Mashable - The Social Media Guide - Latest Comments in Mark Zuckerberg is the Ghost of George Orwell

Re: Mark Zuckerberg is the Ghost of George Orwell

mario olckers — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 08:47:54 -0000

I find this article extremely unfair and pointless and to me it smells like a paid shill who's trying to run up hits and comments with uninformed and useless rhetoric.

Facebook is a success story and all kudos to the guy who started the ball rolling. What they do or do not decide to do with the user data at their disposal is something that they have the exclusive say over. Privacy settings are such that you do not have to share with anyone if you dont want to.

Making advertising and affiliate advertising arrangements with external partners is a totally legitimate and unremarkable business model for online tech media companies.

And what is the difference whether he says Facebook is a media or a technology company? They utilize open source technology to build a successful and quality online hangout with a very attractive demographic that everyone will give their front tooth for access to tap into.

All the Facebook haters, go and build your own community around your own successful, popular brand before trashing people's characters just because they dared to rise above the mediocrity of the common herd and do something that many people like and use and come back to again and again and engage with more than with any of the other crap out there in cyberspace

So before you equate Mark Zuckerberg to the worst aspects of a fascist totalitarian dictator, read George Orwell so you appear at least informed and intelligent and diligent enough to do homework before mouthing off and getting it pathetically wrong.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg is the Ghost of George Orwell

James Gillmore — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 00:36:42 -0000

what's the Universe Combobulator lol?

Re: Mark Zuckerberg is the Ghost of George Orwell

James Gillmore — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 23:34:34 -0000

About privacy, I really think it's lame when people complain about that. It's the only way quality products like Facebook can exist. They need to make money, and have a reason to keep getting better--i.e. money. If you don't like it, don't use it, or turn your privacy settings on high--but if they don't allow that, just don't use it. What did u think they were going to do from the start...and about ads only based on your profile info, just combine that with the content on the page with the dynamically generated targeted ad, couple that with some functions to find the best ad based on both, and then you have very targeted ads. Why do people think the ads are just going to be based on profile data?!?!? ...And if that's all they do, they're morons.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg is the Ghost of George Orwell

devin holloway — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 14:56:51 -0000

I posted an coincidentally similar article complete with what I think the News Feed will look like on my blog yesterday...

But I also include why we'll like this other than just getting more targeted ads. For instance, it will be nice to see not only what our friends buy so we know what's in, it will also be useful because FB provides a nice platform to communicate about purchases after the fact, too.

For example, I think advertisers/retailers/marketers/et al will have pages like groups which will facilitate much better communication between consumers and businesses.

Of course you can let you imagination pain the rest of the picture...

Either way, this is shaping up to be something interesting. And when Google Socialstream comes to town we'll be having the same conversation but as it pertains to the OpenSocial clique.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg is the Ghost of George Orwell

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 13:04:31 -0000

Facebook is frightening. They have enticed users to dig their roots deep into the network for years. Now, whenever they do something creepy and questionable, users complain but never leave. How could they leave behind all that history and the community? It'd be like throwing away an old yearbook. Unfortunately, the only complaints that Facebook will heed are the kind that take the form of a deleted account. I hope someone comes up with a site that meets the needs of Facebook (extendable address book, some messaging capabilities) users without hijacking their personal info.

And this whole 'targeted ads as a good thing' concept. It's only a matter of time before marketing firms come up with some useful psychological profiles for people that enable them to use all sorts of cognitive trickery to get you to do things (buy things) that you would otherwise never want to. Ads are already very good at that, but once they know everything about you personally, the sky is the limit.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg is the Ghost of George Orwell

PhillC — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 12:37:42 -0000

"Thereâ€™s not a whole lot to dislike about Mark Zuckerberg. He walks around with flip flops regardless of where he is"

Well, there's your starter for ten.....

Re: Mark Zuckerberg is the Ghost of George Orwell

Angelos — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 12:13:15 -0000

CountRob -

Don't forget the memorable clothing comparison. Steve Job's has turtlenecks and black jeans, while Mark prefers Adidas sandles and North Face.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg is the Ghost of George Orwell

CountRob — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 11:32:19 -0000

No, he's more like Steve Jobs 2.0

Zuckerberg swiped the technology from ConnectU, just like when Jobs walked in to Palo Alto and stole about 30 years of research.

I can't believe he really thinks his company will go IPO. That makes no sense, because as a social network it has no viable business model. The ONLY attraction of FaceBook, the API, is now obsolete.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg is the Ghost of George Orwell

iva — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 10:31:31 -0000

I think you need to look into your George Orwell comparison.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg is the Ghost of George Orwell

Angelos — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 10:20:35 -0000

Have to agree with Kevin Smith on this one...Orwell composed a long list of criticisms on government control - mainly the effects on the proletariat/common man. Animal Farm, Down and Out in Paris and London - both join 1984 as introspections on the damage inflicted by economic and political control which is only beneficial to the few.

And the distinction between media and technology is difficult to distinguish. What is Google? What about HDnet? Many companies deliver technological advancements, but unless those products/services are monetized from the start, advertising becomes the most fruitful business model.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg is the Ghost of George Orwell

Street Attack — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 09:46:32 -0000

agreed...Orwell is the anti facebook. His book was a dark satire on the current political climate and Orwell would prob be horrified with this article. It's like saying Kurt Vonnegut would be proud of all Butchers because he wrote slaughter house five.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg is the Ghost of George Orwell

Kevin Smith — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 09:23:06 -0000

Orwell was not in favor of authoritarian, "Big Brother"-style governments. He wrote 1984 as warning about what he saw as the evils of Communist governing styles (post WWII) and the public's predilection for charismatic leaders.

Next time it might be helpful to be familiar with the literary work before referring to it in an article.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg is the Ghost of George Orwell

Marc Fiszman — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 08:52:25 -0000

Hear hear!

We encourage everyone to dump Facebook and work with us on the Universe Combobulator instead.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg is the Ghost of George Orwell

mhmazidi — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 06:04:27 -0000

heil zuckerberg. i am a neo-facebookis!!