17 ms·

I know it's hard to shed the received narrative that FB = evil, and even if it was easy you probably wouldn't want to because it feels good and right to reinfor

I know it's hard to shed the received narrative that FB = evil, and even if it was easy you probably wouldn't want to because it feels good and right to reinforce that belief. However, I think I was pretty clear. "It was solely to see if we could make people feel less self conscious by decreasing social comparison." - the main goal "Our hope was to decrease the pressure normal people feel about sharing their lives with their friends and family." - if we achieve the main goal, this ~might~ happen. "We thought this might improve some long-term metrics" - on the off chance this happens, we ~might~ benefit in the long run. Is this really different from "I suspect that the recent trend of social media platforms hiding engagement metrics has less to do with fighting 'envy' than simply allowing for more authentic looking proliferation of promoted content" ? I think so. Seems like a pretty indirect way of driving user engagement.

MikeGale 7y ago
It might be better to allow people to make their own choices instead of forcing something on them. Your reasoning is going to be wrong or irrelevant for many.
domnomnom 7y ago
It's pretty funny how you imply I'm saying facebook is evil because it makes me feel good - pretty ridiculous statements in light of what I've actually said. I was just saying facebook is a business. It seems you have a lot to prove though. Sorry, I don't buy that "It was solely to see if we could make people feel less self conscious by decreasing social comparison" is the main goal. It seems like a pretty direct way of driving user engagement, seeing as you're literally removing an inhibitor of engagement.
- nindalf 7y ago
  It is difficult to predict how people react with limited information. I think hypothesis for this change was "well being might improve but we're not sure" and at the same time "engagement might drop because there might be folks out there who enjoy collecting likes and this makes it less fun but we're not sure". And it's hard to tell what the results will look like based purely on speculation. I don't know what makes you certain you know the answers even though you've looked at none of the data. Do you have some other sources?
  - domnomnom 7y ago
    I said it SEEMS like a PRETTY direct way of promoting engagement. It really seems like you're trying to misrepresent what I actually said and may main point.
- authoritarian 7y ago
  >It's pretty funny how you imply I'm saying facebook is evil because it makes me feel good Yup, I've found its a typical reaction from Facebook employees on this site to attack commenters and rationalize any time negative critiques are brought up, although the extreme defensiveness is pretty telling
  - bredren 7y ago
    This trail reminds me of the "are we the baddies" comedy routine.
toiletfuneral 7y ago
How’s the user engagement in Myanmar going? That makes me feel pretty bad.

MikeGale 7y ago

It might be better to allow people to make their own choices instead of forcing something on them. Your reasoning is going to be wrong or irrelevant for many.

domnomnom 7y ago

It's pretty funny how you imply I'm saying facebook is evil because it makes me feel good - pretty ridiculous statements in light of what I've actually said. I was just saying facebook is a business. It seems you have a lot to prove though. Sorry, I don't buy that "It was solely to see if we could make people feel less self conscious by decreasing social comparison" is the main goal. It seems like a pretty direct way of driving user engagement, seeing as you're literally removing an inhibitor of engagement.

nindalf 7y ago
It is difficult to predict how people react with limited information. I think hypothesis for this change was "well being might improve but we're not sure" and at the same time "engagement might drop because there might be folks out there who enjoy collecting likes and this makes it less fun but we're not sure". And it's hard to tell what the results will look like based purely on speculation. I don't know what makes you certain you know the answers even though you've looked at none of the data. Do you have some other sources?
- domnomnom 7y ago
  I said it SEEMS like a PRETTY direct way of promoting engagement. It really seems like you're trying to misrepresent what I actually said and may main point.
authoritarian 7y ago
>It's pretty funny how you imply I'm saying facebook is evil because it makes me feel good Yup, I've found its a typical reaction from Facebook employees on this site to attack commenters and rationalize any time negative critiques are brought up, although the extreme defensiveness is pretty telling
- bredren 7y ago
  This trail reminds me of the "are we the baddies" comedy routine.

toiletfuneral 7y ago

How’s the user engagement in Myanmar going? That makes me feel pretty bad.