Post: #1

Media commentators are suggesting that there are no serious alternatives to facebook given it's size.

I would point out that they are wrong: there is a very real alternative to Facebook called VKontakte (VK for short) that is heavily used in the Russian-speaking world, with hundreds of millions of users. It also has a lot of features facebook does not have.

Out of curiosity, I looked them up on google news, to see if anyone in the MSM has mentioned them since the facebook scandal broke. 0 Mentions in News Articles relating to Facebook as of right now.

Something is definitely fishy about that.

Post: #2

You're suggesting people leave glorious facebook gulag for its Russian cousin in St Petersburg in the midst of the current Russian hysteria?

Comrade, I kid not.

Post: #3

Never heard of it. Does this site want to expand across the globe like Facebook

Post: #4

(04-08-2018 03:49 PM)Foolsgo1d Wrote:  You're suggesting people leave glorious facebook gulag for its Russian cousin in St Petersburg in the midst of the current Russian hysteria?

Comrade, I kid not.

I'm suggesting that's why they're not being mentioned.

Post: #5

(04-08-2018 03:51 PM)Que enspastic Wrote:  Never heard of it. Does this site want to expand across the globe like Facebook

Believe so, but most their success has been in the Russian-speaking world.

Post: #6

The other glaring omission is the irony of the government (read: NSA, FBI, CIA, Patriot Act, WikiLeaks leaks) calling out Facebook over privacy concerns.

On the one hand you can choose not to use Facebook, and if you choose to use FB you can modify all the privacy settings if you take a few minutes to dig in.

On the other hand, you can't opt out of NSA surveillance

It's also ironic that the US government has been data-mining FB and other data sources for years with Peter Thiel's Palantir:

Quote:Founded in 2004, Palantir is used by dozens of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to aggregate far-flung data, find patterns and present results in colorful, easy-to-interpret graphics. Its use by police in Los Angeles, Chicago, New Orleans

Source: https://www.stripes.com/news/us/thiel-s-...t-1.515974

Post: #7

(04-08-2018 03:54 PM)monster Wrote:  The other glaring omission is the irony of the government (read: NSA, FBI, CIA, Patriot Act, WikiLeaks leaks) calling out Facebook over privacy concerns.

On the one hand you can choose not to use Facebook, and if you choose to use FB you can modify all the privacy settings if you take a few minutes to dig in.

On the other hand, you can't opt out of NSA surveillance

It's also ironic that the US government has been data-mining FB and other data sources for years with Peter Thiel's Palantir:

Quote:Founded in 2004, Palantir is used by dozens of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to aggregate far-flung data, find patterns and present results in colorful, easy-to-interpret graphics. Its use by police in Los Angeles, Chicago, New Orleans

Source: https://www.stripes.com/news/us/thiel-s-...t-1.515974

Well of course. And the fact when that congressional hearing is held, something like 88 percent of the senators/reps questioning zuck have gotten cash from him for their campaigns.

The other ironic thing would be the cooperation of social media and tech companies with the intel community, but that has been known for a long time.

You can opt of NSA surveillance, but it means living like Ted Kaczykenski, which is impossible for almost everyone.

Post: #8

Then more normies will see all the Russian girls on there and drive up their market price & ego. Terrible idea.

Post: #9

(04-08-2018 04:00 PM)Disco_Volante Wrote:  Then more normies will see all the Russian girls on there and drive up their market price & ego. Terrible idea.

That's true but i doubt anything branded as russian is paltable for an american normie. Not even "Russian vodka" like stoli, is russian in reality. VK has made little to no effort to promote itself to english audiences... Sort of like Chinese social media...

Post: #10

Not so fishy really. Why would the global elite controlling the media etc. want people to use a social networking site with headquarters in Russia? And also, people in the West and I think especially in America, are just living in their own kind of online bubble where only Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter exist, so they've never even heard of VKontakte or remembered that it exists as an alternative. I knew about VK since before, but have not given that site a single thought in years until now.

And I don't think it wouldn't even matter much anyway. It's not like they're all unfamiliar with collecting information about their citizens in Russia, perhaps it's slightly better from a free speech perspective etc but I don't know.
I don't think people would start to migrate over there after all the propaganda about Russia in how they're cruel to gays and feminists.

Post: #11

VCR tapes.
Vinyl records.
Film-developing "Fotomat" kiosks.
TV antennas.
The typewriter.
Floppy discs.
The fax machine.
Typesetting machines.
Video rental stores.
MySpace.
AOL/Yahoo instant messengers.

Once upon a time, all of these things were important to everyday life. Some were even essential to the workplace. Now they're relics and curios.

Someday, Facebook will get added to this list. Maybe it will be a domestic version of VKontakte or maybe something else. Whatever it is, it can't come soon enough.

Post: #12

(04-08-2018 04:31 PM)dosequis Wrote:  Not so fishy really. Why would the global elite controlling the media etc. want people to use a social networking site with headquarters in Russia? And also, people in the West and I think especially in America, are just living in their own kind of online bubble where only Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter exist, so they've never even heard of VKontakte or remembered that it exists as an alternative. I knew about VK since before, but have not given that site a single thought in years until now.

And I don't think it wouldn't even matter much anyway. It's not like they're all unfamiliar with collecting information about their citizens in Russia, perhaps it's slightly better from a free speech perspective etc but I don't know.
I don't think people would start to migrate over there after all the propaganda about Russia in how they're cruel to gays and feminists.

Maybe not fishy, but speaks to the power of MSM and Big Tech in our everyday lives.