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Facebook is playing a very dangerous game by not allowing people full control of their feeds and even algorithmically sorting things. That's different from just

Facebook is playing a very dangerous game by not allowing people full control of their feeds and even algorithmically sorting things. That's different from just "social media", it's a specifically Facebook way of doing things

borjamoya 8y ago
I totally agree. And we're the ones paying the price of their actions.
- TomMarius 8y ago
  Who is we? I am not paying anything AFAIK. When my girlfriend had problems, she simply stopped using it that much. I myself simply don't subscribe to pseudomotivational bullshit or internet "personalities".
  - gtirloni 8y ago
    "We" is referring to society in general. There will be exceptions to everything. Maybe you'd like to point out that people are free to opt out? Is that what you're saying?
    - moreorless 8y ago
      It sounds good on paper, but in reality, it is not. For many people, they absolutely need to be on FB otherwise they will be excluded from all their friends. Sure those people can choose be hermits.
      - ericd 8y ago
        I think it's mostly this mindset that keeps that being true. As soon as some of your friends defect from FB, it becomes much easier to defect yourself. Or, you could be the first person, and make it a bit more viable for your other friends to stop. At this point, most of my friends don't really use Facebook much, we mostly stick to messaging apps and email. Maybe start by making a chat group in Telegram and telling people about it?
    - borjamoya 8y ago
      That's what I meant, "we" as society, as culture. Because people aren't just tweaking their stories. When you do this at a mass scale you have a responsibility as citizen. And as I pointed out, building fictional stories can lead to genocides and wars (we've already seen it). We all suffer from this.
  - RhodesianHunter 8y ago
    When people get stuck in a bubble of fake news and manufactured outrage they tend to vote accordingly, and that does impact you.
    - TomMarius 8y ago
      Good point
    - nyolfen 8y ago
      fake news and manufactured outrage is how our political system has always operated, it's just easier to see the process applying to people you disagree with now
throwaway127831 8y ago
Isn’t Twitter doing this as well by algorithmically sorting their feed? Why single out Facebook?
- village-idiot 8y ago
  There’s a single switch on Twitter to turn this off. You can bash Twitter for a lot of things, but this isn’t it.
  - throwaway127831 8y ago
    As long as algorithmic is the default, it’s changing aggregate behavior in a big way I can switch algorithmic sorting off, but if it’s the default for everyone else, and causing the most polarizing political content to spread even faster, it effects me and even people who don’t use Twitter at all
joeax 8y ago
I have scaled back my usage of Facebook after I discovered they are advertising my like activity to my audience i.e. "friends". I've had relatives accost me at family gatherings or have been unfriended over a Facebook page I followed, even though I rarely if ever share my personal views directly in my feed. Sometimes I'll like something even though I have a marginal interest in the subject. Facebook has the power to destroy life-long friendships because we continue to give it this power.
- grawprog 8y ago
  Ya...I really think hard about it before I like anything on facebook. Even scrolling through the feed or something I'm always concious not to accidently like anything or press the wrong button. I actually prefer looking through things on the few private groups i'm part of and if I post anything it'll be to one of those for the most part. Your normal facebook friends don't see anything you do on those. I think worse though is when people tag you in public posts. You have no control over it at all, it gets announced to, seemingly randomly, some or all of your other friends...i'm not sure who exactly but I know other people end up seeing this...and the only way to get rid of it is to ask the other person to remove it or find the post, click untag yourself, not remove post from feed...that leaves you tagged in the post still...it needs to be the right one because if you remove it before untagging yourself good luck finding that shit again.

borjamoya 8y ago

I totally agree. And we're the ones paying the price of their actions.

TomMarius 8y ago
Who is we? I am not paying anything AFAIK. When my girlfriend had problems, she simply stopped using it that much. I myself simply don't subscribe to pseudomotivational bullshit or internet "personalities".
- gtirloni 8y ago
  "We" is referring to society in general. There will be exceptions to everything. Maybe you'd like to point out that people are free to opt out? Is that what you're saying?
  - moreorless 8y ago
    It sounds good on paper, but in reality, it is not. For many people, they absolutely need to be on FB otherwise they will be excluded from all their friends. Sure those people can choose be hermits.
    - ericd 8y ago
      I think it's mostly this mindset that keeps that being true. As soon as some of your friends defect from FB, it becomes much easier to defect yourself. Or, you could be the first person, and make it a bit more viable for your other friends to stop. At this point, most of my friends don't really use Facebook much, we mostly stick to messaging apps and email. Maybe start by making a chat group in Telegram and telling people about it?
  - borjamoya 8y ago
    That's what I meant, "we" as society, as culture. Because people aren't just tweaking their stories. When you do this at a mass scale you have a responsibility as citizen. And as I pointed out, building fictional stories can lead to genocides and wars (we've already seen it). We all suffer from this.
- RhodesianHunter 8y ago
  When people get stuck in a bubble of fake news and manufactured outrage they tend to vote accordingly, and that does impact you.
  - TomMarius 8y ago
    Good point
  - nyolfen 8y ago
    fake news and manufactured outrage is how our political system has always operated, it's just easier to see the process applying to people you disagree with now

throwaway127831 8y ago

Isn’t Twitter doing this as well by algorithmically sorting their feed? Why single out Facebook?

village-idiot 8y ago
There’s a single switch on Twitter to turn this off. You can bash Twitter for a lot of things, but this isn’t it.
- throwaway127831 8y ago
  As long as algorithmic is the default, it’s changing aggregate behavior in a big way I can switch algorithmic sorting off, but if it’s the default for everyone else, and causing the most polarizing political content to spread even faster, it effects me and even people who don’t use Twitter at all

joeax 8y ago

I have scaled back my usage of Facebook after I discovered they are advertising my like activity to my audience i.e. "friends". I've had relatives accost me at family gatherings or have been unfriended over a Facebook page I followed, even though I rarely if ever share my personal views directly in my feed. Sometimes I'll like something even though I have a marginal interest in the subject. Facebook has the power to destroy life-long friendships because we continue to give it this power.

grawprog 8y ago
Ya...I really think hard about it before I like anything on facebook. Even scrolling through the feed or something I'm always concious not to accidently like anything or press the wrong button. I actually prefer looking through things on the few private groups i'm part of and if I post anything it'll be to one of those for the most part. Your normal facebook friends don't see anything you do on those. I think worse though is when people tag you in public posts. You have no control over it at all, it gets announced to, seemingly randomly, some or all of your other friends...i'm not sure who exactly but I know other people end up seeing this...and the only way to get rid of it is to ask the other person to remove it or find the post, click untag yourself, not remove post from feed...that leaves you tagged in the post still...it needs to be the right one because if you remove it before untagging yourself good luck finding that shit again.