4 ms·

"There is no way Facebook would ever implement something like this." Except they did in 2011 in response to Google+ by adding Friend Lists, which you can use t

by mliker 8y ago

"There is no way Facebook would ever implement something like this." Except they did in 2011 in response to Google+ by adding Friend Lists, which you can use to filter your News Feed down to stories and news items from just friends in certain lists curated by you. This is still in existence today in 2018.

gcatalfamo 8y ago
Yes but it is so hidden and “ancient” that I would be surprised if more than 1% of users actively uses it.
- lowlevel 8y ago
  I’ve given up trying to find anything on facebook... I just post a picture once in a while and talk to whoever comments on it.
  - natecavanaugh 8y ago
    Search discovery is by far my biggest pain point, and I say it as a fan. I disagree with the GGP (I think) about Facebook wanting you to wade throw a river of crap so you stumble on ads. Their ads have been spot on to my interests so far. I think an onioned version of Google plus circles could help Facebok influence the AI without preventing discovery. But TBH, had G+ really been a contender at this point? This sounds like the creak of an abandoned house by now.
  - giancarlostoro 8y ago
    I can't even use Facebook without it freezing anymore. I'm using containers and locking down on tracking (no umatrix or noscript though) and Facebook literally craps itself everytime I have it open, helps keep me off of it. It must be my exact setup cause I do the same setup on every laptop / workstation and it slows to a crawl, though mobile.facebook.com works just fine... oddly enough. And I know if I use a vanilla browser it works just fine...
    - obituary_latte 8y ago
      Any specific reason “no umatrix”?
      - giancarlostoro 8y ago
        It's more work than I care to perform I just have a typical adblocker (Adblocker Ultimate).
pdpi 8y ago
That's a great example of building a feature as one of the cornerstones of your product vs adding a feature to tick a checkbox.
verdandi 8y ago
And in subsequent years they've done everything to hide this feature from the users and make it much harder to access (it used to be on the left navigation bar, now it's under 'Friend lists' (which also has been renamed at least twice) and also it disappeared from the mobile app)
eftpotrm 8y ago
That's only half the feature, though. The killer feature with circles is being able to post different things to different audiences IMHO, which Facebook can't do without different accounts.
- nona 8y ago
  Of course you can, I've posted things visible for only specific lists before.
  - andrewaylett 8y ago
    That's not quite what I want -- I don't mind tech things being visible to family, but I suspect they're following me for the baby photos. So I don't want circles, or friend lists, that block people from seeing things, so much as a functional tagging system that lets the viewer decide which of my circles/lists they want to be in. And I want it simple and easy to understand and use, even for non-techies, such that it "just works". And a pony.
    - heuiop 8y ago
      This would be nice actually. Did Google Plus have this?
      - OvermindDL1 8y ago
        Yep, the privacy and sending specific things to specific circles and all was spot-on in G+. Or even specific people, groups, even non-G+ emails.
      - mercer 8y ago
        No, but I agree that it would be a nice feature. Not so much as a tagging system, but this strikes me as something good they could finally do with all their ML/AI stuff. I have friends who will post photos, and I'll love for FB to detect that they often post single photos, and allow me to subscribe to just those. Even if it means relying on FB's algorithms deciding what posts make the cut. The same goes for friends who will occasionally post blog-style stuff. While I'd prefer it if they actually blogged, being able to go to their profile and getting a FB-suggested 'type' of post to subscribe to would be peachy. Other algorithmic suggestions I can imagine: - the friend who consistently posts great links to longer-form journalistic articles - the friend who posts mostly 'funny comics/pics', but actually funny ones - the friend who seems to know half the town and diligently clicks 'interested/going' for events that I am also interested in. - and the above possibly with an option to drill down and get more specific suggestions (I'm sure FB could segment the events at least by a crude party/political dimension. - the family member who posts all sorts of weird crap, but also the interesting family-related updates. It can't be that difficult to detect which of their posts are the family updates (and perhaps there could be a 'suggest category/tag/whatever' feature so that my dad can diligently mark these updates (which I know he would!). With the above, or even a crude version of it, I could see myself browsing FB quite a bit, and I wouldn't mind the occasional sponsored post (which could be targeted specifically to the feed/mood I'm in). I'm sure there's a lot I'm missing about all this, but I feel moderately confident that FB is not doing this, not because of particularly good reasons, but because they're stuck in a particular 'mode' and a bit too conservative about it (shortsighted advertising). I can't tell if this is just because they're a big corporation at this point, or because of 'SV incentives', or going public, or whatever else.

by mliker 8y ago

gcatalfamo 8y ago

Yes but it is so hidden and “ancient” that I would be surprised if more than 1% of users actively uses it.

lowlevel 8y ago
I’ve given up trying to find anything on facebook... I just post a picture once in a while and talk to whoever comments on it.
- natecavanaugh 8y ago
  Search discovery is by far my biggest pain point, and I say it as a fan. I disagree with the GGP (I think) about Facebook wanting you to wade throw a river of crap so you stumble on ads. Their ads have been spot on to my interests so far. I think an onioned version of Google plus circles could help Facebok influence the AI without preventing discovery. But TBH, had G+ really been a contender at this point? This sounds like the creak of an abandoned house by now.
- giancarlostoro 8y ago
  I can't even use Facebook without it freezing anymore. I'm using containers and locking down on tracking (no umatrix or noscript though) and Facebook literally craps itself everytime I have it open, helps keep me off of it. It must be my exact setup cause I do the same setup on every laptop / workstation and it slows to a crawl, though mobile.facebook.com works just fine... oddly enough. And I know if I use a vanilla browser it works just fine...
  - obituary_latte 8y ago
    Any specific reason “no umatrix”?
    - giancarlostoro 8y ago
      It's more work than I care to perform I just have a typical adblocker (Adblocker Ultimate).

pdpi 8y ago

That's a great example of building a feature as one of the cornerstones of your product vs adding a feature to tick a checkbox.

verdandi 8y ago

And in subsequent years they've done everything to hide this feature from the users and make it much harder to access (it used to be on the left navigation bar, now it's under 'Friend lists' (which also has been renamed at least twice) and also it disappeared from the mobile app)

eftpotrm 8y ago

That's only half the feature, though. The killer feature with circles is being able to post different things to different audiences IMHO, which Facebook can't do without different accounts.

nona 8y ago
Of course you can, I've posted things visible for only specific lists before.
- andrewaylett 8y ago
  That's not quite what I want -- I don't mind tech things being visible to family, but I suspect they're following me for the baby photos. So I don't want circles, or friend lists, that block people from seeing things, so much as a functional tagging system that lets the viewer decide which of my circles/lists they want to be in. And I want it simple and easy to understand and use, even for non-techies, such that it "just works". And a pony.
  - heuiop 8y ago
    This would be nice actually. Did Google Plus have this?
    - OvermindDL1 8y ago
      Yep, the privacy and sending specific things to specific circles and all was spot-on in G+. Or even specific people, groups, even non-G+ emails.
    - mercer 8y ago
      No, but I agree that it would be a nice feature. Not so much as a tagging system, but this strikes me as something good they could finally do with all their ML/AI stuff. I have friends who will post photos, and I'll love for FB to detect that they often post single photos, and allow me to subscribe to just those. Even if it means relying on FB's algorithms deciding what posts make the cut. The same goes for friends who will occasionally post blog-style stuff. While I'd prefer it if they actually blogged, being able to go to their profile and getting a FB-suggested 'type' of post to subscribe to would be peachy. Other algorithmic suggestions I can imagine: - the friend who consistently posts great links to longer-form journalistic articles - the friend who posts mostly 'funny comics/pics', but actually funny ones - the friend who seems to know half the town and diligently clicks 'interested/going' for events that I am also interested in. - and the above possibly with an option to drill down and get more specific suggestions (I'm sure FB could segment the events at least by a crude party/political dimension. - the family member who posts all sorts of weird crap, but also the interesting family-related updates. It can't be that difficult to detect which of their posts are the family updates (and perhaps there could be a 'suggest category/tag/whatever' feature so that my dad can diligently mark these updates (which I know he would!). With the above, or even a crude version of it, I could see myself browsing FB quite a bit, and I wouldn't mind the occasional sponsored post (which could be targeted specifically to the feed/mood I'm in). I'm sure there's a lot I'm missing about all this, but I feel moderately confident that FB is not doing this, not because of particularly good reasons, but because they're stuck in a particular 'mode' and a bit too conservative about it (shortsighted advertising). I can't tell if this is just because they're a big corporation at this point, or because of 'SV incentives', or going public, or whatever else.