Since you disagree with the parent and are claiming the opposite as him (also without a citation), I decided to Google around for some actual data.
Here are some findings from a NBC/WSJ poll [0]...
> 57 percent of Americans say they agree with the statement that social media sites like Facebook and Twitter do more to divide the country
> Fifty-five percent believe social media does more to spread lies and falsehoods, versus 31 percent who say it does more to spread news and information
> Sixty-one percent think social media does more to spread unfair attacks and rumors against public figures and corporations, compared with 32 percent who say it does more to hold those public figures and corporations accountable.
> 82 percent say social media sites do more to waste people’s time, versus 15 percent who say they do more to use Americans’ time well.
> 60 percent saying they don’t trust the company at all to protect personal information
> 36 percent of adults view Facebook positively, while 33 percent see it negatively. And Twitter’s rating is 24 percent positive, 27 percent negative.
> 36 percent of adults view Facebook positively, while 33 percent see it negatively. And Twitter’s rating is 24 percent positive, 27 percent negative.
Am I correct in reading here that more adults view Facebook positively than negatively?
Interestingly, it also shows 68% of respondents agreed with "The federal government should not break these companies up because competition should be left to the free market without government choosing winners and losers", vs only 28% disagreeing, and for all such breakup questions asked there was 59% that totally agree with not breaking up, vs 30% that agree with breaking up. This is a clear majority in favour of not breaking them up, whereas the majority on HN seem to favour breaking thhem up.
I primarily responded because I disagree with your opinion:
> The views of people on Hackernews don't seem very representative of those of the general population, maybe because hating on Facebook is an excellent excuse for people to feel superior to the general population.
I agree with the part that HN isn't representative of the general population. But I don't think the reason for disagreeing is because we on HN want to feel superior to everyone else (maybe some people do, but I don't think most people here actually think that way..).
The data from the poll shows that a negative opinion of Facebook is not particularly uncommon. It might not be the majority opinion, but it's also not an uncommon opinion among the general public.
>But I don't think the reason for disagreeing is because we on HN want to feel superior to everyone else (maybe some people do, but I don't think most people here actually think that way..).
Maybe people don't explicitly think that, but people who demand a Facebook ban must at least implicitly believe they're somehow superior to the billions of Facebook users, otherwise how could they justify the notion that they way they want those people to spend their time is better than the way those people have demonstrated they want to spend their time? If I were to say to a grown adult "I demand you stop smoking pot, it's bad for you!", I can't imagine a way I could do that without coming across as believing I knew better than them.
Here are some findings from a NBC/WSJ poll [0]...
> 57 percent of Americans say they agree with the statement that social media sites like Facebook and Twitter do more to divide the country
> Fifty-five percent believe social media does more to spread lies and falsehoods, versus 31 percent who say it does more to spread news and information
> Sixty-one percent think social media does more to spread unfair attacks and rumors against public figures and corporations, compared with 32 percent who say it does more to hold those public figures and corporations accountable.
> 82 percent say social media sites do more to waste people’s time, versus 15 percent who say they do more to use Americans’ time well.
> 60 percent saying they don’t trust the company at all to protect personal information
> 36 percent of adults view Facebook positively, while 33 percent see it negatively. And Twitter’s rating is 24 percent positive, 27 percent negative.
[0] https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5794861-19093-NBCWSJ...