Because Social Networks are Anything But Social

I detest Facebook. Detest it because it consists of nothing but the detritus of all human waste. Day in and day out, you see nothing but people posting about pedestrianism, the last meal they ate, something cool (!) on the Internet, or their latest kitty photo. I’m guilty of all that, except that I take photos of my food AFTER it’s been eaten, and my cat is a macho noisy lazy butt who can put all of your Caturday photos to shame. I copied my girlfriend in that we both decided to skip checking Facebook all the time, and just go back to it every so often—in my case, every weekend, unless work demands it, in which case I probably don’t check it properly at all.

That’s pretty accurate. Image taken from this blog.

That was one helluva long paragraph there. But the fact is, that’s the only sufficient way one can efficiently share the emotions one can feel when discussing something as nasty as Facebook. Twitter, at least, offers information, and Instagram—well, I don’t use Instagram so I’m good.

But the fact is, Facebook is the only game in town.

It’s like Love Radio and Yes FM. The stations have this irritating advertisement that says people either listen to only Love or Yes, as shown by two different surveys. The thing is, the only stations available are either Love or Yes, and everybody else is trying to ape them, but lack the charm of DJs like Papa Jack or Glenn Garci (I’m not even sure if Glenn’s still working for those stations), so they’re the only game in town.

Or SM, Robinson’s, or Ayala in Manila. There are tons of other malls like the Marketplace, Landmark, or even Odeon in Recto, but everybody flocks to the big three since they’re the only game in town worth copying, and unless you’re an established name like Virra Mall—which was bought by SM recently, if I’m not mistaken—then you’re liable to lose money.

And that’s what Facebook and Twitter are. Except that Twitter actively limits what you have to say. Facebook, on the other hand, even lets you post decapitation videos with an unclear caveat. So again, when it comes to free speech, Facebook is the only game in town.

And that sucks balls, y’all.