RT @sivavaid@twitter.com Quitting Facebook lets Google and Twitter off the hook. It lets AT&T off the hook. It lets Comcast off the hook. And it does nothing to hurt Facebook. Facebook does not care about one among 2.2 billion users. Act as a citizen, not a Facebook user. Demand regulation.
I honestly think all of these arguments come from people who for some reason can't bring themselves to leave Facebook. Yes, large structural change is needed, but you should also close your account. The site has one purpose: collect and sell your data and show you ads. That's it.
Does your own household recycling matter? No. We do it anyway and hope that as a society we'll all do it. Does your boycotting of corporations that support evil politicians matter alone? No. We do it anyway and hope many will join us. Boycotts work as a tactic. Boycott Facebook.
Most importantly, stop putting institutional events on Facebook, stop using it at universities, stop making participation in Facebook mandatory through your institutional, organization, and activist roles. You can be online, and social, and connected without supporting Facebook.
@omanreagan I think we need either one alternative platform that we all use (for events); or an easy way to federate or link various platforms, but I totally agree -- we should be using FOSS and ideally coops for these activities.
@Matt_Noyes There are alternative platforms. But you have to select one. I think this is already disagreable for many humans.
"One alternative platform" nope. You run into the same problems as facebook does. Bundling a billion people into one big platform doesn't work without making a lot of money either as donation or any other way. Federation works because you have communities and enthusiasts who are willing to spend $30-50 per month for a server which can handle a few thousand users. We also solve the different privacy laws per country problem with federation :)
@Matt_Noyes @omanreagan We already have this in Portland - Calagator. http://calagator.org/