(Silicon Valley, CA):
Facebook may be the #1 social media network in the world, but that may
soon change with Twitter’s announcement that it will begin marketing to people
whose Facebook ‘memories’ are depressing as Hell. One of Facebook’s many features is called
“Memories” in which a user is shown past posts from that calendar date that
will span from exactly one year prior to when the individual started their
Facebook account. For many, this is a
novel way to remember fun and interesting posts you may have forgotten, but for
a growing majority Facebook’s ‘Memories’ dredge up feelings of sadness and
despair that were better off left in the past. This trend hasn’t gone unnoticed by
Facebook’s biggest competitor, Twitter, who plans on capitalizing on the
unintended consequences of Facebook ‘Memories’ experienced by millions of
people worldwide.
“Twitter doesn’t dig up the past, we are all about the here
and now” stated Irene Russell of Twitter’s User Outreach Department. “We want users to be in a constant state of
discovery with funny tweets and famous celebrities making inspirational
comments in 140 characters [or less if they want their tweets to be retweeted,
or shared among other users]. Twitter does not force you to re-live detailed,
depressing events in your life, not even vague posts that consist of the sad
face emoji. Twitter users start fresh
every 30 seconds. It is this constant
renewal of ideas that we believe will appeal to Facebook users who are annually
reminded that they went through a terrible divorce three years ago or that they
found out that they were adopted two years ago.”
“I had just logged on Facebook this morning before work like
I do everyday” stated Kevin Cooper of Kansas City, MO “when I saw the memories
pop up on my phone. As I scrolled
through them a post from 2013 came up.
That day my cat had been accidentally hit by a car. Actually, it was my
car, and I was driving. All those feelings of loss and anguish came flooding
back. I shouldn’t have described it in
such detail, but at the time I thought people would want to know. Now I’m
depressed all over again, so I shared it with my friends and family… letting
them know just how I feel about seeing disheartening posts I made when I was
feeling miserable. I should have never taken a selfie with my dead cat, or made
that Vine of her final moments. I hope
when I see this next year I won’t get as upset reliving every second of it.”... [READ MORE]
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