Facebook would like us to believe that it’s a positive force in our lives, connecting us to other people and to the best inside each one of us.
But Chris Matyszczyk, writing for C|net, is not so sure the projected Facebook image fits the reality of the social network’s everyday decisions.
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He’d like to know what has happened to pictures of mothers breastfeeding, for instance.
When photographer Jade Beall posted one of her group portraits of mothers breastfeeding to her Facebook page, Facebook deleted them.
“Now the company is further peddling its friendly image with new ads that are supposed to make you melt like a teen’s heart at the sight of Bieber, ” writes Matyszczyk.
One such ad goes: “It’s that point at which someone became more than just another someone… when a friendship became official…”
Talk about taking yourself too seriously. Or worse, believing that those clicks you make on your computer screen are actually making you friends out there.
“It wasn’t just a friend request, ” the Facebook commercial tells you. “You were looking for an accomplice.”
Seriously? Are we entering criminal conspiracy territory?
Mark Zuckerberg has been saying that making more money is no longer his biggest ambition—He has higher goals. So Facebook’s second commercial, Erika & Esmeralda, touts the Internet.org service—Zuckerberg’s gift of free internet to the whole world.
“Oddly enough, Internet.org doesn’t offer free access to the Internet. It gives you a limited sort of free Internet, ” gripes Matyszczyk.
You can basically get Facebook, and some Facebook-approved sites, for free. “But going beyond that will cost you money, ” writes the C|net columnist. This gift is more like Zuckerberg’s creating his own Third World Internet, which should come handy at some point in the future.
