Shame on all of you here that use fb, build apps or services on it. You do know better, yet help them continue with their behaviour as mentioned in the article.
I happily use Facebook. There are a large organization that has its faults, just like any organization. And, it's important to have critiques like this one of the company and its practices. But, I have no shame in using it and recommend everyone to have a Facebook login, just because of the value it provides to send out news and informations for local organizations.
What behavior? All the article describes is the consequence of a single platform becoming the main portal for the majority of people on mobile. It's not like Facebook goes out to publishers and tells them "write dumb nesticles with embedded native advertising, so we can ruin media forever! Muahaha!". Media discovered the magic cheap formula and ran with it, the same way TV discovered "reality TV" was the best bang for your buck. We don't blame cable companies for that, right?
On my case, I've tried to wait until the last moment to join it, I thought it would just be a fad and that the website would die quickly. Unfortunately, it seems the only way to get some news from my friends at the moment...
This comment is not productive. Using facebook doesn't mean you support the company. It just means that your friends hangout there and you don't have choice.
It's the same as in college when your friends all went to a particular place to eat by default and since you want to remain friends with them, you have to go there regardless.
But you are supporting the company. There may be great justifications for using a particular product or service, but take responsibility for the choice.
Would you say living in country X is also supporting country X her wrongdoing because otherwise we back to the argument "we don't have choice."
By the way, having a FB because friends are on is not a choice problem. It's simply because some people find FB convenient to connect with their friends.
Choosing convenience is still a choice. Many of my friends are probably on Facebook, but I neither know nor care. That doesn't mean I can't keep in touch.
>Would you say living in country X is also supporting country X her wrongdoing
If you're not the victim of the country's wrongdoing, and you don't do anything to prevent it, then sure.
Not just because you stay silent and let the leaders of the country pursue further wrongdoing, or also because you pay taxes which enable the country to go about its wrongdoing, but also because you might even benefit from the wrongdoing, even if you don't directly participate in it (e.g. if it benefits the country at large and trickles down to everybody).
Yes, you're still supporting the country - unless I suppose if you're rebelling or stealing from it. If your taxes are going towards a war that you don't believe in or want to fund, you're still funding it. That's why a lot of people are against taxation. I am against taxation in its current form because though I want to support the country I am in, I want to be able to decide where that money goes in a more refined way. I absolutely don't want to be helping people be killed if there's a better way, e.g. violent war - even if that better way costs more. Unfortunately/fortunately in order to change systems, including governments and countries, you have to work from within the system in most instances.
Equating an online platform, where everyone is mobile through a browser URL or downloading a different app, vs. a country is a little bit apples and oranges too, however if there is no good alternative - including online - then people are stuck. I believe there will be a better alternative in the future however.