I completely agree with you, but that’s exactly why a lot of otherwise alienated people get so wrapped up in social media. Your point is accurate but it requires a level of self assessment that not everyone has done. We lack a meaningful social fabric; we’re driven towards rugged individualism which has led to our relation to one another becoming strained and Instagram/Facebook offers the experience of feeling included in community without the intimidating and abstract work of creating and maintaining relationships at a time where we don’t have a lot of obvious alternative outlets for that. Anecdotally, I’ve had many people become overly familiar with me or start acting like I’m their friend even though I’ve either never met them or barely know them just because they follow me on Insta. It seems to act to replace meaningful connection that could be had with parasocial relationships, which is why I find it to be such a destructive social project. It seems like most people have lost the thread between reality and social media, and the only thing in my mind that can be done would be developing alternative methods for community interaction and intentionally creating intuitive barriers for engagement on these platforms to promote developing substantive social relationships, but Facebook would never do that, they are constantly working to drive further engagement through their platform. If the social being truly determines consciousness as Marx wrote, then taking advantage of people’s alienation by creating a business that monetizes engagement around petty grievance, outrage, and shallow social connection, Facebook has created one of the most socially destructive products we‘ve seen.
This is the truth here and not to mention I'm sure a significant portion of the voting was done by people who were just doing it because it's trendy yet again to hate on Facebook.
How is Microsoft awarded the best????
Facebook, otherwise known as Meta, has been crowned the worst company of the year, following a turbulent 12 months of controversies, public backlash, and an eventual entire rebrand of the social media giant, according to a survey conducted by Yahoo Finance.
Yahoo Finance every year crowns the best company of the year, with Microsoft taking the top spot for 2021. This year, however, Yahoo Finance also did a "worst company of the year" challenge, with Facebook, now known as Meta, quickly taking the top spot. According to the survey, which polled over 1,000 individuals, Facebook received 50% more votes for the spot compared to Alibaba, a Chinese e-commerce platform.
Those surveyed have a "litany of grievances" towards Facebook, including but not limited to concerns over censorship, reports about Instagram's impact on mental health, and privacy. While the survey results are grim and not in the company's favor, 30% of the participants responded positively to whether Facebook could "redeem itself."
Facebook, amid scandals, did rebrand itself to "Meta," marking the start of a new direction for the company, according to its founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The new name is meant to be more in line with the goal of building a "Metaverse," an entirely digital world. The rebrand was widely seen as an attempt to distract from scrutiny, and according to some participants in the survey, it worked.
Facebook has long been embroiled in public concerns over the privacy of its users. Facebook has notably fought with Apple over changes in iOS and iPadOS that make it harder for companies to track users across other apps and websites.
Facebook has claimed the new change, App Tracking Transparency, would hurt small businesses that rely on advertising to attract new customers. Mark Zuckerberg has gone as far as to say that Facebook's lackluster growth in the last quarter of the year was partly to blame on ATT (App Tracking Transparency).
Apple CEO Tim Cook has also not shied away from calling out Facebook for its practices and business model. In a speech at the start of the year, Cook implied that Facebook's business model leads to polarization and violence. A Meta spokesperson declined to respond to a comment from Yahoo Finance regarding the survey.
Article Link: Facebook Crowned 'Worst Company of 2021' by New Survey
The political correctness thing isn't new, but social media has certainly amplified it. People say things behind a screen that they would never say in person. I'm guilty of it too.
I have friends and family who use it. There are other ways of connecting with people.
