4 ms·

Non linear feed makes it crappy for me. Now I'm guaranteed to miss stuff from people I care about, just like on FB.

wwweston 9y ago
This. Why, why, why? I mean, I'm sure there's an ostensible reason. Maybe there's metrics that show it increases engagement (which I'd believe, since it kindof fits with the studies that say an uncertain reward is more addictive than completely predictable reward). Maybe adding a special sauce ML algorithm to the feed generation process lets a product manager add a bullet point to their resume and yearly review. But I kindof think the reason has to be something that is not going to be particularly user driven or otherwise reflect well on FB, because as far as I can tell most users who are conscious about it reaaaally would like to be able to at least set a setting that would give them a strict chronological feed. And yet, that's never an option, and FB never even seems to talk about reasons why they know their way is totally awesome.
- justAnotherNET 9y ago
  If it was better for users they’d toot their own horn about it. It’s more likely Ad revenue is x% higher so they do it that way.
- vanderZwan 9y ago
  > Maybe there's metrics that show it increases engagement (which I'd believe, since it kindof fits with the studies that say an uncertain reward is more addictive than completely predictable reward) I wonder how much of those metrics are false positives due to people scrolling more in frustration to find the user updates that they are missing
  - lou1306 9y ago
    You might be on to something. "Hey, did you see what $mutual_friend has posted on Facebook this morning?" Cue 15 minutes of scrolling past two-weeks-old posts
    - vanderZwan 9y ago
      Realises they could have searched for that friend and opened their profile Cue 15 more minutes of scrolling before realising they're two months back because they missed the actual post, because Facebook does not show every update by default
trevor-e 9y ago
Isn't it only non-linear on the first load? Whenever I open the app for the first time in a while it shows me "top content while I was gone", and after refreshing it appears to be linear again.
- driverdan 9y ago
  Nope, it's always non-linear. It does appear to hold back some posts from your first load in some kind of idiotic attempt to give you additional things to look at later.
  - simooooo 9y ago
    Ohhh new stuff happened! ... Oh.. Wait
  - leroy_masochist 9y ago
    > It does appear to hold back some posts from your first load in some kind of idiotic attempt to give you additional things to look at later. I've noticed this as well, and it appears to have gotten more pronounced in the last month or so. I don't understand why this isn't a setting that users can toggle. "Show feed strict in linear order" or something like that.
    - vanderZwan 9y ago
      https://www.facebook.com/?sk=h_chr https://www.facebook.com/?sk=h_chr It's hidden under News -> Most Recent EDIT: Oh wait, Instagram. No idea what to do there, sorry.

This. Why, why, why? I mean, I'm sure there's an ostensible reason. Maybe there's metrics that show it increases engagement (which I'd believe, since it kindof fits with the studies that say an uncertain reward is more addictive than completely predictable reward). Maybe adding a special sauce ML algorithm to the feed generation process lets a product manager add a bullet point to their resume and yearly review. But I kindof think the reason has to be something that is not going to be particularly user driven or otherwise reflect well on FB, because as far as I can tell most users who are conscious about it reaaaally would like to be able to at least set a setting that would give them a strict chronological feed. And yet, that's never an option, and FB never even seems to talk about reasons why they know their way is totally awesome.

justAnotherNET 9y ago
If it was better for users they’d toot their own horn about it. It’s more likely Ad revenue is x% higher so they do it that way.
vanderZwan 9y ago
> Maybe there's metrics that show it increases engagement (which I'd believe, since it kindof fits with the studies that say an uncertain reward is more addictive than completely predictable reward) I wonder how much of those metrics are false positives due to people scrolling more in frustration to find the user updates that they are missing
- lou1306 9y ago
  You might be on to something. "Hey, did you see what $mutual_friend has posted on Facebook this morning?" Cue 15 minutes of scrolling past two-weeks-old posts
  - vanderZwan 9y ago
    Realises they could have searched for that friend and opened their profile Cue 15 more minutes of scrolling before realising they're two months back because they missed the actual post, because Facebook does not show every update by default

trevor-e 9y ago

Isn't it only non-linear on the first load? Whenever I open the app for the first time in a while it shows me "top content while I was gone", and after refreshing it appears to be linear again.

driverdan 9y ago
Nope, it's always non-linear. It does appear to hold back some posts from your first load in some kind of idiotic attempt to give you additional things to look at later.
- simooooo 9y ago
  Ohhh new stuff happened! ... Oh.. Wait
- leroy_masochist 9y ago
  > It does appear to hold back some posts from your first load in some kind of idiotic attempt to give you additional things to look at later. I've noticed this as well, and it appears to have gotten more pronounced in the last month or so. I don't understand why this isn't a setting that users can toggle. "Show feed strict in linear order" or something like that.
  - vanderZwan 9y ago
    https://www.facebook.com/?sk=h_chr https://www.facebook.com/?sk=h_chr It's hidden under News -> Most Recent EDIT: Oh wait, Instagram. No idea what to do there, sorry.