I'm waiting for my copy to come in. I was disappointed that the Haugen whistleblower case wasn't able to do more damage to FB; maybe this book will help things along. Can't say this enough: social media needs oversight, though the government has shown little willingness to do anything.
We might have to be the oversight, deciding together what we’ll post on creating platforms but hold back from others. Maybe FB and Insta/Threads are only safe for happy birthdays and my condolences and here’s my new book while other sites may be safer for real conversations. Chilling to have to think this way but here we are.
It’s discouraging as a writer who wants to be read to see so few ways to reach readers without being part of systems—Meta and Amazon—that undermine my values. Some days it’s hard to know how to go forward, whether it even makes sense to go forward as a writer under these conditions.
In retrospect, exempting the Internet from taxes & other common regulations out of fear that the newfangled thingie couldn't survive without special perks was a mistake, since the special treatment became the baseline. Also in retrospect, given that the US government funded the initial development of the Internet, the public deserves a free, public social media service run like a public utility, with controls on it for truth, harassment, & other basic requirements society demands in order to function. Where we are now would have been like having no controls on TV or telephone service in the era when those were the primary tools of business. In other words, we're in a tech bros libertarian fever dream, where the vast majority are at the mercy of those with access to the capital to create systems that turn around and use us as the product.
As you say, anyone running a business, be it selling books or fixing faucets, needs a functioning social media platform, and given the serial failure of every private model up to this point, it's time we demand a public one we can build our brand on without fear of an owner monkeying with the algorithms or going full Not See on us & forcing us to jump ship AGAIN and start over. It's bad for the business of America, which, famously, is business.
I feel like a healthy social media landscape can no longer exist alongside capitalism. Social media developed without knowing what it was going to become, and what it became was just a vehicle for power, control and collecting/selling data. None of the old platforms or even new platforms that mimic the old ones are no longer sufficient for our time.
I love Bluesky and its management (so far), but we need something totally new. Something that shakes off the old models and paradigms of social media and the Frankenstein's monster it has become. I don't know that that is, but my hope is that some smart radicals, not capitalists or corporatists, are cooking it up right now.
Thanks for your summary of the book. Letting private individuals 'own' digital platforms everyone uses has pushed us into an era of such grotesque inequality and loss of rights that we face a hard road to claw our way to a more humane pleasant society. But the more we talk among ourselves about what's happening, the better!
Yeah, it's chilling. I'm not done with it so I didn't read your entire post - but everyone should grab this book and then delete or severely limit their FB.
I'm waiting for my copy to come in. I was disappointed that the Haugen whistleblower case wasn't able to do more damage to FB; maybe this book will help things along. Can't say this enough: social media needs oversight, though the government has shown little willingness to do anything.
We might have to be the oversight, deciding together what we’ll post on creating platforms but hold back from others. Maybe FB and Insta/Threads are only safe for happy birthdays and my condolences and here’s my new book while other sites may be safer for real conversations. Chilling to have to think this way but here we are.
It’s discouraging as a writer who wants to be read to see so few ways to reach readers without being part of systems—Meta and Amazon—that undermine my values. Some days it’s hard to know how to go forward, whether it even makes sense to go forward as a writer under these conditions.
In retrospect, exempting the Internet from taxes & other common regulations out of fear that the newfangled thingie couldn't survive without special perks was a mistake, since the special treatment became the baseline. Also in retrospect, given that the US government funded the initial development of the Internet, the public deserves a free, public social media service run like a public utility, with controls on it for truth, harassment, & other basic requirements society demands in order to function. Where we are now would have been like having no controls on TV or telephone service in the era when those were the primary tools of business. In other words, we're in a tech bros libertarian fever dream, where the vast majority are at the mercy of those with access to the capital to create systems that turn around and use us as the product.
As you say, anyone running a business, be it selling books or fixing faucets, needs a functioning social media platform, and given the serial failure of every private model up to this point, it's time we demand a public one we can build our brand on without fear of an owner monkeying with the algorithms or going full Not See on us & forcing us to jump ship AGAIN and start over. It's bad for the business of America, which, famously, is business.
I feel like a healthy social media landscape can no longer exist alongside capitalism. Social media developed without knowing what it was going to become, and what it became was just a vehicle for power, control and collecting/selling data. None of the old platforms or even new platforms that mimic the old ones are no longer sufficient for our time.
I love Bluesky and its management (so far), but we need something totally new. Something that shakes off the old models and paradigms of social media and the Frankenstein's monster it has become. I don't know that that is, but my hope is that some smart radicals, not capitalists or corporatists, are cooking it up right now.
Thanks for your summary of the book. Letting private individuals 'own' digital platforms everyone uses has pushed us into an era of such grotesque inequality and loss of rights that we face a hard road to claw our way to a more humane pleasant society. But the more we talk among ourselves about what's happening, the better!
A few chapters into this book, and I’m already gobsmacked.
I just finished it this afternoon. I knew they were bad, but I had no idea of just how bad. Required reading. Thank you for this!
Thanks for the head's up, Rob. Just bought it.
I just finished this book and lost track of the number of times my jaw hit the floor.
Yeah, it's chilling. I'm not done with it so I didn't read your entire post - but everyone should grab this book and then delete or severely limit their FB.
Going on the library holds list...
I’m reading this immediately!