Facebook is no more

[Pale Rider]

As regards CycleChat ownership, those who are curious should follow the money.

Does anyone know where the ad-free subscription nine quids go to?

I won't touch Paypal, and while I did contribute to the whip round I can't recall where I sent the money, other than to Shaun somehow.

 

[mjr]

No I can't. I suppose you could ask a mod or maybe post a query in the support section?

Support section says it's for more technical things (and I think I've been slapped before for breaking that) so I've sent a private message instead.

 

[simonali]

One of the things that annoyed me about Faceache was I'd send someone a message saying I was gonna be near where they lived/worked and would they like to meet for a coffee in town. The answer was always a no, like I was some sort of nutjob to even suggest that being anything more than virtual friends was something normal. I didn't want to just have FB friends, I actually wanted to meet them again after never seeing them since leaving that school/job etc, but that's just weird apparently.

 

[marshmella]

Never had it and don’t want it.

Thank god for that i thought iwas the only one.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

One of the things that annoyed me about Faceache was I'd send someone a message saying I was gonna be near where they lived/worked and would they like to meet for a coffee in town. The answer was always a no, like I was some sort of nutjob to even suggest that being anything more than virtual friends was something normal. I didn't want to just have FB friends, I actually wanted to meet them again after never seeing them since leaving that school/job etc, but that's just weird apparently.

Then FB execs would turn up near where they lived / worked as they had been reading the messages.

 

[Milzy]

Is there a way to permanently delete the FB account??

 

[Ming the Merciless]

So far, so good. Cold Turkey is best way after clicking the delete timer...

 

[AndyRM]

Is there a way to permanently delete the FB account??

Yes.

 

[Wobblers]

Not sure where you got I find any of it acceptable nor the assumption i am not using software I was just pointing out the media focus and your post was centered on one target and soggesting CC was benign and cuddly, which it might be if people are comfortable with Google analytics, skimlinks etc.

Fair enough - I misinterpreted your post (a limitation of the medium!). It's getting to be kind of a Pavlovian response now - the old "But Google are doing it, so it must be all right!" is trotted out with depressing regularity. Actually, while I think that FB are probably the worst of the lot, I don't think that Google are far behind. Or Alphabet, I should say - that's the holding company behind Google now. Presumably to add a little bit of distance between their Google brand and their other data collecting activities. Presumably that's to try and containerise any possible reputational damage. Alphabet in any case are a lot more savvy than FB have been. So far. Not that this means that they can be trusted any more than FB, though.

 

[Wobblers]

I hate to disagree but if CC is run by a private company (not a cooperative or benecom or similar), then its reason for existence is exactly the same as FB's, by law: to make money for its investors. They just might differ in how their directors choose to do it, though.

BTW, can anyone find CC's business contact details, including registration and geographic address. That's required to be shown by law these days, isn't it? Not that trading standards have enough time to enforce it much...

Presumably Shaun runs CC through a company so that should one of us make some indiscretion and CC ends up getting sued (or worse) he doesn't run the risk of losing his house. Which is fair enough, really.

I've met Shaun. We actually talked about these sort of matters. I don't believe for an instant that he's interested in datamining us. In fact, he told me that he'd prefer people not to use their real names for their user names as that has less implications for data protection. Perhaps in the future he'll get tired of us stroppy misanthropes, and sell the whole site on. Until then, I doubt there's much to be worried about. And, as I say, I do employ various means to keep the worst of the tracking at bay.

 

[Wobblers]

As to whether CC is materially different from FB - only in that a user base in the thousands doesn't give you the data that a user base in the billions does .

It suits Facebook very much to be viewed as merely social media. It diverts attention from their actual business. The social media side is only one means of extracting data from most people who're online. They have other tentacles - Whatsapp, for instance. Saying that FB is no different from, say, the old Usenet demonstrably untrue.

 

[nickyboy]

It suits Facebook very much to be viewed as merely social media. It diverts attention from their actual business. The social media side is only one means of extracting data from most people who're online. They have other tentacles - Whatsapp, for instance. Saying that FB is no different from, say, the old Usenet demonstrably untrue.

WhatsApp is interesting...I use it a lot whereas I don't use FB at all

What useful data is obtainable from WhatsApp? I guess keywords used, location, photo content? I'm not aware of targeted ads for eg. based on my WhatsApp content (although the fact I'm not aware probably means they're successful)

 

[mjr]

Presumably Shaun runs CC through a company so that should one of us make some indiscretion and CC ends up getting sued (or worse) he doesn't run the risk of losing his house. Which is fair enough, really.

I've met Shaun. We actually talked about these sort of matters. I don't believe for an instant that he's interested in datamining us. [...]

Fair enough indeed. The main reason I'm concerned about the business details not being shown is that that's a fairly open-and-shut offence which could result in site closure.

Nice to know Shaun's probably not mining us, but it seems he has no problem helping Google Ads mine us?

 

[Ming the Merciless]

WhatsApp is interesting...I use it a lot whereas I don't use FB at all

What useful data is obtainable from WhatsApp? I guess keywords used, location, photo content? I'm not aware of targeted ads for eg. based on my WhatsApp content (although the fact I'm not aware probably means they're successful)

All your meta data as well, such as who you talk wirh, when you talk with them, where you are located, what you talk about etc.

 

[Wobblers]

WhatsApp is interesting...I use it a lot whereas I don't use FB at all

What useful data is obtainable from WhatsApp? I guess keywords used, location, photo content? I'm not aware of targeted ads for eg. based on my WhatsApp content (although the fact I'm not aware probably means they're successful)

It's the social network that they're after: which users know whom. That sort of data is extremely valuable to the marketeers so that they can identify those people who have the most links to others. Such people are more likely to be able to influence a greater number of others, so if you can influence those "influencers", they'll do the job of influencing more people than your marketing ever could. A substantial fraction of FB's value is based on this idea. It's also why Google were so keen to push their own version - Google+.