What am I Giving Away for Scrabulous?

What media outlet brought me programs such as TV Nation and The Simpsons? Rupert Murdoch's own Fox Network.

And who let's me play counterfeit Scrabble with my liberal friends, publicly express support for Democratic candidates, and get cause messages from some socialist guy I went out with a couple of times? The Facebook.

Am I sticking it to the Man or what?

When I first heard of the Facebook from work/study students obsessed with checking their friend counts, I said, half jokingly, "The Facebook is evil." Anyone who's read or heard an interview of Facebook's so-called wunderkind Mark Zuckerman can tell he's a tool. But whose tool is he? This alarmist piece in The Guardian and another more tempered essay from Inside Higher Ed raise some interesting questions about the Facebook and social networking in general.

Here's one part of the Guardian piece that no one can deny. From a purely capitalist standpoint, these social networking sites are genius. I run a social network online, the audience creates the content, I sell their attention. Why pay writers and such? All I have to do is set up my site and tweak it every so often (or throw bananas at some code monkey to tweak it). After that, I just lap up the gravy.

In return for contributing content and demographic data to Facebook, Blogger, OKCupid, Gmail and the like, I get to play games with friends, reconnect with long lost friends (or at least send them little notes and pictures of yams), express myself, and meet guys --creepy and decent-- without having to get all tarted up and go outside.

What's wrong with that little social contract? The Guardian guy traces Facebook capital to a bunch of wing nuts and even the CIA, but what popular entertainment outlet can't be linked to kookoo right wingers? Just because I enjoy the sleek classic styling of Facebook (Myspace looks like a yard sale in a trailer park) doesn't mean I'm going to become some neocon sheep, even if I am tempted by a competitive streak to boost my friend numbers.

How is being on the Facebook any different from me watching The Simpsons on Fox TV? Both media show ads, which I can chose to ignore or block. When I watched the Simpsons and didn't pay attention to the commercials, I kind of liked the idea that I was putting one over on old Rupert by letting him entertain me for nothing. But the Facebook and other social networking services ask more from me than my attention. I give the Facebook things I can never really take back, such as some rather embarrassing Scrabulous plays.