Former Facebook Employee Questions the Social Media Life 171
stevegee58 writes "The Washington Post published an interesting article about Facebook's employee #51, Katherine Losse. As an English major from Johns Hopkins, Losse wasn't the typical Facebook employee. But after starting in customer service, she later became Mark Zuckerberg's personal ghostwriter, penning blog posts in his name. The article traces Losse's growing disillusionment with social networking in general and Facebook in particular. After cashing out some FB stock, Losse resigned and moved to a rural West Texas town to get away from technology and focus on writing."
Fakebook (Score:5, Insightful)
I knew that FB had fake accounts, but apparently it also has fake Zuckerberg and more importantly a fake market valuation and probably a fake business model.
What has the Internet become? (Score:5, Insightful)
What a horror. She saw the light, as did I.
After 17 years of building, learning and promoting I now realise just how awful it has now become. I have left the industry entirely.
Facebook is not a product of Zuckerberg, but a reflection of the inevitability that horrendous and highly penetrative technological processes will have on our lives.
People haven't asked for Big Brother, they demanded him.
Re:Sounds like (Score:4, Insightful)
well, she cashed out and is now social networking in the "big boys" social network: the media.
which she as a writer is going to have to do a lot...
anyhow, her complaints about the online life are not actually facebook specific. people lived that "i'm in a car" online life long before facebook, I remember reading a bit after middle '90s on irc a from a dude "I'm bicycling". and well, that's how our irc chat life went back then but he was one of the very few who had a company paying for gsm data(and a communicator to use that).
It's not about facebook or "social media", it's about being online and sharing what you do, for some people it's security, for some it's just about sharing, taking part. what it makes harder to do is re-inventing yourself on weekly basis, since everybodys a celebrity and the track record is there, but only sort of since there's 900 million so nobodys really a celebrity in the whole context.
Registration Sucks Almost as Bad as Facebook (Score:5, Insightful)
And that's the end of the story because the Washington Post won't let me read the rest.
So, if I understand this correctly, she got rich and decided working wasn't for her and she wanted to chase every writer's dream to lock themselves away in some far off locale to write their lifetime novel?
How is this news? Because it deals with the side of Facebook everyone knows about but ignores so they can post photos of their kids and let other people tell them how cute they are or is there something I missed in the last two pages?
Re:Sounds like (Score:2, Insightful)
I read it all with no problem. Try disabling javascript.
Re:What has the Internet become? (Score:5, Insightful)
No, it started because people wanted other people to know what they were doing. "Look at me, I'm important."
It is an efficient way to communicate, basically a kiosk. But when the host becomes too intrusive the convenience is outweighted by the cost.
Re:Sounds like (Score:2, Insightful)
The linked article is hidden behind a paywall. You can read 2 pages (out of 5) before you are blocked.
Print article gives full text.
I don't have a Facebook account (Score:4, Insightful)
and I wish Facebook an accelerated death as is certain as people grow more wise to their feeding of personal details to an ad making machine
but in reality, Losse's words and opinion seem to have more to do with Losse's own life trajectory than with Facebook itself
human beings are social animals. this has powered Facebook's growth. but the Internet is still young, and you can forgive the world for not understanding the nature of the beast it was feeding. as it dawns on them what Facebook really means to their lives and their society, they will continue to be just as social, but on sites that do not exist for the goal that Facebook does
meanwhile, humans are not universally social, or social their entire lives. some are more introspective and seek a more monklike existence in order to plumb the depths of their spirit or their mind. this is 100% fine and I myself have this tendency. but i recognize that this tendency of mine, and as it exists also in Losse, is not an enemy of human sociability, nor should it be, nor should we evangelize that everyone should tune out and drop out, just like we should not evangelize that everyone should plug in and focus in
to each their own. Losse is making the mistake of projecting her own life's trajectory on the story of Facebook and/ or social networking in general. don't make the same mistake as Losse. unless you yourself are equally interested in tuning out and dropping out. in which case, this is fine, power to you. i hope something constructive comes out of it, for Losse, and for you. now unplug the computer
Re:What has the Internet become? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd follow her example... if only I had company stock to turn into cash. Unfortunately I'm one of the tech people who got tired of the web without first getting rich from it.
Re:Sounds like (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, and it's easy to look down your nose at the masses when you've already made a boatload of cash and can afford a nice, remote place somewhere to just go unplug, ruminate, and write. :p
I'd like to move to a tropical island and do heady things. But as it turns out, I'm here in my condo, bs'ing about the mars lander on facebook, waiting for monday morning.
A life with no privacy is no life (Score:5, Insightful)
Telling the whole world when, where and what you have taken your lunch, when, where and what you did when you were with your gf/bf is a life with no privacy whatsoever
Absolutely not the kind of life a normal, self-respecting human being would lead
Pampered Gen Y quits something (Score:5, Insightful)
Cites "disillusionment"
Stay tuned for more breaking details of this unique event.
Re:Pampered Gen Y quits something (Score:4, Insightful)
That girl really has no idea of how the world works for 99.999% of its population. She caught a lucky break doing an easy job and got stinking rich from it. Perhaps she should spend some time around Walmart cashiers until she realizes that most people just can't afford to be 'disillusioned' by their jobs.