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0 pointsbaddox12y ago0 comments

I don't think it's reasonable to question that assumption. Humans are social creatures, and social networks make it easier to connect with people over arbitrary distances. To deny that social networking is not beneficial is equivalent to arguing that telephones and postal services are not beneficial.

Your analysis focuses only on Facebook. Of course people are leaving Facebook. But is the total user population of all social networking apps decreasing? I doubt it.

> First: a false equivalence and shifting goalposts. Your initial claim was "most of the academic research".

Poor phrasing on my part. My original goalpost was "the academic research like this," which is admittedly vague. What I meant was research projects focused on image processing and interpretation.

> Third: what you see as a useless toy has some pretty evident applications that I can consider.

I don't see it as a useless toy. I just think it's far less useful than social networking services, which have a very practical obvious benefit.

> Blindly claiming social media vastly exceeds the value of such research fails to pass the most casual of sniff tests.

It's not a blind claim, it's what I feel is an extremely obvious claim.

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dredmorbius12y ago

I don't think it's reasonable to question that assumption

It's reasonable to question ALL assumptions.

Your analysis focuses only on Facebook.

No it doesn't. I pointed at FB as the largest of the present SNs, but referenced other SNs as well. FB is a leading exemplar of the field. My use of it isn't intended as exlusionary of other SNs.

My original goalpost was "the academic research like this,"

Which largely moots the rest of the argument. Though as I pointed out, "research such as this" actually does pose some reasonably interesting and useful applications. We can argue over those magnitudes, but I'll stick with my initial assessment that the net benefits of such research are likely to be high.

Also, but narrowly identifying what you feel is and isn't valuable research, you're sharply skewing the results to your favor. It's as if I said "but I meant by 'social media' 4Chan and HotOrNot".

it's what I feel is an extremely obvious claim.

And it's what I feel requires citation.

Which you've failed to provide, being rather more inclined to engage in rhetoric.

HAND.

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