Facebook: The Want Button We Don’t Want

October 11, 2012 —  Comments

Open Letter to Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook-Want-Button
Dear Mark,
I remember the slogan ” I want my MTV”! Maybe you are too young to remember.
MTV was once a  big deal. It’s core business – the distribution of music videos — had a significant place in culture. Then MTV got away from its core business and focused on reality shows . Soon the music was gone and then no wanted  their MTV anymore.
Now there’s the issue of the “want button” for facebook.
I seem to remember that you were against consumerism on facebook.
FB’s original intention was no advertising and then limited advertising.
Consumerism is the economic engine of America, we all know that. But Facebook was built on subtlety of advertisement; not the cesspool of brands that Myspace became.
With the social games excluded, Facebook hasn’t been a place for users to log on and expect to pull out their credit card. The atmosphere of Facebook has always been comparable to your kitchen table  where you sit and socialize as opposed to a mall or Amazon where you’re expected to buy, buy, buy.
The “want” button is a fundamental change in the atmosphere of the site, and you can bet users will notice it.
Facebook is a social environment  to talk with friends to share pictures, our thoughts and what’s going on in our lives. We want to feel like individuals on the site (as ironic as that sounds given what Facebook is). We don’t want to feel like a dollar sign.
I came late to Facebook, For me, it has been a wonderful way to connect and reconnect with generations of friends from around the world.
I just get a queasy feeling about this “want” button. I see the thing entering wedge of something “other”.
We saw that wedge destroy Myspace and MTV.
“Don’t do it, Mark, don’t do it!”
I just want my FB!
Sincerely,
David
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Please Note:

David Kirkpatrick (also known as David Paul Kirkpatrick and David P. Kirkpatrick) is the author and owner of this blog. He is a film maker, producer, author and speaker. This is not the David Kirkpatrick of The Facebook Effect or the David D. Kirkpatrick of the New York Times, although he hopes one day he will write as well as his esteemed dopplegangers!

Comments

  1. Rick Conti says:
    October 11, 2012 at 12:12 pm

    The other side of this is that FB is making money somehow, right? So they’re doing something under the covers like selling personal information that they’ve culled from your profile… or worse. Call me paranoid (you wouldn’t be the first) but I’d rather see what they’re up to. Then I’d use Adblock Plus to suppress the ads anyway. :-)

    My opinion should be weighed in light of the fact that I am one of the last remaining humans who has no FB account and has no plan to get one. Call me counter-cultural (you wouldn’t be the first).

    1. David Kirkpatrick says:
      October 21, 2012 at 3:21 pm

      Rick – Let me know when you are ready and I will walk you through Facebook:-) David