The 'Year in Review' goes over bad

2 Pet. 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

In the facebook world everyone knows everything about you, especially what you post and LIKE. Some people don’t know that what you LIKE or COMMENT on is showing up in your friends’ news feed. You know like all those Bible pages you LIKE and comment on? Or maybe your thing is LIKing HOT BABES and not realizing all your friends see you for who you really are.

Needless to say, facebook has taken it upon themselves for people to glorify their productive and bountiful year and has an APP for showcasing your year in review. While it seemed like a good idea at the time, facebook is now being slapped in the face with the folks who DIDN’T have a good year.

Facebook is a place to share your pains and sorrows as much as your joys but since there is no dislike button, when someone dies, people show their support by clicking LIKE! The APP is compiled of your activity on facebook in way of posts that people LIKED.

I’m wondering if the like button isn’t a measure of popularity.

When people post meme’s they get less likes than someone pouring out their heart of pain which gets all 800 of your friends in a LIKING frenzy. To a person (and I know many) who have had a bad year, the APP will glorify the painful posts because they got the most likes.

The APP. does ask if you want to share your year in review; I myself only having 90 friends tops, chose NOT INTERESTED. Of the ninety friends, I’m lucky if five people like ANYTHING I post and that’s in a week, so I am kinda curious how facebook would handle an unpopular person’s year in review. Showcasing what OTHER people have posted on my wall? Boy, that should make me feel real good.

While I think the whole thing was well intentioned, the APP. has caused a lot of heartache to people who have lost children and parents or pets and siblings. It just brings up the worst part of your year. Haunting reminders that your year wasn’t really all that good.

I’m sure the boasting people that bought new houses and cars, new dogs and new this and that like showcasing all the good that has happened to them in the year, the only people who are hurt by the APP. are the people who have been HURT throughout the year; by the looks of it, it’s the majority of people on facebook.

Yeah, as you can tell facebook has worn off for me. No more joy, no more idle chit chat and fun banter, it has become a ‘Popularity Contest’; one that I’ve never been a participant in. Sorry, that’s just me. I’ve never been like everyone else and I guess God made me that way.

To those that have hurt this year, my heart goes out to you. I totally understand that nobody’s life is perfect and having it displayed hurts. May you all find a peace wash over you in the coming New Year. Toss this old year in the garbage where it belongs. Make the best of what you have – be yourself! That’s what works FOR ME!

A Dislike Button?

Well we know THAT won’t happen because of the state the nation is in right now. We’re divided, we’re colorized and we’re full of DISLIKE for more than we LIKE.

I was thinking of writing to Mr. Zuckerburg to offer some suggestions for a ‘possible’ dislike button. While the Like button, introduced in February 2009, is used up to 4.5 billion times each day, I’m sure I have a few friends who have used half of those millions in one week.

I personally think the LIKE button is as demeaning as Mr. Zuckerburg feels the DISLIKE button would be. Maybe the like button was for you to feel good about yourself, but not much unlike being in a schoolyard with surrounding friends, when one child is left in the corner with NO ONE liking them, it can begin to feel very isolating; intentional or unintentional.

Here’s my ideas:

Instead of a like/dislike button, why not have a like button with options? It hurts (yes truly hurts my heart) to see people announce the death of a loved one and people LIKE it? I think they’re trying to express emotion without actually using WORDS of condolences. Emoticons can only do so much. A heart symbol means love, it doesn’t mean an offering of sympathy, empathy, prayer or agreement. Simply put emoticons display emotions of love, happy, sad, angry and so on.

When I purchase an item online I’m often asked when giving a review of the product--

Do you: LIKE, NOT SO MUCH, AGREE, or DISAGREE. I think the like button on facebook should be upgraded with the changing trends of this world. Give us options.

Just like those questions on products, facebook offers a place to ‘leave a message’; many choose not to express emotions and click the LIKE button for no apparent reason other than clicking to acknowledge that they saw the post.

When a review is left for a product, again we’re given options:

Was this review helpful yes or no.

Quite simple. We’re given options!

I think Mr. Z is apprehensive for fear of it affecting advertisements, trolls, and bullies. We have options whether we want to SEE the ads, or choices of what we DON’T MIND seeing, so why can’t the LIKE button express more emotion. Facebook is an emotionally driven site. We need more than emoticons, again, they just don’t cover it all! We need choices!

If Mr. Z is afraid of the downside of a DISLIKE button, why not take the LIKE button away completely and replace it with the silly emoticons? Then when someone dies, the emoticon with tears can express what the person wants to say. If someone disagrees with a post, the angry face emoticon, smiley will replace LIKE, and a heart will signify LOVE. THEN a person can actually feel free to use WORDS to convey their joy, sadness, sympathy or love for a post in the message box.

An example: Joni received – 5 smiley faces, five angry faces, 1 million hearts. Okay I exaggerated the hearts a bit.

Here’s another suggestion for FRIENDS. Have you ever seen a person with over 300 – 800 or even a thousand friends? What is up with THAT? Do they seriously know these people or are they friend thieving? Jumping on the grab-a-friend-of-a-friend bandwagon?

I love the LISTS. We can name them and then click on what we see in our feed. I have a WRITER list and view what my writing friends are posting. My suggestion is this, what can people see on my wall? That option is FRIENDS ONLY which kind of stinks if you have a bandwagon of friends. I would LOVE to see OPTIONS of who can see this! FAMILY, friends, close friends, etc. Not too hard but apparently Mr. Z wants us sharing with total, possibly stalking strangers! Just because a friend APPEARS nice, is not always the case when he begins stalking you now is it?

We live in a techno text world, one I am not accustomed to in any way. If I go to a page and see a bunch of txt lingo I click away from it quicker than you can blink an eye. I will not be dragged into trying to interpret what people are TRYING to say. Can’t people write WORDS anymore? Can’t people express themselves like normal people? I have one or two friends who actually uses words, it’s comforting to know out of millions of people caught up in this age of technology, I can find two or even three that still use words to express their emotions.

Mr. Z, something needs to change. The site is no longer a social friendly service for teens, it is a community of adults overwhelmed by not being able to express themselves. If the emoticons do it for people, give them what they want. Me, I’ll just keep writing for myself. “Better to write for myself and have no public, than to write (and be a showcase) and have no SELF!”

Here! Here!