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A week or so ago Facebook removed the ticker feature they had in the bottom right corner. This is how I worked around the predetermined algorithm showing me wha

by pgrote 9y ago

A week or so ago Facebook removed the ticker feature they had in the bottom right corner. This is how I worked around the predetermined algorithm showing me what Facebook thinks I wanted to see. It allowed me to keep up with people I wanted to without Facebook intervening. Now that it is gone, the value of Facebook to me is near zero. Even if I saw MOST RECENT, posts are missing. When I come back it's switched back to TOP STORIES. I have no idea why companies decide to make users work hard for what they want.

carlivar 9y ago
Users? You're the product. Advertisers are the users.
- bschwindHN 9y ago
  Ahh there it is.
- hunter2_ 9y ago
  More typically than in response to someone saying "user," I see this in response to somebody erroneously saying "customer" or similar. I think "the user" is pretty valid, but "the used" makes for a good smirk.
  - carlivar 9y ago
    Yeah I got that wrong. I mixed up users with customers. Thank you for pointing it out.
  - astrodust 9y ago
    There's only two industries that describe their customers as users: Software and drug dealers.
- kruczek 9y ago
  God, I hate that phrase. I mean, I know that's the intended reason for it - to make it outrageous. But it's also stupidly incorrect. Facebook is not "producing" people who are using it, it is producing specific representation of data about their users. And I do not believe whatever data Facebook has can be considered equal to actual people.
gdulli 9y ago
I've bookmarked "most recent" but have long since stopped trusting that it's a pure chronological feed. I don't know how Facebook decides what I do and don't want to see, but they don't get it right.
- r3bl 9y ago
  From what I've figured out, on top of your "top stories" feed, you might see something that's 15 or 16 hours old, while on "most recent" you'll see the almost exact same stories in newest-first order.
  - danso 9y ago
    It varies upon user and friend activity. I just checked my "Top Stories" feed and the top post was from one of my best friends on Dec. 14 (3 days ago) and it wasn't even the most recent post/status update from her -- I assume it was placed highly because it got a decent amount of engagement (likes/comments). My "Most Recent" feed contains a few dozen posts/updates within the last hour.
colechristensen 9y ago
The peak of Facebook's usefulness was, for me, some time around when I joined in 2005. I don't think there has, in that entire span, been a change where I thought "wow this is great!". Everything I've noticed has either been neutral or negative. The best thing I did recently was turn on 2-factor auth for Facebook. Now, because it's mildly annoying to log in, I haven't logged in in weeks. I still can, but I don't. Facebook changed from an extremely high engagement niche product to a nearly free-of-utility product with the goal of capturing the entire planet as users.
- epanchin 9y ago
  2FA completely broke my habit of checking Facebook.
danso 9y ago
For other folks (like me) who weren't aware of this change (Ticker has been around since 2011): http://observer.com/2017/12/facebook-ticker-removed-news-feed/ http://observer.com/2017/12/facebook-ticker-removed-news-fee... > “We’re always listening to our community and working to make Facebook a personally relevant and real-time experience,” the spokesperson said in an email. “We’ve heard from people that News Feed is the best place to stay up to date with the people and Pages they follow, so we are removing Ticker.” Reports of the ticker disappearing can be found over the past years. Presumably they've been doing A/B testing to figure out how many people actually use it, compared to the potential of using that space for something else. For those (like me) who forgot what the ticker looked like on the web: https://techcrunch.com/2011/09/20/facebook-news-feed-gets-smarter%E2%80%94%C2%A0and-the-ticker-makes-its-big-debut/ https://techcrunch.com/2011/09/20/facebook-news-feed-gets-sm...
TallGuyShort 9y ago
I've noticed this with Instagram too. I don't know what the algorithm is based on, because 2 months ago I stopped seeing posts from a couple of local stores I used to (until they stopped showing up in my feed when scrolling until I got to posts I had seen before) interact with A LOT. When I finally noticed I hadn't seen them in a while I checked their pages directly. Turns out a big ticket item I've been thinking about getting had just been on sale at a significant discount. Thanks, Instagram algorithms. Good job. Instagram and Facebook now removed from my phone and I haven't been happier in a long time. Good riddance. Distractions that stopped adding any value to my life a long time ago.
- zippergz 9y ago
  They’re trying to force the business to pay to advertise rather than using their platform to do it for free.
  - sizzle 9y ago
    so they're taking the Yelp approach....
- MikeKusold 9y ago
  My problem with instagram is that I need to be careful what to "like". I used to follow Redbull, and they post great content that I would usually like. Then one day I noticed 3/4 of my feed was redbull. So I had to unfollow them. Now I follow some lifestyle accounts (mainly skiing) and I have to be careful not to like their content in case it takes over my page and hides my actual friends' posts.
craftyguy 9y ago
if the value of FB is practically zero (you say "near"..) then just "delete"* your account. *obviously FB would never allow that, but you can stop (or severely slow down) the firehose of information you are sending them by doing this.
ramphastidae 9y ago
Because you're not their customer — advertisers are.
- Gargoyle 9y ago
  If I don't enjoy my experience, I use it less and their customers get less.
- Realist1337 9y ago
  I dont fully understand this statement -- I've reduced Facebook browsing 85% because of newsfeed changes in the past year (i only see a handful of people, and at times dont even see my wife's posts for some strange reason (NO she is NOT blocking me)). How is it good for advertising that I dont use their product much anymore?
  - jacobush 9y ago
    You sound like an exhausted resource
pfarnsworth 9y ago
The worst thing about the Facebook feed is that it shows me the LIKES of my friends. I don't want to see their goddamn likes. I want to see their posts. This is the one thing that made me so angry, especially during the election. I thought they were posting things onto their feed that was overly political, but then I realized all they were doing was liking things. It's not their fault. Facebook needs to get rid of the Likes from my friends from my stream. It's the worst part of the feed and the least useful.
- jacobush 9y ago
  Seems it worked as intended during the elections. Next cycle they might have to come up with something else to reel you in.

by pgrote 9y ago

carlivar 9y ago

Users? You're the product. Advertisers are the users.

bschwindHN 9y ago
Ahh there it is.
hunter2_ 9y ago
More typically than in response to someone saying "user," I see this in response to somebody erroneously saying "customer" or similar. I think "the user" is pretty valid, but "the used" makes for a good smirk.
- carlivar 9y ago
  Yeah I got that wrong. I mixed up users with customers. Thank you for pointing it out.
- astrodust 9y ago
  There's only two industries that describe their customers as users: Software and drug dealers.
kruczek 9y ago
God, I hate that phrase. I mean, I know that's the intended reason for it - to make it outrageous. But it's also stupidly incorrect. Facebook is not "producing" people who are using it, it is producing specific representation of data about their users. And I do not believe whatever data Facebook has can be considered equal to actual people.

gdulli 9y ago

I've bookmarked "most recent" but have long since stopped trusting that it's a pure chronological feed. I don't know how Facebook decides what I do and don't want to see, but they don't get it right.

r3bl 9y ago
From what I've figured out, on top of your "top stories" feed, you might see something that's 15 or 16 hours old, while on "most recent" you'll see the almost exact same stories in newest-first order.
- danso 9y ago
  It varies upon user and friend activity. I just checked my "Top Stories" feed and the top post was from one of my best friends on Dec. 14 (3 days ago) and it wasn't even the most recent post/status update from her -- I assume it was placed highly because it got a decent amount of engagement (likes/comments). My "Most Recent" feed contains a few dozen posts/updates within the last hour.

colechristensen 9y ago

The peak of Facebook's usefulness was, for me, some time around when I joined in 2005. I don't think there has, in that entire span, been a change where I thought "wow this is great!". Everything I've noticed has either been neutral or negative. The best thing I did recently was turn on 2-factor auth for Facebook. Now, because it's mildly annoying to log in, I haven't logged in in weeks. I still can, but I don't. Facebook changed from an extremely high engagement niche product to a nearly free-of-utility product with the goal of capturing the entire planet as users.

epanchin 9y ago
2FA completely broke my habit of checking Facebook.

danso 9y ago

For other folks (like me) who weren't aware of this change (Ticker has been around since 2011): http://observer.com/2017/12/facebook-ticker-removed-news-feed/ http://observer.com/2017/12/facebook-ticker-removed-news-fee... > “We’re always listening to our community and working to make Facebook a personally relevant and real-time experience,” the spokesperson said in an email. “We’ve heard from people that News Feed is the best place to stay up to date with the people and Pages they follow, so we are removing Ticker.” Reports of the ticker disappearing can be found over the past years. Presumably they've been doing A/B testing to figure out how many people actually use it, compared to the potential of using that space for something else. For those (like me) who forgot what the ticker looked like on the web: https://techcrunch.com/2011/09/20/facebook-news-feed-gets-smarter%E2%80%94%C2%A0and-the-ticker-makes-its-big-debut/ https://techcrunch.com/2011/09/20/facebook-news-feed-gets-sm...

TallGuyShort 9y ago

I've noticed this with Instagram too. I don't know what the algorithm is based on, because 2 months ago I stopped seeing posts from a couple of local stores I used to (until they stopped showing up in my feed when scrolling until I got to posts I had seen before) interact with A LOT. When I finally noticed I hadn't seen them in a while I checked their pages directly. Turns out a big ticket item I've been thinking about getting had just been on sale at a significant discount. Thanks, Instagram algorithms. Good job. Instagram and Facebook now removed from my phone and I haven't been happier in a long time. Good riddance. Distractions that stopped adding any value to my life a long time ago.

zippergz 9y ago
They’re trying to force the business to pay to advertise rather than using their platform to do it for free.
- sizzle 9y ago
  so they're taking the Yelp approach....
MikeKusold 9y ago
My problem with instagram is that I need to be careful what to "like". I used to follow Redbull, and they post great content that I would usually like. Then one day I noticed 3/4 of my feed was redbull. So I had to unfollow them. Now I follow some lifestyle accounts (mainly skiing) and I have to be careful not to like their content in case it takes over my page and hides my actual friends' posts.

craftyguy 9y ago

if the value of FB is practically zero (you say "near"..) then just "delete"* your account. *obviously FB would never allow that, but you can stop (or severely slow down) the firehose of information you are sending them by doing this.

ramphastidae 9y ago

Because you're not their customer — advertisers are.

Gargoyle 9y ago
If I don't enjoy my experience, I use it less and their customers get less.
Realist1337 9y ago
I dont fully understand this statement -- I've reduced Facebook browsing 85% because of newsfeed changes in the past year (i only see a handful of people, and at times dont even see my wife's posts for some strange reason (NO she is NOT blocking me)). How is it good for advertising that I dont use their product much anymore?
- jacobush 9y ago
  You sound like an exhausted resource

pfarnsworth 9y ago

The worst thing about the Facebook feed is that it shows me the LIKES of my friends. I don't want to see their goddamn likes. I want to see their posts. This is the one thing that made me so angry, especially during the election. I thought they were posting things onto their feed that was overly political, but then I realized all they were doing was liking things. It's not their fault. Facebook needs to get rid of the Likes from my friends from my stream. It's the worst part of the feed and the least useful.

jacobush 9y ago
Seems it worked as intended during the elections. Next cycle they might have to come up with something else to reel you in.