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The article is a meandering and muddles it point but here's the paragraph where the actual point is made: In 2001, an eBay user might have given an eBay seller
by thisisit 8y ago
The article is a meandering and muddles it point but here's the paragraph where the actual point is made:
In 2001, an eBay user might have given an eBay seller a low rating for an unsatisfactory packaging job; in 2018, an Uber driver might be dinged if a rider doesn’t like his personality or choice of music. Facebook recently began ranking publishers by trustworthiness, based on feedback from users. Upon discovering a problem, a platform company’s first instinct is to find a way to expose it to the wisdom of a market, or at least the will of a crowd.
It’s a transactional platform; the transaction is very clear to both sides,” Hagiu says. “By and large, buyers and sellers are aligned on eBay.” A seller banned for counterfeit sunglasses hasn’t lost any rights, just his ability to use eBay. Crucially, to most ears, a scammer’s claims to the contrary would sound ridiculous.
The article's view on what ails the internet is the flawed idea of "wisdom of the crowd". The recommendation based systems where companies say - "others watched/read this so, you must like it too".
But then the article presents Amazon as something better and conveniently forgets that Amazon too has a similar ratings system. Though only the product level reviews are front and center. Seller reviews do not take the limelight. And as evident by Amazon's glut of fake products this weakness of rating systems is being gamed too.
- mirimir 8y agoAlso this: > But quite often [Facebook is] managed like [a marketplace], because in many ways, that’s exactly what it is: a giant, multisided marketplace for buying and selling, in which the largest party — the users — doesn’t do the buying or the selling. A social network’s profitable transactions involve everyone but the users. Ad rates are even determined, in many cases, by auction. If eBay is a machine for finding the right price for a pair of shoes, Facebook — behind the veneer of enabling human connection — is a machine for discovering the right price for a pair of eyeballs. Your eyeballs.
- TACIXAT 8y agoThe other point was sites are often trying to address social issues with market solutions. Facebook's mission is social connection but its profit is attention bidding.
- mirimir 8y agoMaybe "stated mission"? Do you believe that Facebook's mission is actually social connection?
- unclebucknasty 8y ago>Do you believe that Facebook's mission is actually social connection? Exactly. I laughed out loud at how insanely cynical it is that they suggest that as their mission. After reading it, you can almost hear Zuckerberg laughing and sneering, "dumb f___s".
- mirimir 8y agoHe could have seen the light. Some sort of light. God. Landmark. Qigong. Some Hawaiian spiritual practice.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- DrScump 8y agoA seller banned for counterfeit sunglasses hasn’t lost any rights, just his ability to use eBay. That's a crock. eBay has defended the sale of all kinds of counterfeit fashion items. Even if they shut off an account, the seller can make another immediately... or hijack a dormant one with a feedback legacy.
- DrScump 8y agoThe article is a meandering and muddles I agree... so I was surprised to read at the bottom: "John Herrman is a technology reporter for The Times."