So if you are active on Facebook, remember, it is your (second, third, etc) job. You work but aren’t getting paid through no fault of your own but because Zuckerberg is exploiting you.
What’s especially distasteful are these gushy biopics and articles that glorify Zuckerberg without ever mentioning that his entire business model is “steal people’s labor.” It’s like people think the dirty bastard is doing them a favor by robbing them.
I disagree.
Writing on Facebook (or your blog) is a) a hobby and b) the way to influence the readers and through them – the world in general in the direction that I, subjectively, believe is for the better. The fact that Zuckerberg (or you) may or will benefit from my writings is irrelevant to me. My benefit is in changing the world to my liking. I published in newspapers for free too… If I decide that I want to get paid for what may qualify as political or social analytics, for example, I will apply to CSIS for a Russian-speaking analyst position.
Given that many of my ideas of what is good for the world are at odds with the interests of the rich and powerful, expecting them to pay me for expressing these ideas is even more ridiculous.
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Note that all of this can be said verbatim about teaching in the Humanities. And I’m afraid it will be said very very soon. And the saddest part, teachers themselves will agree.
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Teachers of the humanities should be paid for teaching the humanities. Not for writing on Facebook or personal blogs.
Why would they agree to do it for free any sooner than the teacher of physics? You think the competition in humanities is higher? Or that physics teachers do not enjoy their work as much?
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I am no fan of Mark Zuckerberg but I don’t see how FB constitutes work? My fb “writing” consists of 2-3 sentence status updates about small events going on in my life. The photos I post are just my amateur shots of me or of me and my husband that I think my family or close friends may appreciate seeing. It’s like a digital family photo album.
It would be delusional for me to think someone would pay me for this. Actually, I don’t think I would even want someone to pay me for my fb activity. It would be like getting paid to talk to my mother on the phone: it’s personal communication.
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Many people write truly brilliant long essays almost daily for Facebook. These are the ones who have thousands of followers. Others place amazing photos and cartoons there.
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Yes, they do. And we all benefit from reading them, not just Zuckerbergs. They also have complete freedom not to do it. Since Facebook is not paying them, it also has no leverage to force them into any unpaid work. Never heard of a university that judges its professors based on Facebook posts or lack of them.
Lot’s of problems can be avoided if and when people are self-aware and honest (with themselves) about their motivations.
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Hmmm… Why was this post more objectionable than others?
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And since I have nothing more to lose… 🙂
Think of the pre-internet days. What were the options for the practicing professionals in the humanities to make a living out of their profession? One could be a writer. But in order to make a living out of it, one had to convince some publisher to publish one’s book and the people had to buy those books. If one’s book was a success, reputation was built up, and it was easier to publish the next book. If one was more of a current issues kind of person, one could become a journalist. Again, to actually make a living one had to be hired into the permanent staff of some newspaper or magazine. Or to write columns for several of them. The latter required acquiring certain reputation first. Which could be obtained either via raising through the ranks of journalism, or through being a recognized expert in certain other field – a professor of X in the University of Y, or a medical doctor, an engineer, landscape designer, etc. Or one could be just a professor of X in the University of Y or a college and teach… The common denominator of most of these options – some entity, public or private, had to first recognize one as an expert in the field X enough to pay that person a salary, before general public could be interested enough in that person’s opinions.
A lot of indignation at Facebook comes from misinterpreting its role as that of the old-times publisher. Then of course it is ridiculous that the authors are not getting paid. But Facebook (or blogging platforms) are not JUST publishers (they are, to the extent they sell advertising space around interesting content), they are also a platform where one can build one’s reputation in ways that were not possible before, and free of financial risks. People are given a shortcut through traditional meritocracy… and they want to get paid immediately on top of that too. What about – not immediately? Suppose Facebook made some content pay-per-view in order to pay the interesting authors (what will be the criteria for “sufficiently interesting”? Number of likes or followers?)… Will many of us here be willing to actually pay for that content if it is pay-per-view?
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This is a great comment. I like it.
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Maybe I should consider blogging/youtubing in English as my main career. I would talk cats, dogs, and how Wal-Mart and Donald Trump are so great, for example.
Although I think it’s too late for me to make that really profitable.
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(…talk about cats…)
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Unrelated. Thought you might get a kick out of this.
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This is right on the money. These user generated content giga-sites like FB are free labor to Zuck and his overpaid engineers.
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It’s free labor for Zuckerburg only for people stupid enough to make Facebook their main base of online operations.
By blogging they can at least make some ad/amazon deals.
But TPTB hate blogging and lurve fakebook.
The only comment to make on a facebook essay is. “I don’t comment on facebook essays. Please put your very interesting information on a blog.”
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Exactly. I feel very sad when I see the amazing content some people dedicate to the promotion of the financial interests of Zuckerberg.
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These 2 posts made really rethinking myself about what to do on Fece-Crook. I think I should stop posting any political comment in my Facebook page and return to some kind of blogging. However, I don’t think an anarchist blog, even in English, would be profitable.
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Clarissa, what is inspiring this line of thought now? I didn’t think you were very active on Facebook at all.
Evelina, it’s not the pictures or the blog posts which Zuckerburg is making money off per se (although if it’s “good enough” I’m sure there’s a clause which makes it legal for Facebook to use.) It is that he can sell targeted marketing information and ads to companies. If I turn off my aggressive adblocking services I get all kinds of ads based on what my friends “like”, ads for “Mommy and Me” classes and “bridal boot camp”. This is why Facebook and other social media sites want you to volunteer as much information about yourself and your family as possible. I, for one, only joined Facebook, because of user density. I’m pretty sure FB also makes money off the “share” button.
The idea that what you’re doing is not work makes pushing back against this feel “icky.” If you’re very good at what you do, why should you do it for free? I don’t try to make money off of writing or art because everyone EXPECTS free content or content for peanuts. If you’re better than most people at it but not GOAT level, you starve or are penurious. Nobody fucking expects accountants or mechanics to work for free. But people have no problems rolling up on me at parties and telling me I’m so good at writing so why don’t I do it for a job and then in the next breath suggesting I write for free or I should proofread their shitty newsletter, self published book for free. And people wonder why this upsets me so. This why you see a lot of people who aren’t suited for their jobs who won’t change because what they are good at does not pay.
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I’m not on Facebook much precisely for the reasons I described. But I’m extremely puzzled by people who I know we’re making money from blogging but then simply abandoned that and went to Facebook where they don’t get a dime. I don’t understand the logic. The format is beyond inconvenient. You have no control over anything. I understand that people use it to keep in touch and post photos of relatives, etc. But there are people who live there, giving their thousands of followers as a gift to a stupid lazy grifter. I don’t get that.
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
Clarissa's Blog 
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