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Sheryl Sandberg’s New Job Is to Fix Facebook’s Reputation and Her Own
- zwaps 8y agoPaywalled article :<
- Grangar 8y agooutline.com/[url]
- electic 8y agohttps://outline.com/5PcXMf https://outline.com/5PcXMf
- UpshotKnothole 8y agoEven if Facebook actually wanted to change, intended to change and put time, money, and talent to the task this would still be a serious uphill climb. The idea that anyone could rehabilitate their image when they have no such commitment is laughable. Does anyone seriously think what this really isn’t just crisis mangement? Every quarter that FB can stave off inevitable backlash and regulation is money in their pocket, even if it’s only a decaying orbit. Like the tobacco industry in its day, delay delay delay because thst delay is profitable. If you can’t make your product “healthy” without throwing out your product, this is how you act.
- jliptzin 8y agoFacebook is the cigarette of our generation
- astrodust 8y agoIt's already causing a cancer of the mind.
- opportune 8y agosmoking:respiratory system :: social media:mental health
- tj-teej 8y agoAll due respect, smoke causes cancer, images don't cause mental health problems. If cigarettes weren't addictive they'd still be REALLY bad for you. The problem with Facebook (or current Social Media) is that it IS addictive, and therefore bad, if it wasn't addictive it wouldn't necessarily be bad for you.
- GauntletWizard 8y agoI disagree. I think there are a large number of mental health problems that are directly attributable to images you see and words you read -most notably depression, but I think anorexia is the case study here. I don't think that the people who've contracted it through social media weren't already at risk, but the availability of models and pro-ana groups that encourage and enable such behavior has profound effect.
- wolco 8y agoTalk to child exploitation workers who have nervous breakdowns over the images they see. Images do cause mental health issues.
- tj-teej 8y agoThat’s completely true, I wasn’t clear in my first post, I meant images alone do not necessarily cause harm, whereas a cigarette does necessarily cause harm. You’re completely right that there are images which can cause harm
- bg4 8y ago> images don't cause mental health problems This is categorically false.
- artursapek 8y agoThe health problems caused by smoking can be easily visualized as a pair of black lungs. Social media is harmful in a more invisible way.
- starpilot 8y agoPreviously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14851057 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14851057
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- mehrdadn 8y agoReally? Besides "feeling good" (I assume?), I would be hard pressed to think of a single beneficial thing about cigarette. Facebook certainly has more productive uses than just making you feel good... the question is whether they're worth the downsides.
- save_ferris 8y agoWhat benefit does Facebook provide that no other service can? When I break down the specific features of the FB platform, I'd be hard pressed to think of a single beneficial thing about FB.
- tintor 8y agoNetwork effect. Lots of people still use it.
- akiselev 8y ago> Network effect. Lots of people still use it. Cigarettes are legal pretty much everywhere and easily found at any corner store. Network effect.
- raverbashing 8y agoThat's not the definition of network effect
- mantas 8y agoThe real network effect is all the chit-chat while smoking and making connections when somebody asks for a some/fire.
- collyw 8y agoIts a contact list. And it doesn't go out of date in the same way that phone numbers or email addresses can.
- deleted 8y ago
- tybit 8y agoThe world's rapidly improving if that's true.
- kardos 8y agoWhich generation are you? I thought it was the nicotine vape jobbies that form the cigarettes of our generation
- fouc 8y agoThe internet generation, or generation X (the one right before millennials).
- cecja 8y agoNo, it's our religion, our Opium for the people.
- stevehawk 8y agoBut... Who cares?
- dang 8y agoMaybe no one, but please don't post unsubstantive comments here.
- gkanai 8y agoThere is nothing FB or Sandberg can do to fix Facebook's reputation in my mind. I have deleted most of the content I have posted to FB and keep my account only because I sometimes use Messenger.
- dev510213 8y agoI've noticed most of the current gen college kids are very sparing of their fb use (at least the computer saavy ones). It seems to me (disclaimer: completely anecdotal) that the previous gen and previous-gen^2 (ie circa 2008-2016) generation of college-age kids were the ones who were much less restricted in their use of fb.
- JKCalhoun 8y agoI esp. would not use Messenger. That would seem to be the "spyingest". But I'm assuming you have someone who is all-in on Messenger you would lose otherwise. Deleted FB and all content a year ago. Honestly, as I was on my way out, I was beginning to enjoy the "groups" I had discovered. Wish there were a lurker mode....
- vlehto 8y agoI found such too. But the quality of discussion is sub par even when the original idea was good. Large share of the people who are still active on facebook seem to be types of people who have very few friends and like to shout their ideas into the abyss. Or alternatively very connected people who promote slogans to mindless crowd of agreeing zombies. It's mostly result of "your aunt sees what you just said" which means that you rarely see anybody genuinely argue anything. Because the feeling of your aunt briging up your facebook discussion from two years back at summer cottage is not worth it. Facebook is shitty at managing interpersonal connections, kinda weird at this point. Then the lack of dislike button keeps noise levels high from people with no aunts. Even the few actual discussions typically develop into pointless drama. Reddit has very bad problems with eternal September, but its not nearly brainless if you dig deep enough into subreddits.
- dblohm7 8y agohttp://archive.is/H640P http://archive.is/H640P
- charlesism 8y ago"Move fast and repeatedly betray your users' trust" isn't a good strategy, long-term.
- trophycase 8y agoTheir market cap begs to differ I suppose
- ardy42 8y ago>> "Move fast and repeatedly betray your users' trust" isn't a good strategy, long-term. > Their market cap begs to differ I suppose It seems to do OK in the short to medium term.
- trophycase 8y agoI just mean they are one of the largest companies in the world and don't seem to be going anywhere with the rise of Instagram. It more or less seems that they have had no penalty for using this strategy.
- charlesism 8y agoEveryone here is aware FB has had a good run. I wouldn't bank on them long-term. This stuff does not bode well... > Facebook on Thursday posted the largest one-day loss in > market value by any company in U.S. stock market history > after releasing a disastrous quarterly report.
- dingaling 8y ago'Facebook' didn't post any loss, its short-term shareholders did.
- LUmBULtERA 8y agoI did laugh out loud at Zuckerburg's testimony that their new motto is "Move fast with stable infrastructure".
- elorant 8y agoFixing Facebook isn't a hard problem. Fixing it while keeping advertisers happy is pretty much impossible. If you try to be more vigilant on privacy settings then you give advertisers less choices to target people. And with Amazon moving into the ad market aggressively, and Google being the behemoth that they are the last thing you want is to hurt your advertising platform.
- arcliteIndira 8y agoIt's extremely obvious that Facebook knows what a good website looks like, versus what they deliver. You can take a look at the entire ecosystem of React code out across so many repos and documentation sites, and then stand that next to Facebook proper, and then note the difference in tone, quality and psychological warfare. https://reactjs.org https://reactjs.org With that in mind, consider what kind of strategy and tactics Facebook's internal operations must be operating.
- tokyodude 8y agoWont advertisers go where the people are? Can't FB optimize for users to keep users? if they mined zero data and based ads only on the content of the current page, as long as they had the eyeballs why wouldn't advertisers still want to be there?
- speedplane 8y agoI don't think Facebook's problem is legitimate advertisers misusing personal information. Rather, it's the spammers, scammers, bots, and foreign spies that destroy trust in the system. If Facebook could get rid of those (not an easy problem), they could rebuild trust and keep legitimate big-money advertisers happy.
- golemiprague 8y agoWhat kind of reputation she got? She wrote some stupid book which just showed how much disconnected she is from the regular people and preach men to "lean in" like we are some kind of idiots who need her advice.
- GreeniFi 8y agoMZ (screaming): you broke my Facebook, so you better damn fix it. CS: Whoah Mark, you know people want me to run for president. I can’t scorch my reputation fixing your dumb internet site. Plus enough of my shares have vested for me to leave with my pockets full of loot. It’s not like I ever have to work again. MZ: [redacted] CS: OK, I’ll do it. What did Mark promise her? Would love to know what deal she cut.
- L_226 8y agoHe just promised not to publish whatever private FB messages she's been sending... /s
- ahartmetz 8y agoCS: je suis dumb fucks https://www.esquire.com/uk/latest-news/a19490586/mark-zuckerberg-called-people-who-handed-over-their-data-dumb-f/ https://www.esquire.com/uk/latest-news/a19490586/mark-zucker...
- paxys 8y agoProbably to make her CEO and remove himself from day-to-day operations. He has honestly seemed mentally checked out for a while now.
- armini 8y agoI loved hearing Tim Cook's response about the incident "we would never put ourselves in the position of selling our user data". Fundamentally the Facebook business model was flawed & destined to fail. We hope the new generation of applications learn and evolve to better & stronger platforms https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkyH3JRxndc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkyH3JRxndc
- Jyaif 8y agoFB does not sell user data and Tim Cook knows this very well. Puzzling that he reduces himself to propagating such FUD.
- xiphias2 8y agoTim Cook never said that. When asked what he would do if he were currently faced with the problems confronting Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Cook said: "I wouldn't be in this situation."
- C7H8N4O2 8y agoThey may not directly sell user data, but their revenue derives from leasing targeted access to end-users filtered by insights drawn from said data.
- collyw 8y ago>Fundamentally the Facebook business model was flawed & destined to fail. Is seems to be doing pretty well right now.
- ilovecaching 8y agoTo those of you saying Facebook provides no value, here are some concrete examples: - In countries where fraud is rampant and people try to sell basic goods on messaging platforms, marketplace allows small business owners and tradesmen to barter goods. This is leagues safer and more efficient than their old methods. Facebook provides a place where people can plan events and create “websites” for their shops and activities for free via pages. Facebook connects people to their pages and gives people a place to hold forums with public officials without anonymity. - Facebook pioneered removing anonymity from a social media platform. On Facebook I can have more accountability and I am more likely to be myself. I can keep in touch with the real people who have passed through my life. I met my wife on Facebook this way. - Facebook allows me to stay connected to people I rarely see. I’m still friends with many people from highschool I haven’t seen in over a decade. No other platform provided that type of value. Even if we rarely interact, they can always reach me on messenger even if they don’t have my phone number. - Facebook gives me the ability to hear from people I don’t agree with. Instagram and twitter are just echo chambers based on what I like or are just pictures of sunsets. On Facebook I have found that my friends and family often post opinions that I don’t agree with during world events. This has led to discourse that has allowed me to broaden my perspective. - Facebook’s ADs platform allows small business to compete against much larger entities on a small advertising budget through targeted ads. I have joined several hobbyist communities by having ads targeted at me that were relevant to my interests.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- confounded 8y agoSo what are you doing here with us losers? Are you aware that you sound a bit like a paid ad, or a lobbyist going through a list of talking points in the preferred corporate frames of reference?
- dang 8y agoThis comment breaks the site guidelines, or at least dips a toe on the wrong side. Could you please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and not do that, regardless of how you feel about Facebook?
- scottlocklin 8y agoCOO of corporate syphilis. I guess she could join a nunnery.
- deytempo 8y agoSeeing as I’ve never heard of her prior to reading this article, I think the best course of action on her part would be to make a ton of noise doing good things for the community so that it increases the chances of people who haven’t heard of her, learning of her through those actions rather than these.