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Sure. But that also doesn't mean it's an accident. They're trying to increase engagement, and what do they have at hand other than addictive techniques?

by trebor 9y ago

graphitezepp 9y ago
Would it be fair to say addiction is just a state of near maximum engagement?
yourapostasy 9y ago
> ...and what do they have at hand other than addictive techniques? Reaching for addictive behavioral models is like reaching for management policies when the hard work and long-term investment into leadership is more sustainable. To directly respond to your question, they can for example move to a facilitation model; engagement is encouraged through longer discourse, or through editorial staff whose job is to summarize viewpoints/trends/patterns that quickly bring newcomers up to speed, but they do not moderate. Another possibility is an aspiration model that shows the small steps and decisions it takes to succeed, rather than orient towards the highlights reel view favored today. Say someone you admire and follow wakes up at 3 am to go work out: the social media connection time-shifts to your timezone, corrects for your distance to your gym, and encourages you via your smartwatch to do the same, in realtime. They eat exactly 100g of oatmeal for breakfast; the social media connection corrects for your body measurements (lean body mass, gender, height, etc.), and says you can eat 90g to follow your aspiration person. Yet another possibility is community-wide goal setting and pursuit. Engagement through groups creating their own layouts, platform-based applications, etc. to both decide and pursue their goals. There are more models to consider. I posit they are not pursued by FB because they decided they cannot monetize those models under their current ad-driven monetization model, which in turn is governed by the capitalist (though not necessarily free market) model they operate under. Relax some or all of those constraints, and the other kinds of engagement models might emerge?

Sure. But that also doesn't mean it's an accident. They're trying to increase engagement, and what do they have at hand other than addictive techniques?

by trebor 9y ago

Sure. But that also doesn't mean it's an accident. They're trying to increase engagement, and what do they have at hand other than addictive techniques?

graphitezepp 9y ago

Would it be fair to say addiction is just a state of near maximum engagement?

yourapostasy 9y ago

> ...and what do they have at hand other than addictive techniques? Reaching for addictive behavioral models is like reaching for management policies when the hard work and long-term investment into leadership is more sustainable. To directly respond to your question, they can for example move to a facilitation model; engagement is encouraged through longer discourse, or through editorial staff whose job is to summarize viewpoints/trends/patterns that quickly bring newcomers up to speed, but they do not moderate. Another possibility is an aspiration model that shows the small steps and decisions it takes to succeed, rather than orient towards the highlights reel view favored today. Say someone you admire and follow wakes up at 3 am to go work out: the social media connection time-shifts to your timezone, corrects for your distance to your gym, and encourages you via your smartwatch to do the same, in realtime. They eat exactly 100g of oatmeal for breakfast; the social media connection corrects for your body measurements (lean body mass, gender, height, etc.), and says you can eat 90g to follow your aspiration person. Yet another possibility is community-wide goal setting and pursuit. Engagement through groups creating their own layouts, platform-based applications, etc. to both decide and pursue their goals. There are more models to consider. I posit they are not pursued by FB because they decided they cannot monetize those models under their current ad-driven monetization model, which in turn is governed by the capitalist (though not necessarily free market) model they operate under. Relax some or all of those constraints, and the other kinds of engagement models might emerge?