4 ms·

The problem is the technology too. For the first time in history can two people see the same information source (in this case Facebook) but see two completely d

The problem is the technology too. For the first time in history can two people see the same information source (in this case Facebook) but see two completely different worlds, as each one gets their own bubble, and that bubble is biased. I often see friends Netflix accounts and prefer what they are getting suggested than mine, as Netflix presents me the bubble it thinks i'll like, and I never see the other variation that I want (unless I look at others' accounts), so can't easily expand beyond my bubble. In Netflix's case they want me to see more content, but in Facebooks case they are perfectly happy with bubbles as it makes their targeted advertising easier. Sometimes I'd like to know that the version of a site I'm seeing is the same as others as I really don't want to be in my own information bubble.

mindfulhack 6y ago
Yes, great point, absolutely. On that level, things can be done. Suppose I'm talking on a bigger / higher level. (My mind tends to go 'straight there'.) Thanks for giving some hope.
Nextgrid 6y ago
It’s less about technology per-se and more about mismatched incentives and a toxic business model. Facebook and most social networks are not incentivised to give you a “true” or at least unbiased version of the world, they are incentivised to tweak it as much as they want in order to increase engagement. This wouldn’t be so bad if people were aware of this and would check alternative sources or take steps to mitigate that, but a lot of people seem to not know, forget or ignore this fact. As a less serious example, I always create new music streaming accounts and start fresh (as a perk I get unlimited free trials) every month simply because none of them offer a permanent “incognito” mode and I find my recommendations forever poisoned just because I happened to check out an irrelevant song/album (or let friends use my phone to play music for a party and their tastes differ from mine). This is actually what I miss about radio, where you get an unpersonalized view of the current musical landscape - unfortunately ads are a dealbreaker so I just stick to “hacks” like this instead.
- Lammy 6y ago
  It's the technology too, down to the little things like (for example) priming somebody to want to comment on a divisive topic by surfacing those topics to their feed as "Friend commented" edge stories if there's an argument going on. FB's model doesn't know it's an argument and that asking a person to take part will increase the overall level of human-to-human hate in the world. The model only knows what to do to make Facebook the most money.
- chillacy 6y ago
  What makes it worse is there are certain topics where there is no objective, unbiased view beyond believing what most of your peers believe.

mindfulhack 6y ago

Yes, great point, absolutely. On that level, things can be done. Suppose I'm talking on a bigger / higher level. (My mind tends to go 'straight there'.) Thanks for giving some hope.

Nextgrid 6y ago

It’s less about technology per-se and more about mismatched incentives and a toxic business model. Facebook and most social networks are not incentivised to give you a “true” or at least unbiased version of the world, they are incentivised to tweak it as much as they want in order to increase engagement. This wouldn’t be so bad if people were aware of this and would check alternative sources or take steps to mitigate that, but a lot of people seem to not know, forget or ignore this fact. As a less serious example, I always create new music streaming accounts and start fresh (as a perk I get unlimited free trials) every month simply because none of them offer a permanent “incognito” mode and I find my recommendations forever poisoned just because I happened to check out an irrelevant song/album (or let friends use my phone to play music for a party and their tastes differ from mine). This is actually what I miss about radio, where you get an unpersonalized view of the current musical landscape - unfortunately ads are a dealbreaker so I just stick to “hacks” like this instead.

Lammy 6y ago
It's the technology too, down to the little things like (for example) priming somebody to want to comment on a divisive topic by surfacing those topics to their feed as "Friend commented" edge stories if there's an argument going on. FB's model doesn't know it's an argument and that asking a person to take part will increase the overall level of human-to-human hate in the world. The model only knows what to do to make Facebook the most money.
chillacy 6y ago
What makes it worse is there are certain topics where there is no objective, unbiased view beyond believing what most of your peers believe.