5 ms·

I would put money on the outcome of some research (with "harm" being well defined) that Facebook has caused more harm than Google's ranking algorithms. Faceboo

by tuxxy 8y ago

I would put money on the outcome of some research (with "harm" being well defined) that Facebook has caused more harm than Google's ranking algorithms. Facebook has constructed a business model on captivating people to spend _as much time as possible_ on their site. Google's search engine does no such thing.

ModernMech 8y ago
But Google sure does spend enough time trying to be in every aspect of your life. They want to be your search engine, and your phone, and your TV (you tube), and your music service, and your voice assistant, and your watch, and your calendar, and your email, and your office, and your car, etc. etc.
- creato 8y ago
  Maybe so, but that has no bearing on the economic incentives that make google search and facebook different, which was the parent's point.
  - disgruntledphd2 8y ago
    How do the incentives for Facebook and Youtube differ? From my perspective, they are exactly the same, but I'd be interested to know the thoughts of others.
    - creato 8y ago
      I don't think they are that different, and I think youtube is also problematic in similar ways to facebook. But, this thread from the start was specifically talking about google search and its impact compared to facebook. I also think there are differences (youtube has some value that isn't predicated entirely on being a social network), but the distinctions are debatable and opinions will vary.
    - Retric 8y ago
      Facebook does not pay for content the way that YouTube does. This creates very different economic incentives. Facebook needs to realy on content from people pushing an agenda. YouTube gets content from people directly trying to make money. Net result, it’s easy to find many videos for home repair or learning Calculus on YouTube, not so easy on Facebook.
      - ModernMech 8y ago
        I think this fact makes Youtube even worse than Facebook. Let's say you are an idiot with an audience for your idiocy (e.g. anti-vaxers). YouTube is happy to pay you to create idiotic content for your audience. They will even promote your idiotic content across their site if you get enough clicks. What's more is they will cross promote your content with similarly idiotically minded people and lock them in a content bubble that increases clicks and views. The worst part is, for every view of your idiotic content, Google makes a profit, and you do too, so they get to keep hosting your nonsense, and you can make a living creating it. This was all fine and dandy when the context was home repair, but shift the context to idiotic conspiracies and we have an issue that is moving from the confines of the Internet to a public health nightmare.
        Retric 8y ago
        Yet, YouTube does not have an incentive to promote ignorance over cat videos. Facebooks’s model is so broken they are paying for “please come back” advertising. They could have focused on connecting people, but spreading ignorance and rage was simply more profitable. Cars may do more evil by killing people than most things, but they are not nessisarily more evil becase they also provide a lot of utility. FB unlike YT has no such excuse.
  - ModernMech 8y ago
    I disagree. Google and Facebook have the same exact business model -- learn as much about you and use that data to sell ads. All of the Google products I listed above are funded by ad revenue. Facebook executes their model by keeping you on one site, while Google executes theirs by being pervasive in your life. They are two sides of the same coin. Since they face the same economic incentives, they have similar pathologies.

by tuxxy 8y ago

ModernMech 8y ago

But Google sure does spend enough time trying to be in every aspect of your life. They want to be your search engine, and your phone, and your TV (you tube), and your music service, and your voice assistant, and your watch, and your calendar, and your email, and your office, and your car, etc. etc.

creato 8y ago
Maybe so, but that has no bearing on the economic incentives that make google search and facebook different, which was the parent's point.
- disgruntledphd2 8y ago
  How do the incentives for Facebook and Youtube differ? From my perspective, they are exactly the same, but I'd be interested to know the thoughts of others.
  - creato 8y ago
    I don't think they are that different, and I think youtube is also problematic in similar ways to facebook. But, this thread from the start was specifically talking about google search and its impact compared to facebook. I also think there are differences (youtube has some value that isn't predicated entirely on being a social network), but the distinctions are debatable and opinions will vary.
  - Retric 8y ago
    Facebook does not pay for content the way that YouTube does. This creates very different economic incentives. Facebook needs to realy on content from people pushing an agenda. YouTube gets content from people directly trying to make money. Net result, it’s easy to find many videos for home repair or learning Calculus on YouTube, not so easy on Facebook.
    - ModernMech 8y ago
      I think this fact makes Youtube even worse than Facebook. Let's say you are an idiot with an audience for your idiocy (e.g. anti-vaxers). YouTube is happy to pay you to create idiotic content for your audience. They will even promote your idiotic content across their site if you get enough clicks. What's more is they will cross promote your content with similarly idiotically minded people and lock them in a content bubble that increases clicks and views. The worst part is, for every view of your idiotic content, Google makes a profit, and you do too, so they get to keep hosting your nonsense, and you can make a living creating it. This was all fine and dandy when the context was home repair, but shift the context to idiotic conspiracies and we have an issue that is moving from the confines of the Internet to a public health nightmare.
      - Retric 8y ago
        Yet, YouTube does not have an incentive to promote ignorance over cat videos. Facebooks’s model is so broken they are paying for “please come back” advertising. They could have focused on connecting people, but spreading ignorance and rage was simply more profitable. Cars may do more evil by killing people than most things, but they are not nessisarily more evil becase they also provide a lot of utility. FB unlike YT has no such excuse.
- ModernMech 8y ago
  I disagree. Google and Facebook have the same exact business model -- learn as much about you and use that data to sell ads. All of the Google products I listed above are funded by ad revenue. Facebook executes their model by keeping you on one site, while Google executes theirs by being pervasive in your life. They are two sides of the same coin. Since they face the same economic incentives, they have similar pathologies.