“What’s a product that you think is stupid, but successful?”
“Facebook.”
That was my classmate’s answer to my professor’s question yesterday.
My eyes widened when I heard that because it never occurred to me that Facebook is stupid. I’ve heard people dismiss Twitter as stupid, but never Facebook. I didn’t get to hear why he thought Facebook was stupid so here I am googling “Facebook is stupid” to find out why people think that.
(If you think Facebook is stupid, you might not like what I’m going to share. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!)
Seems to me that if it’s really stupidity, then it comes from the users, not Facebook. How Facebook is used reflects the nature of humans. But for what it’s worth, I don’t think the users are stupid.
My guess is these people who argued that Facebook is stupid are too uptight to have some fun.
Is the huge number of requests really that overwhelming? They don’t bother me that much. But I’d understand if you need your Facebook friends requests page to be cleared constantly because you have some sort of obsessive compulsive behavior.
Oh, and I saw many comments like the one below.
They are all complaining about how many requests they have (because they are oh so popular) and how annoying they are. Sounds more like an ego thing to me.
What’s so bad about Facebook poking, tagging friends to random stuff, joining nonsensical groups and doing lame quizzes? Is your nose so stuck up in the stratosphere that you just can’t stand people who don’t take themselves as seriously? If you think you are too old for such stuff then that’s your business. Give people with a young heart their right to brainless fun.
Status updates are stupid? Oh yes they are, along with self expression. Gees.
Think Facebook friending system crowds out real friends? Are you saying that you can’t meet strangers and network with acquaintances because they crowd out your real friends? Social networking is about maintaining and broadening your social circle. It’s time to give your best mate some personal time with his girlfriend, dude.
Also, Facebook doesn’t provide a decline option for nothing. That’s where Facebook is different from Twitter. You “friend” the people you want to connect with. Unless you are highly egoistic and a Facebook profile of 25 friends is embarrassing. And please, if your real friends want to talk to you on Facebook, they will. And you should talk to them back.
I admit I have friends I don’t ever talk to on Facebook, but it is also responsible for my reconnection with some of them. I met up with my primary school friends because of Facebook. People find their long lost siblings because of Facebook. Isn’t it better to have hundreds of friends you can possibly connect with than miss out that opportunity entirely? If you are that sore that they are most likely adding you to boost their ever growing friends list, you are highly insecure.
Digital Relationships. Stupid? Here we are challenging the very reason of social media’s existence. While I agree that digital relationships can and should never replace offline mingling, I think they are great complement of each other. You have the control to how you want to build your relationships. You have every reason to detest digital relationships, but you have to accept that it works for many people.
Think Facebook is stupid and have better reasons to why? Share them with us!
