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> Facebook is quietly helping to set up a new pro-tech advocacy group to battle Washington > The employee noted that many Facebook team members are now questi

by Lio 6y ago

> Facebook is quietly helping to set up a new pro-tech advocacy group to battle Washington > The employee noted that many Facebook team members are now questioning the moral compass of chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. At some point you need to look at the skull emblems on your uniform and ask yourself, "Hans, are we the baddies?". IMHO I've never heard one of these stories where I thought Facebook was doing the right thing. Not once.

annadane 6y ago
It's my general impression that the ones who say "Don't worry, we care about you" ARE the baddies, they're not aligned with their own public image (why? I don't know, they should be, maybe they can't overcome their own egos). The ones you should be trusting are the ones who go "Don't trust me, but these are my principles"
- Lio 6y ago
  Isn’t that the equivalent of the New Yorker cartoon with the wolf saying “I will eat you” and the sheep saying “I like him because he tells it like it is”?
umeshunni 6y ago
> IMHO I've never heard one of these stories where I thought Facebook was doing the right thing. Not once. It's almost like the media is pushing some kind of narrative here against an entity they compete with.
- Apocryphon 6y ago
  Doesn't make a lot of sense. Unlike traditional blogs, Facebook isn't exactly a place that's creating rival news content. If anything, FB helps spread the news by being a platform for people to post articles and stories.
  - bryan_w 6y ago
    > If anything, FB helps spread the news by being a platform for people to post articles You could see how that would lead to problems when that become the main driver of traffic. If tomorrow Mark decides to remove the share button, it would be the end of a lot of traditional media sources.
    - Apocryphon 6y ago
      That's fair, but that still doesn't mean the two are competing.
      - umeshunni 6y ago
        The real competition is for ad dollars. Facebook has singlehandedly caused the end of the display advertising business which is what most news publications tapped into when they went online. Display spend at most ad agencies are shrinking and that money is being put to social (aka Facebook). That's what the owners and shareholders of media organizations are pissed off at and why they're telling their staff to focus on Facebook..

by Lio 6y ago

annadane 6y ago

It's my general impression that the ones who say "Don't worry, we care about you" ARE the baddies, they're not aligned with their own public image (why? I don't know, they should be, maybe they can't overcome their own egos). The ones you should be trusting are the ones who go "Don't trust me, but these are my principles"

Lio 6y ago
Isn’t that the equivalent of the New Yorker cartoon with the wolf saying “I will eat you” and the sheep saying “I like him because he tells it like it is”?

umeshunni 6y ago

> IMHO I've never heard one of these stories where I thought Facebook was doing the right thing. Not once. It's almost like the media is pushing some kind of narrative here against an entity they compete with.

Apocryphon 6y ago
Doesn't make a lot of sense. Unlike traditional blogs, Facebook isn't exactly a place that's creating rival news content. If anything, FB helps spread the news by being a platform for people to post articles and stories.
- bryan_w 6y ago
  > If anything, FB helps spread the news by being a platform for people to post articles You could see how that would lead to problems when that become the main driver of traffic. If tomorrow Mark decides to remove the share button, it would be the end of a lot of traditional media sources.
  - Apocryphon 6y ago
    That's fair, but that still doesn't mean the two are competing.
    - umeshunni 6y ago
      The real competition is for ad dollars. Facebook has singlehandedly caused the end of the display advertising business which is what most news publications tapped into when they went online. Display spend at most ad agencies are shrinking and that money is being put to social (aka Facebook). That's what the owners and shareholders of media organizations are pissed off at and why they're telling their staff to focus on Facebook..