I LIKE TO F*** F***BOOK
Dearest Livejournal,
I have sorely neglected you. I have been distant, vague and I have been a terrible user. I don't deserve your forgiveness, but I ask for it nonetheless. I was one of the last to leave, but I still left you. I'm sorry. You changed my life - provided me with a window into the daily lives of my friends. You let me have hilarious and enlightening conversations via the best threaded commenting system ever created. You introduced me to so many people. When I was at my wits end and alone, you gave me my life back.
But like so many others, I became enamored with the shiny trinkets and instant gratification of facebook. Initially because it was so easy to plan meetups and parties, and have photos of my chums tagged and updated quickly.
I knew there were problems. When they started letting advertisers see pictures of me and my friends I tried to take a stand, I really did. I wrote to my friend Ben Hammersley, an associate editor at Wired UK. I wrote to the Advertising Standards Authority. But nobody cared, or was able to care. I should have left. But I stayed. I thought I could change facebook. I thought I could make her honest by campaigning and changing the system from the inside.
Facebook is papparazzi without the razzle. Twitter without the wit. LJ without the soul. It is the junkfood of social networks. Addictive and bad for you. And now it has become almost completely useless with it's new bandwidth and cost cutting "simplification". Simple is supposed to make things better, right? Easier? That's not what I've been seeing. Facebook won't even let me say its name in on a page name. Fascist much?
What I'm trying to say, LJ, is that I'm sorry. I was wrong. I want us to get back together. Do you think you can ever forgive me?
I have sorely neglected you. I have been distant, vague and I have been a terrible user. I don't deserve your forgiveness, but I ask for it nonetheless. I was one of the last to leave, but I still left you. I'm sorry. You changed my life - provided me with a window into the daily lives of my friends. You let me have hilarious and enlightening conversations via the best threaded commenting system ever created. You introduced me to so many people. When I was at my wits end and alone, you gave me my life back.
But like so many others, I became enamored with the shiny trinkets and instant gratification of facebook. Initially because it was so easy to plan meetups and parties, and have photos of my chums tagged and updated quickly.
I knew there were problems. When they started letting advertisers see pictures of me and my friends I tried to take a stand, I really did. I wrote to my friend Ben Hammersley, an associate editor at Wired UK. I wrote to the Advertising Standards Authority. But nobody cared, or was able to care. I should have left. But I stayed. I thought I could change facebook. I thought I could make her honest by campaigning and changing the system from the inside.
Facebook is papparazzi without the razzle. Twitter without the wit. LJ without the soul. It is the junkfood of social networks. Addictive and bad for you. And now it has become almost completely useless with it's new bandwidth and cost cutting "simplification". Simple is supposed to make things better, right? Easier? That's not what I've been seeing. Facebook won't even let me say its name in on a page name. Fascist much?
What I'm trying to say, LJ, is that I'm sorry. I was wrong. I want us to get back together. Do you think you can ever forgive me?