4 ms·

People that work at Facebook here, does it make you uncomfortable about the future, and make you question what you are doing, when things like this happen?

gk1 8y ago
If they're not already discomforted by all that's happened, I would not expect this (relatively) minor event to make a difference.
kkhire 8y ago
fb's revenue is fine and their products have become fundamental parts of the internet, esp for people 40+ and in 3rd world countries.
jens4 8y ago
No because the issues are not just Facebook issues or technical issues. What is happening involves society as a whole. And society does not have perfect systems and even known solutions in place to handle this stuff. There are deep sociological and psychological issues that have been uncovered over the last couple years, that have always existed beneath the surface in society. At a time of hyperconnection, if it wasn't Facebook surfacing them, it would have been YouTube or Twitter or Reddit or whoever else. I am not saying grave errors haven't been made and the future does look scary. But now that the issues (from fakenews, to terror recruiting, to child abuse, to identity theft etc etc etc) have surfaced in a manner that cannot just be wished away, who else out there has the skills to do something about this stuff? There is seriously no one out there, besides the Chinese govt with experience handling/understanding data flows at this scale. The expertise being built up in Facebook is going to be fundamental in addressing and eventually finding solutions to these problems. I have no doubt about that. Nobody else is seeing the data we are seeing. It's going to be a hard couple years ahead, with lot of turmoil, but we have a much better idea about what the issues are and therefore solutions are more likely to be found not less. Read Walt Mossberg's own columns after Obama got elected in 2008 about the promise of social media. That hasn't changed. My mother has cancer and her biggest support system day to day is a group on Facebook. So I know personally what value a well functioning social network can create. How it can contribute to well being. The good stuff happening is not going away.
- tibyat 8y ago
  really? facebook will be the world’s most valuable asset when it comes to solving these problems, because they’re the ones most responsible for fucking it up? and you’re ok with that? if individuals were more ethical in insisting their company upheld values in line with theirs, we wouldn’t be in this mess. I don’t think people who agreed to work for facebook can help us much at all.
- cryoshon 8y ago
  >There are deep sociological and psychological issues that have been uncovered over the last couple years, that have always existed beneath the surface in society. At a time of hyperconnection, if it wasn't Facebook surfacing them, it would have been YouTube or Twitter or Reddit or whoever else. i see this rationalization very consistently by all sorts of people. "if we didn't do this bad thing, someone else would be doing this same bad thing -- and maybe even worse!" it isn't convincing. if there is a lesson we have learned from the social media space it is that copycat products do not necessarily remain alike or make the same mistakes. you don't see anyone complaining about fake news on linkedin, after all. other unethical things, sure. but not the same ones as facebook. furthermore, the spoiler here is that nobody else needs the solutions to problems that the platform itself causes. developing an anti fake-news algo on facebook isn't going to solve any problems because the problem is that people can't think critically. likewise, you didn't even mention the largest problem with facebook: selling user data to advertisers. the company needs the solutions because they make the platform look bad. that doesn't imply any net gain to society.
- jimmy1 8y ago
  > There are deep sociological and psychological issues that have been uncovered over the last couple years, that have always existed beneath the surface in society. At a time of hyperconnection, if it wasn't Facebook surfacing them, it would have been YouTube or Twitter or Reddit or whoever else. I am not saying grave errors haven't been made and the future does look scary. > But now that the issues (from fakenews, to terror recruiting, to child abuse, to identity theft etc etc etc) have surfaced in a manner that cannot just be wished away, who else out there has the skills to do something about this stuff? I appreciate you having the courage to reply as an employee there, but but this is exactly the type of Zuckerberg-esque deflection I would have expected from the man himself, or a C-level, but not an everyday tech employee. Have they really brainwashed everyone there to the point that they've bought into the narrative that they have no culpability in any of this? Sure the root issues were there, but you are paid to surface them and exploit them. If in the pre-internet age of television and radio, do you think people let stations get by with that lame excuse of throwing their hands up and saying "well it's deeper societal issues, we are just the transmission mechanism!"

gk1 8y ago

If they're not already discomforted by all that's happened, I would not expect this (relatively) minor event to make a difference.

kkhire 8y ago

fb's revenue is fine and their products have become fundamental parts of the internet, esp for people 40+ and in 3rd world countries.

jens4 8y ago

No because the issues are not just Facebook issues or technical issues. What is happening involves society as a whole. And society does not have perfect systems and even known solutions in place to handle this stuff. There are deep sociological and psychological issues that have been uncovered over the last couple years, that have always existed beneath the surface in society. At a time of hyperconnection, if it wasn't Facebook surfacing them, it would have been YouTube or Twitter or Reddit or whoever else. I am not saying grave errors haven't been made and the future does look scary. But now that the issues (from fakenews, to terror recruiting, to child abuse, to identity theft etc etc etc) have surfaced in a manner that cannot just be wished away, who else out there has the skills to do something about this stuff? There is seriously no one out there, besides the Chinese govt with experience handling/understanding data flows at this scale. The expertise being built up in Facebook is going to be fundamental in addressing and eventually finding solutions to these problems. I have no doubt about that. Nobody else is seeing the data we are seeing. It's going to be a hard couple years ahead, with lot of turmoil, but we have a much better idea about what the issues are and therefore solutions are more likely to be found not less. Read Walt Mossberg's own columns after Obama got elected in 2008 about the promise of social media. That hasn't changed. My mother has cancer and her biggest support system day to day is a group on Facebook. So I know personally what value a well functioning social network can create. How it can contribute to well being. The good stuff happening is not going away.

tibyat 8y ago
really? facebook will be the world’s most valuable asset when it comes to solving these problems, because they’re the ones most responsible for fucking it up? and you’re ok with that? if individuals were more ethical in insisting their company upheld values in line with theirs, we wouldn’t be in this mess. I don’t think people who agreed to work for facebook can help us much at all.
cryoshon 8y ago
>There are deep sociological and psychological issues that have been uncovered over the last couple years, that have always existed beneath the surface in society. At a time of hyperconnection, if it wasn't Facebook surfacing them, it would have been YouTube or Twitter or Reddit or whoever else. i see this rationalization very consistently by all sorts of people. "if we didn't do this bad thing, someone else would be doing this same bad thing -- and maybe even worse!" it isn't convincing. if there is a lesson we have learned from the social media space it is that copycat products do not necessarily remain alike or make the same mistakes. you don't see anyone complaining about fake news on linkedin, after all. other unethical things, sure. but not the same ones as facebook. furthermore, the spoiler here is that nobody else needs the solutions to problems that the platform itself causes. developing an anti fake-news algo on facebook isn't going to solve any problems because the problem is that people can't think critically. likewise, you didn't even mention the largest problem with facebook: selling user data to advertisers. the company needs the solutions because they make the platform look bad. that doesn't imply any net gain to society.
jimmy1 8y ago
> There are deep sociological and psychological issues that have been uncovered over the last couple years, that have always existed beneath the surface in society. At a time of hyperconnection, if it wasn't Facebook surfacing them, it would have been YouTube or Twitter or Reddit or whoever else. I am not saying grave errors haven't been made and the future does look scary. > But now that the issues (from fakenews, to terror recruiting, to child abuse, to identity theft etc etc etc) have surfaced in a manner that cannot just be wished away, who else out there has the skills to do something about this stuff? I appreciate you having the courage to reply as an employee there, but but this is exactly the type of Zuckerberg-esque deflection I would have expected from the man himself, or a C-level, but not an everyday tech employee. Have they really brainwashed everyone there to the point that they've bought into the narrative that they have no culpability in any of this? Sure the root issues were there, but you are paid to surface them and exploit them. If in the pre-internet age of television and radio, do you think people let stations get by with that lame excuse of throwing their hands up and saying "well it's deeper societal issues, we are just the transmission mechanism!"