Re: <nettime> Facebook

maybe it's not so much a question of whether facebook's policies are bad (of course they are) or whether facebook is part of our social infrastructure (of course it is), but, rather, what capacity users have to undermine facebook's more predatory policies and evade its data collection regimes and biased recommendation algorithms. given that a lot of people use facebook not because they think it's an optimal platform, but because it is absolutely necessary to use it in order to connect with certain communities, what possibilities exist for users to participate in those communities while circumventing the platform's more odious aspects? what do a tactics of social media usership look like? i suspect they would engage in a constant give-and-take with the algorithmic governing forces that be, but, with a growing sentiment of suspicion regarding facebook's policies, perhaps a tactical approach along the lines of plugins that remove algorithmic recommendation features, deliberate scrambling/obfuscation of users' data and trackable behaviours, etc. might be more successful in empowering users than simply encouraging them to leave the platform entirely.

craig fahner - https://www.craigfahner.com/

On Mon, Nov 4, 2019 at 9:25 AM Alan Sondheim <sondheim@panix.com> wrote:

On Mon, 4 Nov 2019, mp wrote:

> On 03/11/2019 20:36, Alan Sondheim wrote:
>>
>> The loss is more important to me
>
>> On Sun, 3 Nov 2019, Frederic Neyrat wrote:
>>> 1/ FB enables to create a "community," that's good for sure;?
>>> 2/ but in the same time, it destroys?the condition of the possibility of
>>> community/togetherness/Gemeinwesen/?tre-ensemble, etc.
>
> Individual, particular and hence relatively short term perspective and
> context (Alan's) vs. collective, abstract and hence relatively long term
> perspective and context (Frederic's).
>
> A common disjuncture.
>

What disturbs me here is the assumption of passivity "relatively short
term perspective" for example. Unless you know my work, read my posts,
etc., you have no idea how long my perspective is. I've run talkers, a
MOO, conferencing in IRC years ago, CuSeeMe, and on and on. I've taught
courses in internet culture from 1995 on. And one of the things that keeps
me generally from posting on nettime, is its own toxicity, these constant
presumptions about one another, about the world, etc. And re: below, there
is no "on the one hand, on the other hand" - the issue is far more complex
as is people's usage of Fb or other platforms (for example email lists
themselves). So "email is also shit"?

I know a hell of a lot of free jazz musicians who work through Fb, fight
racism, and take advantage of the platform. I know people who have found
community on Fb that is absent for them in rl. I've participated in
courses taught on Fb. I've engaged in political action on the platform. I
don't expect purity anywhere; I never have. And one person's purity can be
another person's hell. I'm appalled at Fb's policies but also given that
the platform has between 1 and 2.4 billion users, the sociality is far
greater (and far more diverse and interesting) than its public image.

Alan

> It is a complex issue. On the one hand it makes sense to adjust your
> means to the ends you desire. Be the change you want to see and all that.
>
> On the other hand, it could be seen as a form of neoliberalisation when
> the responsibility for the future of the system is distributed to
> individuals - and at the end of the day, it is impossible to live in
> this planetary urbanisation without acting in destructive ways, so we
> all have to cut corners. Email is also shit for the web of life we are
> entangled in.

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