9 ms·

Facebook discovers profitable strategy that news organizations have been using for decades.

• forgingahead 6y ago
  This is the most relevant comment to this discussion. News orgs have been profiting off the same negative elements of human society for decades.
  • tzs 6y ago
    News organizations present a limited, curated view from fact checked, verified sources. The information flow is mostly one way, from the news organization to me. A social media news feed might present the same underlying story to me, but via some opinion blog that has not fact checked it or verified sources. It might also come with assorted speculation by the posted, ranging from wild ass to outright insane conspiracy theories. And social media is designed to get me to offer my opinion on it, and to see other people's opinion, and for all of us who read it to discuss it in a semi-pseudonymous free for all. The news organization approach is much more effective if the goal is to actually inform people about the negative event.
• cynusx 6y ago
  That sounds right. Fear and conflict drives higher engagement. Although it makes business sense to chase higher engagement, I wonder how much of people's distrust with Facebook the brand is just a reflection of how people feel when engaging the product.
• 082349872349872 6y ago
  They even have the same business model, in which users are not the customers. If you are Sylvester McMonkey McBean, you do not want to place ad impressions in groups of star- and plain-bellied sneetches who share an interest in underwater basket weaving. You will happily spend to place impressions for star-on machines among groups of plain-bellied sneetches, and star-off among star-bellied.
• Wohlf 6y ago
  Centuries actually: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_journalism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_journalism