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I'm not sure anyone could of predicted this could of happened as a result of building social networks online in the way it has been done. Consider the idea that

by nyxtom 9y ago

I'm not sure anyone could of predicted this could of happened as a result of building social networks online in the way it has been done. Consider the idea that the novel idea of a feed morphed into overwhelming data that leads to the demand for curation. The seemingly simple and innocent concept of likes, shares and posts are built not intentionally for malice but out of innocent curiosity for connection. That being said I think the financial incentive immediately takes over here and as a result those innocent ideals are trampled by analytics and pure psychological nudging.

ace_of_spades 9y ago
Would you need to? FB is in PRINCIPLE a bad idea. Who would want to have an advertising based for-profit company largely controlled by 1 person be responsible for managing the social interactions and community building of the world? Like what in there does NOT sound like a terrible idea?!! I mean I wonder what kind of self-deciting stunt Zuck has to pull each day to keep a straight face when he looks into a mirror... The situation really is just so obviously absurd.
- jononor 9y ago
  He probably honestly believes that he is making the world a better place. And there is probably not much feedback to him indicating otherwise, so why would he not? Don't see why stunts would be needed. As long as one believe that a small group of people can (and possibly should) take responsibility for so many others - a quite common belief for his demographics - it is internally consistent.
  - ace_of_spades 9y ago
    Yeah, I don’t really disagree... I just hope that there are/will be people in his life who push views like this to him. Maybe I should write him a mail?
- nyxtom 9y ago
  My understanding is that the original goals in the infancy, much like the rest of the internet at the time, explicitly wanted to avoid ads in favor of prioritizing user experience. Obviously the timeline shifted away from this but most of the internet moved to that. That being said, the psychological impact even without the ads is damaging enough without any sort of intention to encourage self control.
  - ace_of_spades 9y ago
    I believe that the ads play a more central role than you give them credit for. If you are a for-profit company selling something your incentives are aligned in a specific way - you want to do everything you can to maximize sales... If you want to sell ads this means in general you want to understand and be able to target specific users because this seems to be what advertisers are interested in. So FB is designed in a way to maximize that. Now imagine you have a different org not focused on selling ads but actually trying to measure and optimize things like usefulness to the user/city/country/world. It would live in a totally different optimization landscape and look totally different (over time)! FB could be very different from what it is today if different decisions had been made!

by nyxtom 9y ago

ace_of_spades 9y ago

Would you need to? FB is in PRINCIPLE a bad idea. Who would want to have an advertising based for-profit company largely controlled by 1 person be responsible for managing the social interactions and community building of the world? Like what in there does NOT sound like a terrible idea?!! I mean I wonder what kind of self-deciting stunt Zuck has to pull each day to keep a straight face when he looks into a mirror... The situation really is just so obviously absurd.

jononor 9y ago
He probably honestly believes that he is making the world a better place. And there is probably not much feedback to him indicating otherwise, so why would he not? Don't see why stunts would be needed. As long as one believe that a small group of people can (and possibly should) take responsibility for so many others - a quite common belief for his demographics - it is internally consistent.
- ace_of_spades 9y ago
  Yeah, I don’t really disagree... I just hope that there are/will be people in his life who push views like this to him. Maybe I should write him a mail?
nyxtom 9y ago
My understanding is that the original goals in the infancy, much like the rest of the internet at the time, explicitly wanted to avoid ads in favor of prioritizing user experience. Obviously the timeline shifted away from this but most of the internet moved to that. That being said, the psychological impact even without the ads is damaging enough without any sort of intention to encourage self control.
- ace_of_spades 9y ago
  I believe that the ads play a more central role than you give them credit for. If you are a for-profit company selling something your incentives are aligned in a specific way - you want to do everything you can to maximize sales... If you want to sell ads this means in general you want to understand and be able to target specific users because this seems to be what advertisers are interested in. So FB is designed in a way to maximize that. Now imagine you have a different org not focused on selling ads but actually trying to measure and optimize things like usefulness to the user/city/country/world. It would live in a totally different optimization landscape and look totally different (over time)! FB could be very different from what it is today if different decisions had been made!