I have some ideas about what could compete with Facebook/Twitter

Chris Hughes, a co-founder of Facebook, a co-chairman of the Economic Security Project and a senior adviser at the Roosevelt Institute opines in the New York Times:

“No one knows exactly what Facebook’s competitors would offer to differentiate themselves.”

I have some ideas (most apply to Twitter too):

1. That it guarantees that I am always messaging or receiving messages from parties that I can clearly and absolutely accurately identify, with ease.

2. That I am targeted in an at least a 95% perfect way, so that my already way too scarce attention span is not being further wasted away by irrelevant/useless advertising/information.

3. That it shares with the participants 50-50 all advertising revenues generated by exploiting their data. Either to each one his respective production quota, or by means of helping to fund a universal basic income.

4. That it does it utmost to keep out all those redistribution or polarization profiteers whom, with their messages of hate or envy, can destroy our societies.

5. That it swears never ever to form any type of joint venture, with any type of Big Brother.

PS. Should we at least, as a minimum-minimorum, not require all social media with over a million followers, to openly publish the algorithms they use to maximize their ad revenues?

https://perkurowski.blogspot.com/2017/11/those-bothering-us-and-wasting-our.html

Keep your eyes on the ball, Cambridge Analytica is not it.

The whole Cambridge Analytica affair, which came about when some limited Facebook data on 87 million people was presumably misappropriated, seems now used a lot to hide the fact that the existence at Facebook of much more detailed data on 2.2 billion people poses, almost by definition, a bigger problem.

Since regulations might come, whether we like it or not, like many I have been giving some thoughts on how to regulate Facebook. This is what I have come up with. First of all, let us avoid many complicated hard to understand rules and go for some very simple few ones. Among these I would suggest: 

Have Facebook respect our very scarce attention span by limiting the ads it generates to a maximum of 3 per person on a per hour on line basis.

Prohibit all data collection on truly private matters such as political, religious or sexual preferences.

And foremost a total prohibition on handing over any data to government agencies. The last thing we need is for Facebook and similar to enter into profitable "Big Brother is Watching You” joint ventures with governments. I am from Venezuela, and I have seen enough damage having been caused by governments taking over traditional media, to want to think about these being able to exploit social media. Can you imagine Maduro using our Facebook data to decide with much more precision, who to give his food-boxes to?

Farfetched? In Venezuela, the government of President Nicolás Maduro is arresting and detaining—in horrific conditions—teenagers who use Facebook to call on friends to attend anti-government demonstrations

We "The Resistance", might urgently need to create alternative underground social media.

PS. Of course I would love to see some of the advertising revenues we allowed Facebook to earn, return to us whose data is being exploited, perhaps by means of helping to fund a Universal Basic Income. 

@PerKurowski

Those bothering us and wasting our limited and valuable attention span on social media should not be able to do so at a zero marginal cost.

Those who on social media send us their advertisements, surely pay Google and Facebook the most, if we respond to their ads. In that sense all those players have a vested interest in targeting us as good as they can. 

But if they do not target us adequately, the marginal cost of that for them is zero.

And that is not good for us. That because we the ad-recipients have to pay the cost of using up too much of our limited attention span on ads, info and fake news we do not really need.

So therefore if all who we have not directly designated as friends, had to pay us something for contacting us on social media; like a one hundred of a $ cent, I am sure the Google and Facebook would be a bit more concerned about not wasting our time... and would then target us even better.

Nowadays they generously allow us to message them with an “I am not interested”. But, is that just not too late? We have already been bothered and since there are millions of vendors out there, I would hate to look forward to a future of having to waste years of my life sending “I am not interested” replies.

PS. Although sometimes we should not ignore it could be of much benefit to us to be targeted by something outside our comfort zone, so as to avoid incestuous intellectual degeneration.

PS. Potential Big Brothers’, redistribution profiteers plus ambulance chasers on web, are closing in on big tech and social media. Therefore it behooves Google and Facebook and similar, to team up with us who provide them all data, sharing advertising profits 50-50. I have some ideas about that. 

http://teawithft.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-most-forceful-adblocker-is-limited.html

http://teawithft.blogspot.com/2015/09/ad-blockers-do-not-allow-any.html

http://teawithft.blogspot.com/2015/07/my-ideal-adblocker-besides-earning-on.html

http://teawithft.blogspot.com/2015/03/i-want-net-40-percent-of-revenues.html

http://perkurowski.blogspot.com/2015/06/for-1us-i-will-look-for-30-seconds-with.html

http://perkurowski.blogspot.com/2014/06/should-not-google-and-other-public-eyes.html

http://teawithft.blogspot.ca/2007/06/in-search-of-answers-on-search-engines.html

The power of darkness and silence: Boredom is great for great thinking

A 2026, X post inspired by Helena Henschen's book.

Like a filled kerosene lamp can shine so bright when there’s a power outage, artificial intelligence, by removing the “emotions, biases, or social pressures humans wrestle with”, can shine lots of light on human intelligence. Do we dare see it?

https://perkurowski.blogspot.com/2025/03/ai-grok-why-does-artificial.html

https://x.com/PerKurowski/status/2016104973222699363

The original comment

I translate the following from Helena Henschen’s (1940-2011) marvelous book "In the shadow of a crime”, 2004

"Sometimes it is necessary to expose yourself to the boredom of loneliness… I welcome the winter power outages.

It is as if the psyche must have silence and time in order to be able to activate and initiate a creation process. I have to get away from everyday life with ever-inbound data that occupies space, a stream of impressions that flows inwards and requires sorting, valuation, and action. It is only when the noise of outer life ceases that a conversion occurs. The power switches direction. From boredom, an opposite outward movement grows.

It seems that boredom and creativity have to do with each other; as well as the listening to nothing.

When the electricity goes out again, a filled kerosene lamp is on the table next to the sofa. I look for the matchbox that I have put next to it, and curl up with a block and a pen in my pocket. I'm prepared; no time is going to be wasted. 

The power outage can last forever, but I do not fall asleep. The brain is on high, the spirits have woken up ..."

P.S. Referencing this book, in 2015 I wrote a letter to the Financial Times that I titled: “We should be grateful for the chance of experience boredom. It is much more valuable than we think.”

P.S As we are left with less and less free unused attention span, we also have less and less time for reflection.

P.S. Filling up their, when awake, 24x7 scarce attention span, deprives our children from that vital educational/forming tool known as boredom; that which inspires them to be creative and teaches them patience. (When I was young, I had to wait for a whole week before the next chapter of Bonanza) 

Below the original text in Swedish 

"Ibland känns det nödvändigt att utsätta sig för ensamhetens tråkighet… jag välkomnar vinterns elavbrott. 

Det är som psyket måste ha tystnad och tid för att kunna aktiveras och sätta igång en skapandeprocess. Jag måste bort från vardagslivet med ständig inkommande data som upptar utrymmet, en ström av intryck som forsar utifrån och in och kräver sortering, värdering och åtgärd. Det är först när slamret från det yttre livet avstannat som de uppstår en konvertering. Strömmen växlar riktning. Ur tråkigheten växer en rörelse från motsatt håll, inifrån och ut. 

Det verkar som om tråkigheten och skapande har med varandra att göra liksom lyssnandet på ingenting."

När elektriciteten bryts igen, står en fylld fotogenlampa på bordet intill soffan. Jag trevar efter tändsticksasken som jag har lagt bredvid den och kryper upp med ett block och en penna i fickan, jag är beredd och ingen tid får förspillas. 

Elavbrottet kan vara hur länge som helst men jag somnar inte. Hjärnan är på högvarv, andarna har vaknat…

"I skuggan av ett brott", 2004 Brombergs

PS. Jag hade turen att veta om denna bok tack vare min Mamma Ingas kära vän Marjorie Cronstedt. Hon sa till mig en gång ”den boken bör du läsa Per”, och i den kopian jag då hittade stod det: “‘Ett litet arv’ från Marjorie. För en lugn stund så småningom. 29/8-2006”  Den är nu för mig, ett mycket kärt arv.

PS. I was lucky enough to know about this book thanks to my Mamma Inga's dear friend Marjorie Cronstedt. Mother told me once "you should read that book Per", and in the copy I then found it said: "'A small inheritance' from Marjorie." For a quiet moment eventually. 29/8-2006” It is now for me, a very dear heirloom.