I used Facebook regularly for two years. Thanks mainly to the invitations and suggestions from my friends, I subscribed to (“liked”) the Pages and joined the Groups (devoted to sometimes very different kinds of things) listed below.
Facebook could be criticized for contributing to the problematic aspects of globalization and virtualization, but I found it was in fact also very much used by its members to oppose precisely those aspects. It was a powerful tool for information, communication, and exchange of ideas. Most importantly, I found that the Groups, as displayed with their pictures in the old Info tab, could be seen as mega-hieroglyphs through which anyone who set aside a few minutes to go through the list could obtain a deep and specific understanding of the various positions and interests of the respective Facebook members, an understanding which could yet easily be further deepened and specified by just a click on the respective Groups.
Through this function above all, Facebook was, as I wrote on the discussion board of the Group The Philosophy of Facebook, potentially personalistic.
I reached and was reached by hundreds of highly qualified people during the two years – not just old friends, acquaintances, and colleagues, but also wholly new ones. Given the quality of their contributions to Facebook, I found it well worth setting aside a few minutes every day, if possible, to view their posts, make comments, answer messages, add new friends, and, for the most part, also post/share something myself.
But the basis of all of this was the personalized Info tab with the Activities, Interests, Favourite Books, Favourite Music etc. fields, and the lists of Groups and Pages. In 2010, a new Info tab was introduced, where the mentioned fields can no longer be filled by the members’ own text but only with existing Pages, where all Pages are unattractively displayed without their pictures, and, most seriously, where the Groups are no longer visible at all to friends. On the Pages, it is no longer possible to see all those who “like” them. Later the same year, Facebook also stopped supporting profile boxes from non-Facebook apps, which I used mainly for displaying important books, albums, and videos.
With these changes, I find that most of the value of Facebook has been lost. It is no longer potentially personalistic. It has in fact come close to being the corporate, nonsensical games, quizzes, entertainment, ads, and social chatter thing that critics used mistakenly to say it exclusively was, and I no longer find it worth using frequently.
It is of course still possible to post/share Groups and Pages regularly, as well as other meaningful links etc., but few – certainly not I – can set aside enough time for that, and even if enough time could be set aside, doing this could never even in principle replace the function of the permanently accessible old Info tab.
Now using Facebook only occasionally, I think it worthwhile however to include here the following lists of what used to be my Pages, which I have now removed because of their unattractive new display, and my now invisible Groups, for the purpose of conveying something of what I found to be the potential of this kind of technology - a potential which Facebook has chosen not to develop, and not even to maintain at its previous level of development. Very many of my Facebook friends had/have similar lists. Some of the Pages and Groups I have created myself.
Pages
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Accademia di belle arti di Brera, Agatha Christie, Aldous Huxley, Aldous Huxley, Alexander Lowen, Alexander Roslin, Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin, Alexandre le Grand, Alexis de Tocqueville, Alf Ahlberg, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Alfred North Whitehead, Alternative Right, Alumn – Uppsala universitet, Amelita Galli-Curci, Anandamayi Ma, Andreas Hallén, Andrew Seth Pringle-Pattison, Anna Netrebko, Anthony Phillips, Antiwar.com, Antonio Canova, apéro, Aristotle, Arthur Schopenhauer, Art Renewal Center, Ásatrú Folk Assembly, August Söderman, Augustus, Baldassar Castiglione, Baltasar Gracián, Belle Époque Europe, Berliner Philharmoniker, Bernard Bosanquet, Bertil Malmberg, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati, Bhaktivedanta College, Bhaktivedanta College, Blaise Pascal, Blogger, Boethius, BOUCHERON Official, Borden Parker Bowne, Boycotting the Mainstream Media, Brahmananda Saraswati, Brahms Johannes, Brooklyn Museum, Brothers Grimm, Bryan Ferry (Official), Buddha, Cabanel, Café Opera, Campaign to Protect Rural England, Canaletto, Caravaggio, Carl David af Wirsén, Carl Gustav Jung, Carl Jung, Carl Wahlbom, Carl Yngve Sahlin, Center for World Spirituality, Charles Du Bos, Charles Lindbergh, Charles Maurras, Charles Péguy, Château de Chenonceau, Christopher Lasch, Chocolate Fantasy, Christina Nilsson, Christopher Jacob Boström, Cicéron, Cincinnati Art Museum, Circle of Beautiful People International, Classical Underground, Claudio Monteverdi, Conchita Supervia, Conservatives Against The EU, Conservatives For UKIP, Cornelius Tacitus, Cosmic Consciousness, Countercurrents.org, C.S. Lewis, Czeslaw Milosz, Dante, Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis (Juvenal), Detroit Institute of Arts, Deutsche Sprachwelt, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Dislike Button, Dorothy Sayers, Dr. Samuel Johnson, Duns Scotus, Eckhart Tolle, Edmund Burke, Edvard Hagerup Grieg, Edward Caird, Edward Elgar, Edward Gibbon, Egron Lundgren, Elsa Beskow, Emerson, Ralph Waldo, Emmanuel Mounier, Encounter Books, Enfants, Enoch Powell, Epictetus, Erasmo da Rotterdam, Eric Voegelin, Erik Gustaf Geijer, Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, Esaias Tegnér, Euroscepticisme, Evelyn Waugh, Eyvind Johnson, Facebook, Fairmont Royal York Hotel, Félix Ravaisson-Mollien, Feodor Chaliapin, Fortnum & Mason, Francesco Petrarca, Francis Herbert Bradley, Franco Zeffirelli, Frans G. Bengtsson, Franz Peter Schubert, Frédéric Chopin, Fredrik Böök, Fria Nyheter, Friedrich Gundolf, Friedrich Hebbel, Friedrich Nietzsche, Friedrich Schiller, Friedrich von Schelling, FrontPage Magazine, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Gaetano Maria Donizetti, Gabriel Marcel, Gaius Valerius Catullus, Galleria Borghese – Roma, Galleria degli Uffizi, Genesis, George Berkeley, George Orwell, Georges Bernanos, Georges Dumezil, George Santayana, Georges Eugène Haussmann, Georg Friedrich Händel, Georgios Gemistos Plethon, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Gesù, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Gilbert Keith Chesterton, Gioacchino Rossini, Gioachino Antonio Rossini, Giorgio Vasari, Giorgione, Giovanni Boldini, Giovanni Gentile, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Giovanni Scoto Eriugena, Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi, Global Research.ca – Centre For Research On Globalisation, Goethe, Grand Hotel Baglioni Firenze, Grand Hotel et de Milan, Greens+, Groups, Guido Reni, Gunnar Ekelöf, Gunnar Unger, Gun Owners of America, Gustaf Cederström, Gustave Le Bon, Gustav Holst, Gustavus Adolphus, Hans Christian Andersen, Hans Larsson, Hans Makart, Harald Hjärne, Harry Elmer Barnes, Hector Berlioz, Henry Louis Mencken, Heraclitus, Heraclitus (Ηράκλειτος), Herbert von Karajan, Hermann Hesse, Hermitage Museum, Hesiod, HL Mencken, Homer, HONEYROSE PRODUCTS, Horace, Hotel Grande Bretagne, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Hotel Quirinale, hotel regina paris, Hypatia of Alexandria, Indian Royalty, Maharajas and more…, InfoWars, Intercollegiate Studies Institute, Inc., Internationale Monarchiste (IMC/CMI/MMK/CIM/IMK), International Society of Integral Yoga – Aurobindo Sivananda Ashram, Isaac Bashevis Singer, ISKCON Studies Institute, iTory: A Blog for High Toryism in the 21st Century, Ivan Aguéli (Sheikh ‘Abd al-Hadi Aqhili), Ivar Hallström, Jacques Barzun, Jacques Louis David (1748-1825), Jardin du Luxembourg, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Jean -Baptiste Lully, Jean de La Bruyère, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Jean Sibelius, Jethro Tull Fans, Jennifer Larmore, Jenny Lind, Joachim du Bellay, Johan Jacob Borelius, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Johann Gottlob Herder, Johan Tobias Sergel, John Keats, John Landquist, John Singer Sargent, John William Waterhouse, Jon Anderson, Josef Pieper, José Ortega y Gasset, Joseph Campbell, Joseph de Maistre, Joseph Haydn, J. R. R. Tolkien, J. S. BACH, Juan Donoso Cortés, Julius Evola, JUNGE FREIHEIT, Jussi Björling, Karl August Nicander, Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Karol Wojtyla, Kirsten Flagstad Museum, Knut Hamsun, Kungliga biblioteket, Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, Kurma Dasa (The Most Famous Vegan/Vegetarian Cook), La Divina Maria Callas, La Diva Raina Kabaivanska, Lao-Tzu, Latin, Laughing, Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Le Meurice, Leonardo da Vinci, Lewis Carroll, LiveVeg – Vegetarian Restaurant Guide, Logic, London Symphony Orchestra, Lord Baden Powell, Lord Frederic Leighton, Luxury & Lifestyle Boutique, Maharishi Ayurveda, Maharishi Ayurveda Products International (MAPI), Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on the Bhagavad-Gita, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi – Sayings, Photos, etc., Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Vedic Vishwavidyalaya – Official Page, Maharishi University of Vedic Medicine, Maharishi Videos, Maharishi University of Management, Center for World Spirituality, Mahler, Gustav, Mahomet (prophète de l’islam), Majestic Hotel & Spa Barcelona GL, Makkah, Maine de Biran, Marc Aurèle, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Marguerite Yourcenar, Marsilio Ficino, Massage, MATHEMATICS, Max Weber, Medicine, Meister Eckhart, Mencius, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Mike Oldfield – Tubular.net, Mircea Eliade, Mirella Freni Lovers, Molière, Montaigne, Montserrat Caballé, Musée Carnavalet – Histoire de Paris, Musée du Louvre, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes – Santiago de Chile, Museo Nacional del Prado, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, Μύρων (Mirón Myron Mirone), Naked Juice, Napoléon III, National Gallery, Nationalmuseum, National Policy Institute, National Review, National Rifle Association, New York Philharmonic, Nicolas Poussin, Nikolai Ghiaurov, Nicolas Boileau, Nicolás Gómez Dávila, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Nils Fredrik Biberg, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. The Official Page, Octave Hamelin, Odysseas Elytis, Omm Me, Orchestre National de France, Origen of Alexandria, Oscar II, Ovid, Oxford Alumni, Paramahansa Yogananda, Pat Buchanan, Paul Brunton, Paul Claudel, Paul Gottfried, Paolo Veronese, Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Pericles, Petronius, arbiter elegantiae, Pierre CORNEILLE, Pierre de Ronsard, Pindar, Pitagora, Platone, Plotinus, Plutarco, Poesía Romántica de Luís Vaz de Camões (Camoes ó Camoens), POLITICA ROMANA – Quaderni dell’Associazione di Studi Tradizionali Senatus, Pontus Wikner, Πραξιτέλης Praxiteles, President George Washington, Preussische Allgemeine Zeitung, Primordial Traditions, Principe di Savoia, Progarchives.com, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, Psychiatry, Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, Pythagoras, Queen Victoria, Radhadesh, Radio Courtoisie, RADO – the official page, Rainer Maria Rilke, Ramana Maharshi, Raphael, Regnery Publishing, Relayer, Renata Tebaldi, René Guénon, René Le Senne, rick wakeman, Robert Alexander Schumann, Robert Frost, Robert Nisbet, Robertson Davies, Roxy Music, Royal Academy of Arts, Rudolf Kjellén, Rudyard Kipling, Russell Kirk, Russia Today, Saab Cars Official, Saffo (Σαπφώ), SALK Tennis, SALTÅ KVARN, Sam Francis – American, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, San Bonaventura da Bagnoregio, Sandrine Piau, Sandro Botticelli, San Juan de la Cruz, Sanskrit, SAS Scandinavian Airlines, Saul Bellow, Science, Seneca, Sen. Robert A. Taft, Se réveiller aux côtés de son (sa) chéri(e), Shakespeare William, Sibel Edmonds, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sir Edwin Lutyens, Socrate, Socrates (Σωκράτης), Södra Ängby Skola, SpeakTM.com, Sri Aurobindo, Sri Chinmoy Ghose, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur, Srila Prabhupada – A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, Städel Museum, St Bonaventure, Steve Hackett, Steve Howe, St John of the Cross, Stockholm School of Economics, StyleFeeder, Sven Stolpe, Sverigedemokraterna i riksdagen – ja tack!, Swami Vivekananda, Tableaux de Maîtres, Tage Lindbom, Taki’s Magazine, Taoism, Taoist Philosophy, Teatro alla Scala, Teresa Berganza, Thales, The American Conservative, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at The Federal Reserve, The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, The Frick Collection, The Kaiser Wilhelm II, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Metropolitan Opera, The Money Masters, The Occidental Observer, The Occidental Quarterly Online, The Original “Autobiography of a Yogi” by Paramhansa Yogananda, The Peabody Memphis, The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Raj – Maharishi Ayurveda Health Spa, The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, The Spectator, The University Bookman, The Wallace Collection, Thomas Carlyle, Thomas Hill Green, Thomas Moore, Thorvaldsen, Thucydide, Thucydides, Tiepolo, Traditional Britain Group, Transaction Publishers, Transcendental Meditation, Transcendental Meditation Sverige, Tsar Nicholas II, T. S. Eliot, Un nouveau système bancaire et monétaire, Victor Cousin, Victoria and Albert Museum, Victorian Christmas, Victorian Style, Victorian Style, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Vilfredo Pareto, Villa Borghese, Villa Medici – Villa Médicis, Vincenzo Bellini, Virgil, Visual Bookshelf, Vitalis Norström, Voltaire , We hate the new profile page…please change it back!, weRead ( Books iRead ), Werner Sombart, Whittaker Chambers, Whole Foods Market, Wiener Konditoriet, Wiener Staatsoper, Wikipedia, Wilhelm Richard Wagner, Wilhelm Röpke, William Bouguereau, William James, William Ralph Inge, William Wordsworth, Wimbledon, Winnie-the-Pooh, WordPress, Yes, YouTube, ZEN
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