A facebook detox

I had been contemplating deactivating (not deleting) my Facebook (FB) account for some time now. And finally I did it with an intent of a refreshing digital detox from the social networking behemoth's entangled networking sphere, as well as standing up for a worthy cause that is briefed in this post. 

As I got off FB, I took some time out to understand our loving FB's social networking strategy - what is it that made the FB tick (over 1.3 billion active users and growing) and where is it headed.

What makes it tick?

- It is a must-have thing for every individual to socialize over the internet (family, friends and acquaintances). The news feed from social perspective, with the 'like' and 'share' button is said to have revolutionized our living. From taking selfies, sharing travel pics, baby pics, foodie pics to sharing moral evoking mail-chain forwards, we have done it all.

- It helps get in touch with long lost friends, meeting new people and widening your existing friend circle. (Yes, even your parents and siblings now become friends - if staying in touch with them had been complicated, its now much better with FB).

- It serves as a cost effective marketing platform for not only big brands but also Small-Medium businesses (SMBs) to set shop and have a level playing ground, which earlier would have been difficult.

- It serves as a web application platform to build newer stuff (games etc) and a one-stop shop for all your entertainment.

- It serves as the mother of all other newbie platforms, to validate the authenticity of an individual.

No doubt that FB is a marvel product that has disrupted our basic interaction method in a good sense, its the only kind of network that is capable of garnering such traffic and regulating them, all under a single roof. An achievement that its engineers, data scientists etc can boast of.

Where is it headed?

As with any startup that becomes a successful company, their goal too would be in the lines of scaling and sustaining business. Being a monopoly and continuing to have it will be their number one priority.

- Whatsapp acquisition ensures that this is met by gaining foothold in the text messaging platform.

- Segmenting their product based on functionality, into smaller entities and running them as individual products. The users will be unwittingly active users in other segments as well.

- Better control over the hardware platforms, that will be part of their long term vision. Google is well versed to completing this feat, seems FB will be playing catching up.

Its not the unproductive hours spend on FB, but the control of internet in the hands of a few giants (and in turn USA) that will slowly make use of their free services in a cost computed manner (other than advertising) later on, then that would be disturbing.

The founders of the internet wanted a collaborative sharing medium without boundaries, that has happened. But the proposal for democratization and internationalization of internet governance had not happened. There have been calls made for changing the ICANN regime and DNS monopoly from the hands of America for quite some time, but in vain.

With giants like FB , Google etc having secured captive users and their constantly changing service definitions, without governance transparency this can lead to further inconsistency.

By my action of deactivating FB, I have not quit FB. Deactivation unlike deletion is a temporary thing. The FB profile will be in an inactive state. No data will be lost. All news feeds and other interim data will be restored just as it is, after you login. All you need is to simply login back and the account will become active again.

When one is passionate about something, one tends to be aggressive. That is because they care. 

Well by deactivating my FB, it is with an  intent to work towards a cause of driving awareness towards relinquishing the control of 'world wide web' from US to an independent body, which will have the infrastructure setup in Europe and other parts of the world. 

The contract period for IANA (internet assigned numbers authority) with US government will end sometime next year, which would make it ideal for the formation of an independent body to oversee this matter and take charge.

A question about the choice of working towards a noble cause, by fashioning a boycott of a product - is it a right move, in the right direction with the right attitude? Its like for world energy conservation day, the entire world can chose to remain dark by temporarily switching off electricity, for a planned period of the day. This is not to create a dark world, but to spread the awareness of the importance of light.

To think, 'Can one person's thought change the world'. Earlier that might have been an understatement with the chances of it gaining traction being very bleak, but not today. 

It would be interesting to observe that the social network is the best creation for this to take effect. When one person is connected to over a billion by the network of networks, a thought by a single person could become viral and grab the attention of the entire world.

The case needs no argument to prove its authenticity as the world is very much aware of the US Government's intrusive power play, that has been very disturbing for most Americans themselves. Mark Zuckerberg of FB who had expressed his dissent over mass surveillance program run by US Government to Obama, attesting this fact. 

It would be sad to understand that any software product that we create in the digital world will have the US capable of controlling the strings. To think that in the near future most businesses are in fact going to be digital is a dreaded thought, while introspecting the controlling authority's background. 

So would be the case of every nation's state affairs, which already has cut a sorry figure.

If you say people/businesses have been dumb enough to start allowing internet giants to play with their data in a fashion that can compromise with the nation's socio-economic interest, that's a concern unless they are okay with playing dumb.

In the near future almost all major businesses will have a digital connected aspect to it. If the controlling authority, is with a single nation that can spell trouble. That is why there is a need for having a governing body like UN for internet regulations to take this issue up seriously. Unfortunately US is not willing to give up its monopoly.

Don't you see anything discomforting in all this, or is it that when you weigh-in the pluses the negative side can be not dealt with?!