Is no-one boycotting Facebook? Why the hell not?

[Control-Z]

There are other ways to communicate. Email, Snapchat, or whatever the latest cool social software is. Facebook helped Russia and the maggot steal the presidency.

Shut them down. Boycott them until they sing.

[Warren DeMontague]

1. Millennials are boycotting it. Have been for years.

they just maintain the facade of an account so their grandparents don't know what they're really up to.

[Control-Z]

4. Yeah? No. Not really.

They still use it enough to keep the owners happy and their friends updated. But they also use a slew of other ways to communicate.

If there was a serious boycott happening wouldn't we be reading about it here on DU?

[Warren DeMontague]

5. Yeah, really.

Their friend updates you reference are carefully crafted to convey a message of "I'm wearing sweater vests and going to class" instead of "I'm taking bong hits of skywalker kush and doing tequila body shots". It's not accidental.

Either way FB is pretty ingrained into the culture. I don't see a boycott taking off. My hunch is that energy would be better spent trying to disabuse people of fake news and encourage skepticism and rational thinking, but YMMV.

[Control-Z]

9. I don't even know wtf

that first paragraph means. I have three millennials. I'll ask them what it means.

You may not see a boycott taking off but threats by every pink hat in the country might help get them to remember all those Russian accounts they know nothing about.

[TeamPooka]

10. I kniow what the first paragraph means and Skywalker OG rules!

Millennials like Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram
The ones in my family spend very little time there and yes their messages are carefully crafted because Grandma has a Facebook account too.
I'm the cool uncle and I get the truth offline.

[Control-Z]

22. My kids and their friends really aren't like that.

If they don't want me to see something they tell me, in a nice way. You're fooling yourself if you think they are wasting their time crafting stories for their snooping elders. Unless you're talking about tweens and HS teens who don't make up much of millennial users and are not the intended target audience in most cases.

Some will keep their photos private (thank the cosmos) but that is not what they use Facebook for. And they don't get their news, fake or legit, from Snapchat. If they're sneaking off to a party somewhere they're likely underage. Again, not really millennials. Not really interested in political news either.

Voting age millennials, the over 35s, and businesses, still use Facebook. Especially businesses. Businesses should be outraged by the misuse of their private information - and anyone else old enough to bother reading their news feed.

[Warren DeMontague]

25. Sure, I mean, dont shoot the messenger.

Which kind of applies on multiple levels, here.

[cwydro]

75. Oh please.

People really set aside time to make a fake FB post. You really believe that?

Why not just never post or use it at all?

[Warren DeMontague]

77. yes, of course, you're right.

everything's fine. Nothing to see, here.

[greymattermom]

65. My youngest daughter does this

She finds the posts by her friends bragging about promotions, weddings, etc. very depressing. She leaves her account up but never posts and doesn't look at it. My younger friends have migrated to instagram.

[TexasProgresive]

2. This baby boomer has boycotted all those anti-social media sites.

They are loaded with inanities at best and the worst is just unmentionable. They remind me of CB radio in its heyday.

[haveahart]

3. Actually, I get a lot of information out to folks that the media doesn't.

You would be surprised how many people will read information in between their stupid postings.

[Control-Z]

12. Use Snapchat? eom

[oberliner]

40. Do you know what snapchat is?

It doesn't seem like you do.

[More_Cowbell]

6. I was sure I saw a 10/19/17 date for a group closing of accounts

But googling it doesn't help (maybe google is helping facebook not promote it )

Could have been just the voices in my head, I guess.

[Control-Z]

11. That's good to know.

Not about the voices in your head.

I hope to see something persuasive on the users part. But it doesn't look promising if the responses up to this point are any indication.

[teezy]

7. I deleted my account last week.

It was hard because most of my online interaction has been on Facebook. For 10 years it's allowed me a convenient way to watch the lives of people I know or knew. It was hard to break from it, but when news broke about Facebook assisting Russia and turning its attention away from the massive impact this would have on Americans and people all over the world... without even needing to think about it I deleted the account and sent them a scathing message in my reason why.

I should have done it when I reported an image some troll posted of a KKK "scarecrow" in a field of watermelons and Facebook decided the image didn't violate any terms or conditions. I found that alarming. Then, recently and very out of the blue, every single "person you might know" went from people I did and could have known to absolute strangers I would never know from Africa or Southeast Asia. When news of the Equifax hack came out, I immediately wondered if there was a connection to all these people from overseas; where the fuck did they all of a sudden come from? Then the Russia news. I feel like Facebook has been involved in something sinister and I will never use it again.

[Control-Z]

13. This.

Thank you! This should be an OP.

[cwydro]

66. Ooooh! A "scathing letter."

No doubt Zuckerberg is quaking in his sneakers!

[snooper2]

71. sure LOL

[BigmanPigman]

8. I posted the same request a week ago and got some nasty feedback

so I try to be careful now. This DU post needs to go viral!
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029595857

[Control-Z]

15. It won't.

Look at the folks pushing back so far, some even with the subtle insult added for fun. Smh

[BigmanPigman]

20. Click on the DU address...that is what I am referring to.

It is scary!!!!! The fact that the 45 campiagn put most of their advertising budget ($85 million) into it is enough proof for me that Zuckerberg is guilty of complicity if not collusion. She said that 45 wouldn't have gotten elected if it weren't for Facebook (which we already knew). The woman in the BBC video is proud of writing posts for Facebook that sound like the fake prez...she was happy and giggling. I wanted to smack her like I want to smack that Pharm Bro dude. I wish I could post the 4 min video on DU under videos but my android tablet has a mind of its own AARRGG!!!!

[snooper2]

73. DU has maybe several hundred to a thousand active users

Facebook has over 2 Billion...

It's like you are sitting at a Cowboys game whispering to your knees "everyone pull your shirt up" while the stadium is going nuts as Darren McFadden is scoring a touchdown

[pansypoo53219]

14. i ignore mine.

[Control-Z]

18. I was wondering if only active accounts would

be a valid threat to Facebook. I have an account somewhere from before Facebook took off. I have no recollection of the details at this point.

[California_Republic]

24. Same... I'm thinking there will be a good time

I want to post something about the Russians by I never liked how political it's become.

[Generic Brad]

16. Never been on it

I have never trusted that company to maintain my privacy. Now it appears they cannot be trusted to maintain our democracy.

[PoliticAverse]

17. The Chief Operating Officer of Facebook is a personal friend of Clinton's...

and gave her advice during her campaign...

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/12/sandbergs-warning-to-clinton-they-will-have-no-empathy-for-you.html

[Control-Z]

19. And?

No-one is saying they were in collusion with the maggot and Russia to hurt Hillary. It's about their bottom line. $$$ trumps patriotism, friendships, and too often family.

[bathroommonkey76]

21. Facebook has brainwashed over 2 billion users worldwide

Small boycotts aren't going to effect its bottom-line. There should be a bigger push by liberal websites to put FB in the cross-hairs like they have successfully done with Hannity, Bill-O, and the other degenerates who have worked at Fox News. Hopefully it will come in the next few weeks, but I wouldn't hold your breath.

[Hekate]

23. It's the only way I get to see pix of my grandkids and get some scant news of their lives, so no.

This is not a joke to me. I was not gifted with a happy relationship with their mother, who is my daughter.

I am a recent FB user -- less than a year -- and I really do not like the medium. But my daughter has made it plain that it is her communication device of choice.

[Control-Z]

29. I do understand that.

Snapchat is actually more condusive to photosharing and she probably already uses it. But if that would create conflict, I get it. One of my daughters has put a strain on my relationship with her and it is hurting my time with my first (and only, so far) grand baby. I am literally afraid to cross her and walk on eggshells around her.

I'm so sorry you don't have the relationship that I'm sure you dreamed of or hoped for.

[Hekate]

32. Thank you for getting it

[pnwmom]

37. Hekate, I'm very glad you're there.

[Demsrule86]

39. My oldest and I don't have a happy relationship either...first marriage...young Mom...bitter divorce

I hear you.

[milestogo]

26. I can't boycott it because I don't use it.

[Demsrule86]

41. Maybe she doesn't want to boycott it... I am willing to bet the Russian infiltrated this site too...

should it be banned? I mean this respectfully, but you have no right to castigate another DU member who doesn't agree with you.

[milestogo]

49. Who did I castigate?

[demmiblue]

64. Same here. n/t

[Skittles]

27. because they would have to put some EFFORT keeping up with friends and family

can't have that

[defacto7]

28. I've been boycotting it since..

forever. I've never had an account by choice because on first sight I knew it would be used as a control device. This incident is the one that got everone's attention... finally. Facebook by its misguided design has been playing people for a long time.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

31. Personally, were it not for Facebook,

the news of my son's death earlier this year would NEVER have reached his many friends. He died, and I had never met most of his friends, and they didn't know me. A few hours after his death, it was posted on FB and quickly reached several hundred people. And thanks to FB some 200 friends showed up at a memorial for him in the city where he'd lived as an adult, and three weeks later another hundred people showed up at a memorial in the city he'd grown up in.

So no, I'm not about to boycott FB.

[Demsrule86]

42. I am so sorry...condolences.

[gtar100]

33. Because despite the assholes who own it and the ones who abuse it,

many people use it as it actually was intended... or advertised. Families and friends that are miles apart stay in touch with each other on a daily basis or when they have time. People share their lives on it with the people they care about. If that's not your experience of Facebook, that says more about you than it does Facebook.

[customerserviceguy]

34. I rarely go there

It is pretty much irrelevant to my life, and if it disappeared entirely, I would not care.

[Demsrule86]

43. That is your choice.

Others may have other ideas.

[Ninsianna]

35. I know, but in the middle of all these disasters, it's how I'm keeping track of

my friends and family. Have several people I know in the path of the storms.

[pnwmom]

36. I don't boycott it. I fill it with progressive posts and news articles.

Should I just leave it to the Russians and the trumpets? Nope. Too many people get all their news there these days. So they're going to get at least some from me.

[Demsrule86]

44. I do too. And when we did the Woman's march it was invaluable.

[Demsrule86]

38. I am more concerned with the ACA...and I don't wish to attack any freemedia...let's see what comes

out. I am not sure what facebook did or could have done.

[Orrex]

45. Because it wouldn't make a difference?

You and I and everyone we know, and everyone they know, and everyone that they know could boycott Facebook, and ol' Zuck wouldn't even notice.

What would a boycott accomplish?

[RandiFan1290]

46. Interesting to see the usual crew show up to defend FB. nt

[m-lekktor]

48. OFFS. this place is getting ridiculous

People who like facebook are trolls now? Jesus fucking christ.

[Blue_Adept]

58. There's a reason a lot of people are spending less and less time here

and it's not because they're the trolls. It's just gotten so difficult to have conversation as things are in binary mode now with no nuance at all.

[m-lekktor]

59. I stayed away the whole day yesterday intentionally then looked in this morning.

wow

but yes i agree with you on the simplistic binary with no nuance thing for sure! that is completely it in a nutshell.

I will stay away from here before I stay away from facebook.

[Blue_Adept]

68. It's always been hit or miss but the diversity of this place has dropped significantly

in the last few years with various "bloc" exoduses of people and that's really impacted things because we don't really get a lot of diverse views on situations.

And it's made worse as we see with threads like this, iphones, and other areas involving technology. I'm not saying people are being luddites but they have a very provincial view of things and are essentially advocating we all go back to the horse and buggy era because Ford was involved with Nazis or we shouldn't use computers based on IBM technology because of the same.

I can't bring myself to really "curate" DU like I do Facebook because I know there'd be absolutely nothing left at the end of the day.

[Control-Z]

78. Looking for ways to pressure Facebook into revealing

the entirety of their unwitting participation in the theft of the 2016 presidential election makes me a Luddite? Seriously?

[m-lekktor]

47. Lots of political organizing goes on there along with my best political discussions. 2 billion users

monthly use it from many countries internationally, so a bunch of Hillary supporters obsessed with Russia who decide to boycott aren't going to put a dent in anything. It's kind of ridiculous to even assume you could!

[Control-Z]

79. Whoa. This says a lot about you.

"...a bunch of Hillary supporters obsessed with Russia..."

Why don't you elaborate? Tell us more about how you feel.

[FLPanhandle]

50. No thanks.

I have family/friends scattered around the globe. Snapchat, email is not going to replace that communication effectively.

Also, the list of things that people on the left and right are trying to boycott is pretty much everything.

Here is a small sample list of the things DU has called for boycotting...
Chick-fil-a
Starbucks
Motel 6
Men's Warehouse
Toyota
Verizon
Nutrisystem
Avis
Sudafed
Am. Express
Dyson Vacuum
Eharmony
Boeing
Aleve
Subaru
Bayer Products


The right has calls for boycotting just as many.

[Not Ruth]

51. I started boycotting it years ago, though I check in occasionally

[Trueblue Texan]

52. Since the election...

Seemed right after the election the stupidity on FB just intensified. I was never very good about unfriending. Finally I had enough, dismissed a friend of more than 30 years from my life because I had no idea she was such a bigot and cared so little about truth and justice. In the end, I simply unfriended FB permanently. Haven't looked back. I have so much more time available to read REAL news now.

[sfwriter]

57. I "unfriended" someone I've known for 25 years...

...for similar reasons.

But "unfriend" is a loaded term facebook uses to coerce you into maintaining a large network, thus increasing the network effect.

I told him I was simply returning our friendship to its pre-facebook status.

He hasn't spoke to me since.

[ileus]

53. Only old people use FB...kids don't

[bearsfootball516]

56. That's not true.

I'm 24 years old. I can tell you that massive amounts of people my age, and younger than me, use Facebook.

And these statistics back me up. If you're talking about kids, as in people in high school, yes. But among people who would be considered young, it's still highly successful.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/398136/us-facebook-user-age-groups/

[ileus]

61. Yeah my kids....13&15. They laugh at Us and say FB is for old people.

But then again 24 is old people to them, and 40+ is really really old.

[Orrex]

69. That's true, actually

In fact, kids are avoiding FB in such numbers that Zuckerberg only made a million trillion dollars last year.

[underpants]

54. But what about the vacation pictures from people I went to high school with???

[Corvo Bianco]

55. I've been boycotting for

Ten years. I also don't listen to NPR because they advertise Kaspersky and Facebook. NPR is in on it, or they don't give a farv. I'm tired of their recklessness.

Anyway, please boycott the shit that got us here! Seems like a reasonable response, people!

[GusBob]

60. Hurricane Irma

Before, during, and after the storm, every single person on my FB account used the medium to good use, especially after the storm. When phone lines are down it is a vital form of communication

And no facebook haters we are not sending pics of our dogs or lunch. It is interesting to note the number of non-FB users who made use of it: "asking for a friend who does not use FB" or " I heard you were OK from a friend who uses FB"

I myself used it to help a LEO with a medical emergency the day of the storm, and a FPL worker the day after.

I also travel across many time zones for work, I and my colleagues find it nearly a necessity at times

[greymattermom]

67. I can have text conversations with a colleague in India

in real time. I like that part.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

62. I guess I'll carry on as usual then. nt

[bluepen]

63. Havent used it since 2010. Its awful. The new MySpace.

The family photos parade was enough to get me to leave. And the obvious use of the site to create an image of oneself and one’s life for public consumption...ugh.

Then there’s the rampant spreading of pure bullshit. It’s like people moved all their email chain letters and spam to the site.

Is it any wonder that Russia used it for fake news?

#FakeBook

[JDC]

70. Refuse to use it. Never have, never will.

For a variety of technical reasons before, now for moral reasons.

[reflection]

72. Never used it. Never will.

What's the old saying, "if something is free, you are the product being bought and sold."

No FB for me, to each his/her own.

[L. Coyote]

74. Let us know when a good alternative is available.

Meanwhile, are people boycotting the phone company for providing service to the opposition party?

[awesomerwb1]

76. Recently , mostly checked it

around my birthday to thank people who took the time to wish me a HBD. In a way it makes me feel bad because since I don't log on too often I'm unable to reciprocate.

I expect more shit to come out soon re: Russia.