Early incarnations of Facebook was exactly this. I could hide myself from ALL search results. Or I could limit myself to a subset of a network. I could enable my profile to be suggested in searches with very little identifying information, while also removing the "Friend Request" and Messaging button making it impossible for you to add m…
Early incarnations of Facebook was exactly this. I could hide myself from ALL search results. Or I could limit myself to a subset of a network. I could enable my profile to be suggested in searches with very little identifying information, while also removing the "Friend Request" and Messaging button making it impossible for you to add me unless you had a way to contact me outside of Facebook.
This was the way. I decided who to interact with and had fine grained control over the content presented to me. And we slowly allowed these companies to force us out into the open. Turning meaningful and thoughtful interactions into fodder for more ads, more clicks, more revenue. No, guy from high school in my period 2 math class. I do not want to be your friend. No, bro from that youtube channel, I do not care for your hot take on gender roles.
Thank you Substack for bringing back some sanity. I've ended my 7 year embargo of anything and everything social. I knew this day would eventually come.
Early incarnations of Facebook was exactly this. I could hide myself from ALL search results. Or I could limit myself to a subset of a network. I could enable my profile to be suggested in searches with very little identifying information, while also removing the "Friend Request" and Messaging button making it impossible for you to add me unless you had a way to contact me outside of Facebook.
This was the way. I decided who to interact with and had fine grained control over the content presented to me. And we slowly allowed these companies to force us out into the open. Turning meaningful and thoughtful interactions into fodder for more ads, more clicks, more revenue. No, guy from high school in my period 2 math class. I do not want to be your friend. No, bro from that youtube channel, I do not care for your hot take on gender roles.
Thank you Substack for bringing back some sanity. I've ended my 7 year embargo of anything and everything social. I knew this day would eventually come.