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My humble opinion is that at some point the started using data to steer the company, and that's why we saw an increase in the "video" and "sharing posts" and "p

My humble opinion is that at some point the started using data to steer the company, and that's why we saw an increase in the "video" and "sharing posts" and "politics", and such a push to add everyone that you have ever come across in life as "friend", because it increases the screen time for users. Had they stuck to their original vision, share baby photos, life events, etc., the user engagement would be much lower, but it would be a happier place.

alanlamm 8y ago
Agree. You see this clearly with videos on there that are hard to close - bad UI, but surely bumps up their total hours of video served stat. But I I get the odd feeling using Facebook that the content is not even so data-optimized for engagement (because surely if that were the case I’d find my feed more interesting than it is) but rather that it is optimized for revenue in ways that are actually negative in terms of real engagement. Example - if I see an interesting article and stop 5min to read it, that’s real engagement for a significant amount of time, but I might see only a couple of ads in that time. Whereas If the content is really dull and I’m just scrolling mindlessly, I’m seeing a lot more ads, and the gap between how interesting the ads are and how interesting the non-ad content is is much smaller. Does anyone else get this feeling? Ie that facebook is almost intentionally boring?
- pandapower2 8y ago
  >But I I get the odd feeling using Facebook that the content is not even so data-optimized for engagement likely their metrics are way more involved than that because there are inherent trade offs there.
- nafey 8y ago
  Skinner box rewards you intermittently. You keep going however in expectation of more rewards.
illumin8 8y ago
Absolutely this is the case. They trained the feed algorithm with years of A/B testing data and told it to optimize for engagement above all else. Well, guess what, this is exactly the same way YouTube trained their "Up next" algorithm and that's why you are 2-3 degrees of separation between cute cat videos and right-wing nazi/fascist propaganda. When you optimize for user engagement above all else, this is what happens.
- theclaw 8y ago
  The algorithm found out that people are most engaged when they’re arguing with one another about provocative nonsense, and worked to create as much of it as possible.
conradfr 8y ago
Yes if my Facebook homepage was still mainly ALL my friends posting personal photos and stuff in a chronological order maybe it would still be fun and engaging. I noticed last summer there was a sharp decline in vacation posts. Instead we shared on Whatsapp groups, so I guess monetizing it makes sense.

alanlamm 8y ago

Agree. You see this clearly with videos on there that are hard to close - bad UI, but surely bumps up their total hours of video served stat. But I I get the odd feeling using Facebook that the content is not even so data-optimized for engagement (because surely if that were the case I’d find my feed more interesting than it is) but rather that it is optimized for revenue in ways that are actually negative in terms of real engagement. Example - if I see an interesting article and stop 5min to read it, that’s real engagement for a significant amount of time, but I might see only a couple of ads in that time. Whereas If the content is really dull and I’m just scrolling mindlessly, I’m seeing a lot more ads, and the gap between how interesting the ads are and how interesting the non-ad content is is much smaller. Does anyone else get this feeling? Ie that facebook is almost intentionally boring?

pandapower2 8y ago
>But I I get the odd feeling using Facebook that the content is not even so data-optimized for engagement likely their metrics are way more involved than that because there are inherent trade offs there.
nafey 8y ago
Skinner box rewards you intermittently. You keep going however in expectation of more rewards.

illumin8 8y ago

Absolutely this is the case. They trained the feed algorithm with years of A/B testing data and told it to optimize for engagement above all else. Well, guess what, this is exactly the same way YouTube trained their "Up next" algorithm and that's why you are 2-3 degrees of separation between cute cat videos and right-wing nazi/fascist propaganda. When you optimize for user engagement above all else, this is what happens.

theclaw 8y ago
The algorithm found out that people are most engaged when they’re arguing with one another about provocative nonsense, and worked to create as much of it as possible.

conradfr 8y ago

Yes if my Facebook homepage was still mainly ALL my friends posting personal photos and stuff in a chronological order maybe it would still be fun and engaging. I noticed last summer there was a sharp decline in vacation posts. Instead we shared on Whatsapp groups, so I guess monetizing it makes sense.