I'm not a fan of Facebook, either personally or professionally.
Personally, it's like an addiction to something that makes me sad.
Research allegedly shows that Facebook makes you sad because you compare your mundane, humdrum life to the polished, carefully vetted images of everyone else's exciting, glamorous, adventurous life. I don't think that's it with me. I realize what's going on, and I'm happy that other people are having fun from time to time.
What bothers me is the mob mentality. The groupthink — and even more particularly, the group non-think. I.e., when people who know nothing about an issue pile on with righteous indignation and digitally lynch people who take another view. The medium combines anonymity with personal interaction in a way that make the worst of both.
It pains me to see my relatives and friends act like assholes on Facebook. And it pains me even more when I get drawn in and act like an asshole myself.
I have tried (a couple times) to take a break, and then to come back with a renewed commitment to avoid those conversations. But … I can't help it. When I see otherwise intelligent people saying mind-numbingly stupid things, I have to step in, and I never feel better as a result.
That isn't Facebook's fault. I should be mature enough to deal with these things without getting upset. But … well, I guess I am blaming Facebook, at least a little, because I have no problem with this sort of issue in real life, with real people. It's only on this artificial, goofy, digital thing — that we've been brainwashed into calling "social" — that this is a problem.
Facebook is not "social" media. It's a place to be anti-social.
In any event, I've learned that it's not for me, so I de-activated my account. I learned today that I’m in good company. Steve Wozniak says that Facebook has brought him “more negatives than positives," so he's leaving as well.
Another thing I don't like about Facebook is that it makes me into a product that's sold to advertisers. Facebook claims to be offering a service. I suppose it is, in the way someone might help you up the stairs to stand on the auction block. And they're not trying to "create community" — except to the extent that they can sell that community.
On the professional side it's a different thing. Facebook is one of the four juggernauts that's trying to gobble up all other companies. Some companies, and some entire industries, are dumb enough to look at Facebook as an opportunity, but sooner or later they realize that Facebook is not their friend, and that they never should have participated.
Their operating assumption is "all your customers become our customers, and all your data becomes our data."
Don't help them!
Given all this you might think I would welcome regulation. At one time I did think that was a good idea. Facebook is too big and has too much power, and anybody with that much power needs to be watched!
I still feel that way, but there's a negative side to regulation.
Some people mistakenly believe that business doesn't like regulation. No. Small business doesn't like regulation. Big business loves it, because it helps them control the market. It creates barriers to entry for competitors.
Big business / big government cooperation is a cancer that leads to corruption and graft.
Facebook would desperately love to be regulated, because that would make it the default social platform. People would feel safe on Facebook, because it would have the government's stamp of approval. Facebook would be like a utility.
Up-start ventures like Mastodon might have little chance to topple Facebook as things are right now, but if Facebook is regulated, that small chance might turn to no chance.
I'm not certain what future to hope for with regards to so-called "social media." There are good things to say about the open source model (like Mastodon), where no company is running things or treating users like a product to be sold.
My concern is that even if somebody solves that problem, there's decent evidence that social media is simply bad for you, whether it's Facebook or something else, and whether or not it's making money off your data. From that perspective, I wish it would fade away. But I don't know how that's going to happen, or what's going to replace it. It's probably not going to be dinner and a game with your family, or darts at the local pub — which would be so much more civilized!
(Hey, maybe with virtual reality technology I'll be able to go to a virtual pub and play virtual darts with my friends in other states!)
In any event, regulation would cement Facebook's dominance of anti-social media, and that would not be a good thing.