Facebook | Here's What I'm Thinking

June 1, 2015 – Why I Still Do Not Like Facebook

Today marks the three month period since I joined Facebook. It is a sociologist and psychologist dream come true. One can sample the entire global population and never leave his or her computer.

Was Facebook the future society we envisioned when we talked about “…and one day all of the technologies will converge?” Remember those great futurist professors from the University of Houston like Chris Dede we used to hang out with back in the early 1990’s? Wonder if he ever learned to dance the Cotton-Eyed Joe? (Today Chris Dede is the Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education.)

Is Facebook the society Megatrends author John Naisbett referred to it as a society that is a High Tech/Low Touch Society?

Since this is Texas and we assess everything, and since I am a recovering bureaucrat, I am trained to submit a three-month evaluation of a pilot program.

For my presentation I have chosen to deliver My Evaluation of Facebook on three levels. The highest level is the DeMars/Miller Level. It is named for two really smart people who know what I am talking about and can understand all of the big words. I hope they weigh in for accuracy, corrections and opinions because, as always, I value their thoughts. Please note: There are many other really smart people I could have named my level for. I promise to name something else for you later.

The second level is called The Cocktail Chatter Level. It is self-explanatory.

The third level is called So East Montgomery County Residents Can Comprehend and it is self-explanatory as well.

Why I Still Do Not Like Facebook

DeMars/Miller Level

The original algorithmic designs from Zuckerman’s dorm room were flawed in multiple areas and in some cases intentional. The designs led to new and emerging social issues of privacy, ethics, and cybercrime to name a few. Old social laws and strategies are ineffectively used by conventional social institutions to address new social problems. While recent and continuing modifications in the algorithms have created changes in the overall program design there continue to be issues of concern.

These include, but are not limited to:

I still think it is ethically wrong for me to be forced to join a program to access it.
Privacy settings were initially and continue to be deeply embedded and therefore difficult to set.
The various screens are difficult to distinguish among and icons are tiny. Therefore it is easy to be on the wrong page and thus send personal data and information to the world.
The overall program is nonlinear, yet the new posts on the HOME screens are presented in a linear manner. Why can’t I categorize and place posts into folders I create? Maybe I can and I do not know it.
Training on the ethnical and responsible use of the program must be a nightmare.
Is this a valid analogy using The Big Three? – Hardware, Software and Training. Imagine the Cloud and the Internet as the biggest pieces of hardware ever. Then imagine that Facebook is one of the biggest software programs ever. Then imagine no training on how to use software ethically, responsibly, effectively and purposefully.

The Cocktail Chatter Level

Yes, I am on Facebook now. Yes, it took me a long time to decide to access it and I still do not like it. It is not intuitive and it easy to get lost while using it.
It is easy to send stuff to people that you wish the next day you didn’t do it. There should be pop-up windows that say “Don’t Drink and Facebook.” And BTW, Facebook is a program and therefore a noun and not a verb.
So why did you access it?
I finally had a valid reason. It is the fundamental concept of technology – what are you going to do with it? I want people to read my blog – Here’s What I’m Thinking. I am a Facebook slut. Send me a Friend Request and I will click on you.
What is your blog about?
Whatever I am thinking. But mostly college football, the Texas Aggies, the Texas education system and the overall educational institution with a few politics postings tossed in to really piss off people.
My goal is to make at least one person smile, hopefully laugh and think every day, Monday through Friday and sometimes Saturday or Sunday, if something happens.
I try to write a little something for everybody. You do not have to agree, just think. I try to be equally snarky to all.
My business plan is “if I know you, have known you or will know you in the future, I WILL write about you. Therefore, you should probably read Here’s What I’m Thinking to ensure it is not the day I choose to write about you.”
You can access it by searching Drdrd85.me and you don’t have go through Facebook.
You can also access it on Twitter @DRDRD85
Twitter is like Facebook on speed with a limited number of characters.

So East Montgomery County Residents Can Comprehend

Holy Shit! I just sent a picture of my junk to my wife instead of my girlfriend.
Now, damn it, I just spilled my beer on my computer.
Thelma Louise, the baby and the pit bull are both in the back yard. Go take a picture. I want to facebook it to Mama.
We are becoming The Borg.
It is Obama’s fault.

SINE DIE and God Bless Texas