OK–I’ll get off of my Facebook rant after this one, at least until the next time I’m provoked.
I have a suggestion that might actually improve things. As Jeron Lanier and others have pointed out, the problem with Facebook is its business model, which is that everything we say and do on Facebook gets monitored, analyzed, and sold to entities who want to manipulate us by presenting individualized messages that are designed to keep us involved by provoking our emotions. Some of these messages are commercial, but others are manipulations for political or social purposes, and users don’t know who is sending them or why.
So, here’s my suggestion: According to Forbes, Facebook is making between $7 and $10 in ad revenues per month per user (in the US and Canada–in the rest of the world it’s considerably less) these days. I’d be willing to pay some portion of that (perhaps all of it) for the opportunity to have control over the algorithms that determine what I see when I log on. How about that? Like other services (YouTube, for example), people could pay for an ad-free Facebook, and maybe also be able to have more control over other things we see in our newsfeeds. For example, I’d be really happy to basically never see shared memes.
What do you think about that?
