Social Networking Sites

My first impression is that Facebook is a mess. The home page dashboard looks like it was designed by a neurotic salesman hoarder with ADHD. Without even doing anything – entering a search, clicking on anything or posting a single thing -  you have a flood of ads, suggested shows from Facebook, suggested groups, people facebook believes you may know, etc. ad nauseam. I am not sure how people feel comfortable putting their whole lives on this when it is clearly the corporate equivalent of a shark. 

My impression of Twitter is not much better, but at least it has less of the dashboard mess. It also has the benefit of limited number of characters. However, I made the account yesterday and already have 6 “ads” as tweets that I have no idea why I was sent. While I understand the advantages that Twitter can provide for reaching large numbers of people, I do question how advantageous it is for an individual if you don't have a specific purpose to accomplish. 

Instagram also seems to be an online photo album with some chatting. Still has a lot of ads, but less of the messaging. Though it does seem to be a knockoff of Snapchat (which Facebook tried to purchase), while Whatsapp seems to be a knockoff of a less featured Facebook but without ads. Since Facebook owns WhatsApp (and Instagram) this is not a surprise.  I understand they all need to make money and do so using advertising, but the long term cost of your life being corporately sold probably without your knowledge is pretty high. All in all, these social networking platforms seem like business orientated software cashing in by luring individuals. It's like people themselves have become a "business" that needs to be promoted and the owners of the site profit on this by using them for advertising profits.