blackuniverse

Facebook is supposed to be about an open community. But an open community could not exist without trust. Does Facebook earned our trust?

Hell, I could be wrong, but asking people to provide their real names and information and put them in the Net is a lot to ask if in the end you intend to manipulate them to no end.

Now I know that social networking sites are making money from its user base. To some degree, I understand that they are selling our data to companies for commercial (and God knows what else) purposes.

What surprised me is how far Facebook is willing to go, and how it is making it difficult for users to delete their account completely.

“It’s like the Hotel California,” said Nipon Das, 34, a director at a biotechnology consulting firm in Manhattan, who tried unsuccessfully to delete his account this fall. “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.”

Facebook is responding to this issue. Unfortunately phrases like “working on ways to improve user experience” sounded too much like PR defense mechanism to me. That’s how I make a living, remember?

It helped to read some positive stuff about Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, that he is willing to be more open to the community etc etc. But it would be much better if I as one of the user wouldn’t have to feel f*cked first.

First thing first, let’s get rid of those damn applications from my Facebook page.

Ever since I resigned from the public relations consultancy firm in Kemang and moved to another firm in Senopati, my life has been improving drastically. It’s not because the new office is better. Sure it offered me better packages, but that’s not the issue here.

I have read about the effects of commuting to people’s life, but until now never really thought about how deep it has affected my life.

Some might say the daily trip I used to take from Kebon Kacang, Central Jakarta to Kemang, South Jakarta, did not count as commuting. But when the time I spent on the road is the same as the time it took me to reach Bandung, West Java, you might want to reconsider the definition of commuting.

The trip could take 1 hour or more depending on traffic and the trip back sometimes prove even worst, especially during the rainy season. Back then I might as well stay until late in the office.

Now it only took me 30 minutes. I can sleep longer and gained an extra one to half an hour sleep. When I happen to wake up early, it means extra hours to read magazines and newspapers or simply watch Metro TV.

Although life is improving, I occasionally daydream about telecommuting, or being able to work from home. Aside from several essential tasks such as meetings, client services, trainings, and networkings, I probably could do my other tasks (research, writing, correspondence, etc) without having to leave the comfort of my home. This daydream leads me to this post from Cisco Indonesia Managing Director Irfan Setiaputra who came up with a List of Unnecessary Travels.

Imagine if those unnecessary travels could really be minimized. There might be less traffic jams in this city, a significant number of people will have extra time for their families and friends, or simply extra time to read and watch movies.

This morning Jakarta rained heavily. Streets started to look like rivers, causing traffic jams everywhere. I don’t know how many people arrived late in their office today, or how many got sick under the torrential rain. But I can guess that some of them preferred to stay home today.

translated and slightly revised from the indonesian version.