But Facebook and Google make their money on selling ads, and by utilizing all the data you inadvertently provide, they allow advertisers to target very specific users, and charge more for this. The other day someone told me they were uptight about putting their birthday online. I hate to tell you, BUT THEY'VE ALREADY GOT IT! They literally know where you live and what your interests are. And Google has your search history, yes, of all the porn sites you've visited. And true, you can delete your Google search history, but they don't advertise this and they don't make it easy to do so, almost nobody does it.
Now I go to too many sites that require a Facebook login before I can see the content, especially videos. What do I do? I PASS! I don't want to give Facebook any more data than they already have. And the only Facebook account I have is a fake one, which I barely use, but still I'm served up ads based on where I've surfed all over the web, even though I clicked on nothing on Facebook. Creepy. Come on, we've all had this experience over the last decade...HOW DO THEY KNOW?
But they do.
The backlash has begun, but only the business people and legislators have power. As for the public...sure, people can boycott, but so far that has never ever worked, because Amazon is too efficient and trustworthy and you can't resist hanging with your friends on social media. As for getting rid of online shopping and social media...while we're at it, why don't we get rid of airplanes and automobiles and mobile phones. Whenever you try to jet back to the past, it does not work, even though all the older intellectuals keep telling us to do so. But the joke is on them, because social discourse, the veritable pulse of society, lives online...BUT AT WHAT COST?
The biggest question is content. Google serves up different results based on the same query and Facebook makes no effort to balance opinions. Zuckerberg says the platform is neutral, as he cozies up to Trump...but it's not neutral when it comes to its business model! That's America, pure greed. You wonder why our country is in the crapper? Because no one is willing to sacrifice no one is willing to lose. No one is willing to make less money. No one is willing to give up their space at the elite institution. And if this doesn't make you hate coastal liberals, you are one, they're the worst offenders. Then again, in the heartland they don't believe in a social safety net, even though to the degree there is one, never mind the "invisible" funding of works in their state, the money is provided by said coastal elites in those blue states. California has the biggest population, but the smallest voice per voter in the Senate. The right is winning with this and the Electoral College, yet it's the left's fault?
But on social media, you're in your silo, you click around and the site labels you and feeds you more of what you've already seen, and tries to titillate and outrage you so you won't sign off as they feed you more ads.
Facebook SEEMS free, but it's not. You're paying with your data, which is extremely valuable, for the privilege of access. It's almost like dope, they give you a hit and you can't resist, you get hooked. But if you had to pay for Facebook, how much is it worth, is it worth anything at all? Does Facebook have an inalienable right to have an ad-supported business?
Apple has a completely different philosophy. Apple sells hardware, and a few services, and respects your privacy. As for all those supposed hacks, the servers were solid, it's just that the users employed lame passwords. Yes, our idiot in chief used the password "maga2020," which is little better than "1234," read about it here: https://bit.ly/2IVlwXa
I pay a lot for my Apple products. For the very simple reason that as Steve Jobs said, they just work. Also, I know they're the most secure. Use an Android, never mind a PC, and you're inviting hackers in, you're inviting trouble. But, since Apple is high-priced, and its adherents are vocal, believers in the company's excellence, there's a backlash. People hate Apple because their phones are not customizable enough. Hell, do you want to customize your television, your automobile, and at what cost?
So Apple stands up for the little guy and...
Crickets. Because the majority uses Android. In handsets, not in dollars, Apple rules the app market.
And if you follow Apple closely, the company was promoting this ability to decline trackability for months. They delayed it once, to allow Facebook time to adjust, but now Apple wants to turn it on in iOS14, which was released a few months back, and Facebook is APOPLECTIC!
But most people don't know, because they don't follow Apple news and they don't read the physical newspaper, where Facebook took out giant ads decrying the new Apple privacy process. Those ads are for legislators to see, business people, to wake them up, to get them motivated, to see which side they want to be on, to see who will pay them to be on either side. Facebook doesn't care about you and me, even though they're saying they do, because by tracking us they give us the "privilege" of directly targeted ads. But anybody who thinks ads are a service online...I haven't met anybody, except for those in the advertising business itself. I don't want to be followed around online by a product I clicked on once, that I'll never buy, OR ALREADY BOUGHT, for eternity. And you click on the blue button in the upper righthand corner but the truth is it doesn't work, the ads don't go away.
Maybe you should have to pay for Facebook. That could kill the service, or it could improve it, then the user would be the customer as opposed to the advertiser.
And if Facebook doesn't have your data...it could lose a few bucks, and advertisers could have less targeted ads, but are both of these so critical that they must be supported by our government, written in stone?
Meanwhile, the government is suing Facebook for antitrust. And Facebook's main complaint? You approved their acquisitions. There's no double jeopardy clause in business, this is not a criminal matter, then again maybe it should be, maybe Zuckerberg, et al, should be threatened with some jail time, they might clean up their act.
And everyone knows the wankers in Congress, beholden to the money, don't understand technology anyway, they still have AOL e-mail addresses. And what happened to AOL? With its walled garden with ultimate access to the web? Its business model got undermined by high speed internet access provided by cable and phone companies. You didn't see AOL lobbying Congress to make dialup the norm, to hold back broadband. But that's essentially what Facebook wants here!
As for Apple... Have you used Sign in with Apple? Check it out: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210318 It's not on every site, but it does work on Reddit, why should I cough up all my info to Reddit, and I certainly don't want the site to know my interests. Facebook IS Big Brother. Zuckerberg knows more about the individual than the government, more than anybody in history, but Mark is crying and demanding no change, so he can continue to rape and pillage our society. Think about it... Fox News was bad enough, but once Facebook gained traction the country split into two silos, with two sets of "facts." Meanwhile, Facebook kept pouring gasoline on the conflagration, firing up users to hate others. This is the company we want to protect?
I'd love to tell you you have power. But really, this battle is being fought way above our heads. Then again, if everybody knew about it...
As for paying for Facebook... Have you noticed you're paying for so much online these days? News... All the papers have paywalls, maybe soft, allowing you a certain number of articles for free, but if you want more you pay. And I pay for the "New York Times," the "Washington Post," the "Wall Street Journal"... AND I subscribe to Apple News+, for ten bucks a month I get even more, and a good chunk of revenue goes to the publications, as opposed to Google or Facebook which essentially steal it with impunity.
Or else you download an app. Right up front it says you can pay with ads or you can pay for the no-ad version. And usually, the paid version has more capability. What's wrong with this business model?
The future is coming down the track, we cannot stop it, but we can guide it, we can influence it, we can try and steer it in the right direction. Also, if we see flaws after the fact we're allowed to fix them. BUT NOT FACEBOOK, Facebook is forever, it should be able to hoover up our info willy-nilly.
HOGWASH!
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