Wednesday, June 6, 2018

A Letter To Mark Zuckerberg


Dear Mr. Zuckerberg,

     Thank you for giving me an update on the upcoming changes for Facebook. Like 99% of Facebook users, I never made it past the first couple paragraphs, but I’m sure it’s all good. I know our well-being is your primary concern so I have no need to read the fine print.

Just curious, though. How did you know what changes we wanted without asking us? I don’t recall ever seeing any of my Facebook friends making a suggestion and you commenting, “Ooh, good idea.” Where then did your ideas for changes come from?

Surely they were not made out of financial interests. I mean, you’ve already made more than enough out of this business venture than you ever dreamed possible, right? After all, the idea wasn’t yours and the necessary algorithm wasn’t yours, so I’d say you’ve done very well for yourself, far better than the people who had the idea for Facebook and the initial formula. You wouldn’t be that greedy or self-centered, would you? Oh, I know your personal net worth has fallen $11 billion since the news of Cambridge Analytica broke, but that is a mere blip on the screen. People have short memories and the fact that you’ve been using users’ data in ways they never imagined won’t stick in anyone’s mind for too long. Technology such as Facebook has wiped out any sort of long term memory or capacity for sustained action.

And surely the Facebook changes are not occurring because of government pressure. I know you’re better than that. Facebook was your creation (sort of), and I know you hold it to be a sacred responsibility to insure that it is used for the betterment of humanity. That is, after all, why you (sort of) created it, isn’t it? Oh, I know it was originally envisioned to be a hookup site for coeds, but it has matured since then, just as you have. It has become far more than its originators intended, and is now a platform where people from all over the world can share ideas and information in order to make the world a better place. Oh, initially we didn’t know what to make of it and got in a lot of fights with relatives and total strangers over politics, but most of us have grown in our understanding of internet etiquette since then. We, the myriad users of your (sort of) creation, have made Facebook something far beyond what it was originally intended. Surely you must see how cool that is. Surely you must have a glimpse of its potential in making the average person more engaged and empowered. And surely you must see that as a good thing, right?

I have faith in you, Mr. Zuckerberg. I have faith that you are not in this just for money or prestige. I believe you will accept responsibility for your (sort of) creation just as you accepted $75 billion for its success. Such a brilliant man as you must be humbled by the good fortune and the position you have found yourself in. So, confident that you wish to serve Facebook users as they would wish to be served, I offer you a few suggestions:

1. If someone likes a page I create, they should be able to see all of my posts, not just random ones. This is very confusing and inconvenient for both the follower and the followed. It’s like sending things in the mail with no idea if they will ever get to the addressee. For someone who liked a page, it’s like subscribing to a magazine and only getting a couple of issues. This is a direct communication between two parties, there is no need for you to get in the middle.

2. It is not your job to decide what news or posts I am permitted to see. Your job is more that of a postal worker than a censor, a really, really really well-paid postal worker. A postal worker does not rifle through my mail and throw away what he deems inappropriate.

3. I would like to know how others see my posts. I notice sometimes on my feed I get to see conversations between a Facebook friend and an utter stranger. I also notice sometimes that a friend will end up responding to something I wrote on someone’s post who is a complete stranger to the other friend. Why does this occur? It has the effect of dampening discussion because we can never assume who is reading what we write, and I can’t help thinking this might be intended. Please assuage my perhaps irrational concerns by making things more clear.

4. Make Facebook users feel they can trust you. This goes way beyond branding and marketing. Such things are superficial and, quite frankly, are means to manipulate consumers. We see through your behavior the person you really are rather than the image you seek to present to us. We know in our guts even if not on a conscious level. And quite frankly, anyone who has earned over $50 billion from selling our data and subjecting us to advertising and manipulation isn’t someone I want to put my trust in. You have profited obscenely handsomely from your relationship with us, and so long as you do not give back in a very real and meaningful way, you have no cred with us.

Another way to earn our trust is to stand up to the powers that be who seek to tell you how to run your business. When you sit in front of congress and they are telling you what to do, you should make it clear that you are not a government agent and it is not your job nor your inclination to impose censorship. Instead, what we saw was a man who was willing to go along with anything in order to maintain and grow his already obscene personal wealth. No amount of marketing and “average Joe” posts are ever going to wipe that image out of my mind.

I want to believe, Mr. Zuckerberg, I want to think that there is something more to you than a person who is willing to do whatever it takes to make as much money as he possibly can. But you have to show me a sign, a very real and palpable sign. It will have to cost you, not only in dollars but in the smooth and cozy relationship you have with the powers that be who also put their own interests above the rest of society. This is how trust is built, Mr. Zuckerberg. It costs. At quite a young age, you’ve already won the game of making money. It is time to move onto a more meaningful existence.

No comments:

Post a Comment