Meta-Fiction or Meta-Stasi?

You all remember that scary picture of Mark Zuckerberg walking in a room full of unsuspecting Oculus slaves, five years ago.

Yes, yes, there's also that eerie mugshot we used two years later in our fictional "Interview with the data vampire".

 

When Zuck presented the new brand covering all the group's activities, it really felt like everybody was invited to submerge themselves again into a rosy virtual future, and forget all about an inconvenient present: the Facebook Papers and whistleblower Frances Haugen's confirmations that the platform contributes to human trafficking, Trump's insurrection, antivaxxer movements etc*...

 

'Meta' is so Facebook. That's not Google's Alphabet, the alpha and the omega, controlling the keys and tools at the source of sharing knowledge. It's all about encompassing everything, absorbing as much as possible under a gigantic, pervasive umbrella. The ultimate, self-contemplative tech blob. An infinite loop no one can escape. 

If 'Meta' opens all possibilities, the MVRS ticker 'reduces' it to the 'metaverse' flavor of the month. See? We've got the label, we made that paradigm shift, Facebook joined the dotcom club of the twenties!

The self-proclaimed 'Social technology company' will not de-merge its activities but regroup all 'Family Apps'  (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger...) on one side and 'Reality Labs' (Oculus AR, Spark AR, Novi ewallet, Portal and Co.) on the other. As if to signify that somehow, these household names are not about reality, maybe closer to fiction. The toolbox and the black box.

Facebook could be such a wonderful platform if it were run properly and responsibly. Business as usual is not an option now, and certainly not when on metaverse steroids. The name change almost makes things worse, and people are expecting more than Andrew Bosworth (a.k.a. Boz the robot) and Nick Clegg (a.k.a. Scatterlings of Meta) claiming that Meta is 'building the metaverse responsibly'. Unless Facebook truly changes, it's bound to land somewhere between meta-fiction and meta-stasi.

mot-bile 2021

* let's put in the 'etc' that ad for 'Mein Kampf' Facebook proposed me the other day as a reward for browsing Republican contents (not the best incentive for reaching across the aisle).

Interview with the data vampire

mot-bile: 'Thank you, Mark Zuckerberg, for accepting this exclusive fake interview at our Agence Fausse Presse'

Mark Zuckerberg: 'Actually, I thought that was yet another subpoena, but now that I'm here, I might as well answer'.

mb: 'Well so far, you didn't provide many answers to European or American judges and committees. Apologies, yes, solutions, not really. Seriously, after all the scandals and bad press surrounding you and Facebook, do you still believe you can become President some day?'

MZ: 'Facebook helped a very despicable man get the job once, why not twice? I'm only 34, and by Clinton standards, probably 'likable enough'. Plus, if I'm using Definers Public Affairs to get at George Soros' throat, I don't need Cambridge Analytica to get into your head. By the way, you're a very troubled person.'

mb: 'Takes one to know one, thank you. You're not as publicly weird as say Elon Musk, but there's at least some cold aspergersian nerdness in you. And obviously, you don't seem to mind playing, like Bill Gates in the 80s, the role of the supreme techno-villain with pervasive reach.'

MZ: 'I learned everything from him, including the pseudo philanthropic narrative involving our best halves. While the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation helps Monsanto infiltrate Africa, our Chan Zuckerberg Initiative basically serves as a vehicle to remote control Facebook, and the human population that comes with it, while Sheryl Sandberg takes most bullets.'

mb: 'So you control Facebook, even when you say it's impossible to control it.'

MZ: 'We're working on it, and A.I. helps a lot. All humans have to do is to give up all control, so that we can ultimately get the most holistic systems to monitor them.'

mb: 'The thing is you're also giving up all moral standards. I mean, how far lower can it go now, after your latest underage bride auction?'

MZ: 'Never underestimate human lowness. You don't want to know what happens every day on Facebook.'

mb: 'But you do. And even when you don't, you monetize it. I wonder which ads ran for the bidders during that sick auction.'

MZ: 'There are bad guys out there, but we're not totally evil. If China blocks us, that's because we herald Western freedom.'

mb: 'If China blocks you, that's because they envy your alienating system, and want to develop their own blend of behavioral control.'

MZ: 'China's Social Credit system will never be as popular as Facebook. They can become even more pervasive and amoral than us if they want, it's fundamentally bad for business to let your users know how much it costs them actually.'


mot-bile 2018

Zee Talk of Zee Town

Welcome to Zuckerbergville, 200-acre of sentient brick-and-mortar right across the Menlo Park headquarters, a paradise where Facebook will be able to monitor every move of 10,000 employees: who's buying what where? who's sleeping with whom when? just like your good old Facebook, but In Real Life.

Looking for the Hatespeech Arena? Start from Hacker Way, follow Push Marketing Avenue, and at the Cookie Roundabout, take a right turn. Never leave the NSA lanes, and try to avoid the Snowden Cul-de-Sac.

Frank Gehry has been invited to run his software and to propose a curvier cityscape than this dull 2012 project:

The 2012, Pre-Gehry Zuckerbergville

Gehry's fee must be comfortable, but only a tiny drop in Zuckerberg's multibillion dollar Zanadu. The land itself didn't cost too much: $400M for the last 55-acres, that's only $1,800 per sqm. You're on the waterfront, but also on a highway. And your HQ are on the other side of the Bayfront Expressway. Maybe they'll dig a tunnel for the commuters, and soundwalls to make sure employees get some sleep. Some Privacy? Don't even think about it. Your contract stipulates that you let your Samsung Smart TV on night and day*.

Ironically, the main street in the area is called Constitution Drive. Maybe Zuckerberg, who likes to build "the Hacker Way"**, has also his own special definition of the word 'Constitution'. I wonder if We the People of Zee-Town will enjoy Net Neutrality. And if visitors will need to sign special terms of service when they enter the Zee-Zone.


mot-bile 2015

* the EPIC (Electronic Privacy Information Center) just filed a complaint with the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) over privacy concerns regarding private conversations.
** "As part of building a strong company, we work hard at making Facebook the best place for great people to have a big impact on the world and learn from other great people. We have cultivated a unique culture and management approach that we call the Hacker Way. The word “hacker” has an unfairly negative connotation from being portrayed in the media as people who break into computers. In reality, hacking just means building something quickly or testing the boundaries of what can be done. Like most things, it can be used for good or bad, but the vast majority of hackers I’ve met tend to be idealistic people who want to have a positive impact on the world. The Hacker Way is an approach to building that involves continuous improvement and iteration. Hackers believe that something can always be better, and that nothing is ever complete. They just have to go fix it — often in the face of people who say it’s impossible or are content with the status quo."

Google From 'Forge Me' To 'Forget Me', Facebook From Emoticons To Emotics

Facebook doesn't stop at asking you in which mood you feel, it wants to decide how you should feel (see "Facebook reveals news feed experiment to control emotions" - The Guardian - 20140630). You don't chose your emoticon, the platform embeds one into your own mind. "Emotics" as the ultimate marketing/propaganda tool: I want you to feel thirsty before this ad for Coke, I want you to feel insecure before we beef up our intrusive security systems, I want you to feel sympathy or aversion for this industrial or religious lobby before lawmakers convene, I want you to feel good/bad about this candidate before the elections...

Guess what, Facebook remains a media with a clear editorial line: to make money, we'll do whatever it takes, and with such an amoral leader as Mark Zuckerberg, you'll never know how far (low) we can go. For example to open up new markets like, say, China.

Europe has already forced Google to propose a "Forget Me" function for those who want to opt out of the standard "Forge Me" treatment. So the ideal of that other pervasive, blue, big brother may not be totally dead yet.

mot-bile 2014

Facebook Home, a Mobile - Virtual OS Operator?

Mark Zuckerberg, who's doing a pretty good job at following Bill Gates' footsteps, reinvented the blue screen with Facebook Home.

The meta-app (embedded in HTC First for proof of concept) basically puts your Android experience in the background - nevermind the mobile network operator, that fabled 2G hero. And Google already faced a win-back surge from manufacturers, Samsung leading the way with a suite of me-too apps on time for Galaxy S3*...

Even if only 5% of hardcore mobile Facebook users switch to this "Virtual OS Operator" Facebook Home, that's going to have a significant effect, including for key partners. For instance, Bing's performances will significantly improve in all fields: search engine, mapping, translation, value aggregation... remember how Google Maps caught up with Daum Map and Naver Map within months in Korea?

Feeling blue? Seeing red? No green robot around?

But of course, too much Facebook kills Facebook, and all attempts to control the user interface and customer experience have failed so far when the brand is too overwhelming (and Google was pretty good at hiding its brand on Android).

If hardware and OS become commodities, personal environments remain personal... or at least the main ruler remains smart enough to let endusers believe they do remain personal.

mot-bile 2013

* see "Anovations for Applelatres: Apple has lost its compass"

Facebook's Initial Privacy Offering

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

My Wall and Wall Street are about to become an item: we're all going public, and you'll have to issue a profit warning each time I unlike you nth kitten picture.

Yet Facebook Initial Public Offering remains a non-event: Facebook has been milking our relationship from the beginning, and even with his 11M+ friends, Mark Zuckerberg has never been much of a philanthropist. The question was "when", and the answer is "now".

Now the other question remains: until when?

It doesn't have to come from the next big thing (a 4D, 5G meshroom cloud? the SOPAtriot Act?): remaining at the top happens to be difficult, even for a free, pervasive platform. And even a 800 pound gorilla can get off your back (I recently mentioned the potential Tripodization of Facebook: "Cloud Portability"). Furthermore, money won't do you much good without a vision. Look at Rupert Murdoch, who after losing over half a billion bucks on MySpace, delivers his pearls of conservative wisdom* for free over Twitter. And speaking of doing good: Google started being evil after its IPO...

... Come to think of it: Zuck started as a bad guy.

mot-bile 2012

*if such a thing exists.