• IMHO
Dieter Petereit March 24th, 2013

Facebook? I Don’t Care!

The Maple Kind is a website with a distinct claim that reads "Where infographics meet comics and bullshit!" What urges its creators is to make you chuckle. This sure does sound much simpler than it is, but it definitely implies, how the following infographic shall be read. Therein, the Maple Kind argues, why we need a new button on Facebook (a few more than one more, in fact). This new button shall be named " I Don't Care" and is bound to be the most widely used expression on Facebook, once it has been instated. Though the infographic in fact made me chuckle, The Maple Kind does not follow a far-fetched approach. Take a look at your own use of Facebook. What would you use more often? Like or I Don't Care? I know what I would do, but I don't see Facebook as anything of value for modern society anyway...

idontcarebuttonfacebook-teaser-w550

Facebook: Not so very interesting...

I admit it. At its inception, facebook seemed like the best since canned beer to me, and to you! Admit it, too. We could network with people long forgotten. We could reset the whole foundation of how we interact with friends, relatives and acquaintances. Did that not sound promising?

In the beginning I'm bound to say, it seemed to work. But then, Facebook rocketed and almost everybody went on there. Friends became more and more and the boundaries went blurry. Only people with an iron discipline still do have only these people in their Facebook lists which they actually know from real life and would call them friends even there. The rest of us got used to a definition of the term "friend" that thus became worthless. How many real friends have you got on Facebook, how many don't you actually know at all and how many would you rather categorize as acquaintances, colleagues or the like?

"Who cares how it is called", may you object. I care, for one, and you should, too. Looking at my own kids I can see how the value of the word "friend" erodes. The whole world is friend, since Facebook. This is not only untrue, but in this world we live in, even potentially dangerous. About once a month I sit down with them to talk about what a real friend is and how to recognize one. I'm getting on their nerves, I know. I don't care. I'll go ahead.

Sorry, I've started to wander off the point. The Maple Kind nails it, though. What do you feel, scrolling down your Facebook wall?

Chances are, you'll agree with what the creators of the infographic assume. They claim that at least 75% of Facebook's content is totally irrelevant crap. Stuff, that does not interest anybody, except for the one, who wrote, posted, shared it. How often did you wish, you'd have a button at hand, that doesn't say "Like"?

The Maple Kind put together a whole bunch of examples of posts which could best have been interacted with using an "I Don't Care"-button or some even more unmistakable forms of expression. I bet, you'll see your own reflection in more than one example..

Personally I'm more or less done with Facebook. As administrator of several brand pages I cannot simply turn my back on the service, but my private use of the network is virtually zero. To me, Facebook has grown to become the exact opposite of what it once promised to be. This is not a network that brings people closer together. This is a service that keeps people apart, but has them thinking they'd be closer together. It substitutes social relations by digital distance. Both terms, "social" as well as "relations" are going to die in the long run. "Friend" is already dead.

That said, have fun with the infographic...

idontcarebuttonfacebook-maplekind-w550

(Source: The Maple Kind)

Dieter Petereit

Dieter Petereit is a veteran of the web with over 25 years of experience in the world of IT. As soon as Netscape became available he started to do what already at that time was called web design and has carried on ever since. Two decades ago he started writing for several online publications, some well, some lesser known. You can meet him over on Google+.

11 comments

  1. Well said….. Its spreading like viral infection that people post tons and tons of completely useless information every day and waste their time and others time.

  2. Hah, finally a post I can like! You missed one of the more prevalent ones, though – The meltdown. I’ve seen a number of people (girls, usually, I’m said to write) flip out when they’re not getting enough attention… just to get attention. Plus the whole Instagram thing of pictures of food, looking down at feet, looking into the camera and doing the “duck lips” expression models often do. And lots of guys I know post stuff thinking they’re being supremely profound, as if they’re George Orwell or Jean-Paul Sartre.

    I do not like Facebook. I was off it for years but, due to work, I’m not back on. Do you feel my anger? Great post, though. An infographic done very well!

  3. Fully agree. I can’t stand looking at Facebook anymore, short of posting business related stuff or managing my different Pages.

    Though I am curious as to what Maple Kind feels IS appropriate? It is a “friend” social network, and the text boxes do read “What’s on your mind?”

    So what is relevant on Facebook? I ask because I too have found myself asking this question. Its not primarily a business networking site, a video sharing site, a online journal site, a rant board, a tweet alternative. Its a little bit of ALL of that. Its a general social communication source.

    Google+ seems like it has it down. Circles giving you an easy difference between friend and just some guy you had a chat with the other day that you may land some freelance work from in the future. Though I do find myself looking blankly at Google+, as I do with Facebook, but instead of it being out of frustration or searching for the “I don’t care” button, I am sitting there trying to figure out what I should put on Google+. I think this must be because Facebook has brainwashed me to the point that I just can not accept the Right network…

  4. Deiter I’m afraid you and Maple Kind have one great flaw in your reasoning. In all the “I don’t care” examples—every single one, someone does care. The problem is targeting those people.

    You can make groups in Facebook but it is a bit of work. I really like what Google+ did with circles. I am much more free to post my boring family pictures for my parents and in-laws who will enjoy them, my political rants to those who already agree with me, my mundane facts to friends I know to be factaholics. Even the seemingly utterly pointless “I’m going to bed now.” is of interest to star-struck lovers.

    So I would take issue with the targeting. Facebook can claim they accommodate it, but not anything like G+ which actually has acquaintances circle (or I made one a long time ago… I don’t remember, but it’s easy). I think the just claim is that Facebook makes it easy to be lazy and broadcast too wide, and your target people will hit that “like” button and seemingly vindicate your actions.

    1. Probably someone does care. That does not take the right of others to click on “I Don’t Care” whenever this gets available ;-) Put that way, I wouldn’t call it a “flaw”…

  5. It all makes sense and I’m also annoyed by posts like “What doesnt kill you makes your stronger” or by hundreds photos of cats. But! Dont forget that you can manage your news feed and define what’s interesting for you and what is not. A person’s posts are not interesting for you? Hide all the updates from him so you will never see them in your news feed. Don’t know this person? Remove him from friends or unlike the page. My friend list include only people who I interested in and who I know personally. And I don’t spend time browsing irrelevant and boring information.
    Facebook isn’t that bad if you know how to use it!

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