ANTISOCIAL NETWORKING? PART ONE

ANTISOCIAL NETWORKING? PART ONE
Welcome to the first part of this series. Why has the first part come last? Well, the original draft was full of expletives and fury… Now that I have had a chance to mull things over here it is a revised and much thought out part one…

SOCIAL NETWORKING
Social Networking is nothing new. When the Internet started to take off there were many, many chat clients that allowed anyone to speak (via the keyboard) to another individual or to members of a group! Photos and links could be exchanged! As humans we have an inherent need to socialize and form bonds. Chat clients – all of which I can’t remember now – got phased out into ICQ, Skype and Microsoft Live. Of course, chat clients have come back on our smartphones in the form of WhatsApp, Viber, Kik, etc. My goodness… the amount of nights I spent chatting with friends from around the world! I even met a girlfriend through a chat client! Wow! But, the trouble with forming bonds over the Net is that we can sometimes add imaginary emphasis on emotional neurons to make up for the distance (oooh, heartache and the longing). Trust me, love is a work in progress – take shortcuts and the romance will be over faster than you know! That moment when you’re staring at the ceiling knowing that you’ve made a mistake… LOL!

Another pivotal form of social networking has been employed by businesses to garner, an often fierce, loyalty to their product / service. Yes, forums… …and we know all about what sort of nastiness can breed on such networking platforms! I think forums pioneered MySpace! Believe it or not… …I am sure you’ll believe it because I am a straight-up guy, but I started an Electronic music based social network that was inspired by a forum of a onetime popular music software, which will remain nameless (hee hee)! What I lacked to make this network become a massive success was that I had no idea of how to code membership sign-up and upload automation. I was doing everything by hand and sure enough I got worn out! LEARN TO CODE! Or find someone who can! Anyway, some years later came MySpace! I could have kicked myself! Lol! But look at what’s happened to MySpace! Just make some changes to the interface and pray that the users like it! Then came…

FEISTYBOOK
As you no doubt know, Facebook and other social networking sites is a good way to reunite with friends and family; oh, and not to mention work colleagues! However, Facebook frowns upon adding strangers! That’s one of Facebook’s rules written in stone! If you add people that you like the look of too often you can have your adding and messaging privileges revoked. I guess you know that already!

The “Add Only Those You Know” rule is ironic because Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t know any of us, yet we or most of us have a Facebook account! Sure, he hasn’t added me personally, but I am still a part of a social network that he created! And to think that he created Facebook to upset a girl who rejected him! Well, that is according to the film, ‘The Social Network’. And if that portrayal is close to the truth then he seems to pick and choose his principals at will to the point here he was sued by founding member, Eduardo Severin! So, my point is this: Do we ever know who our friends are? I am on my third Facebook account because the other two accounts were populated with people who I really wouldn’t want to socialize with offline: work colleagues and friends that turned out to be twofaced. Ironically, I have strong bonds with so many individuals that were hitherto strangers. Ok, they are online; I have met a few of them… It’s relatively early days! I hope to meet some more Facebook friends in real life as soon as… There’s scope! But that’s something Zuckerberg should be proud of! I have some amazing Facebook friends!

It’s almost as if Zuckerberg is using us Facebook users like Sim characters. You can do this! You can’t do that! Like this! All these threats should we make our own choices just isn’t right! We are capable of making our own decisions. Thank you!

Just think about the amount of inventions out there that got used for a different function than intended… Can you imagine if such “misused” products were policed?

“Freeze! Put that jar of Vaseline down and kick it to me! Now step away from behind that man!”

DEVINE CLUMSY INTERVENTION
Occasionally, friends will have spats with each other! And, unfortunately, some “friends” feel that they have to put in a complaint directly to Facebook. It has happened to me and this was all because I didn’t return the affections of a young lady… Yes, a woman scorned ‘n’ all… Facebook wrote to me and issued a warning and I didn’t get a chance to clarify the situation. Facebook shouldn’t have got involved. I mean, that is what the “delete” button is for, right? In the end I had to delete her only to have her add me again a few months later! Jeez Louise! Before I accepted I wanted to know why she behaved like an ass! This is more or less what she had to say, “I was a bit of an idiot… Sorry!” I re-added her and weeks later she started with the leaving flirtatious messages on my wall, of course I didn’t reciprocate and yes, she sent a complaint to Facebook who sent another warning and, again, I was not given the opportunity to present the facts! But with that I blocked the young lady once and for all! I never had that trouble again – touch wood (no not that wood! What are you like?)!

Facebook, Zuckerberg, don’t get involved in the friction of others. If allegations are made then by all means investigate – look into the private exchange if you must! Otherwise you’ll unwittingly become a troll! The bottom line is: Your people skills suck!

Have you ever had your account closed or deleted by Facebook? When that happens it feels terrible! All those genuine friends you have made, GONE! All the pages and groups you instigated and are a part of: GONE! You try to get it back by contacting Facebook Support (sic) and they ask you for personal ID???? Wait a minute… …this is a social networking site, it’s not the CIA! Can it be true that the CIA and other national security agencies are using Facebook to spy on people? When I access Facebook from my mobile it wants my whereabouts and to send me text messages! I feel a little uncomfortable with that. Hey, doesn’t it say somewhere that Facebook “owns” our data???? In any event, the Facebook Support is anything but… They are rude and unhelpful! They seem to take pleasure in being unhelpful!

I have an alternative model friend of mine who had her account deleted for some reason or another. Too much flesh, what in this day and age? She goes by her model name and Facebook won’t allow her to go by that name. Come to think of it neither does Google+. I think this is so stupid! Let people have their own identity!

Isn’t it enough that we “like” corporate products, entertainment, etc? Don’t you know that without us you’ll have nothing? You should be giving us some of those Billions! Everybody, stop using Facebook until each account holder gets at least $50k!

Thank you for reading! Please read Synapse Circuit magazine! Bless you!