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I too am Persian. But I don't think we can blame Facebook for making a consistent user experience, where people can get whatever information/memes they want, so

I too am Persian. But I don't think we can blame Facebook for making a consistent user experience, where people can get whatever information/memes they want, sorted algorithmically to the users' taste.

StavrosK 6y ago
Can you blame tobacco companies for making something so addictive and harmful? It seems like we can and do.
- polynomial 6y ago
  That's the beauty of it. Harm from smoking is considered (by most accounts) objectively, medically, measurably bad. Harm from social media addiction isn't quantified in terms of cancer and death. "No one ever died from browsing Facebook" is likely false, but would be generally accepted as arguably true. "No one ever died because of Facebook" should be understood to be obviously untrue to a well-informed person.
  - JKCalhoun 6y ago
    Honestly, I feel millions of us (billions?) have died a little inside with the rise of Facebook and the like. But I'm speaking metaphorically, of course.
    - Nasrudith 6y ago
      We have met the enemy and he is us is the real issue. It isn't easy to accept it but by all remotely reasonable standards a large chunk of the population are horrible people. Just look at the approval towards the National Guard's actions at Kent State. Strip away the status and "supports using the military to shoot unarmed and non-violentn students on campus" is not something a non-horrible person supports. But people find scapegoats so much easier. Facebook is vapid trash because vapid trash is highly popular.
      - polynomial 6y ago
        > by all remotely reasonable standards a large chunk of the population are horrible people. It can sometimes seem that way, but I think it's more accurate to say that large chunk are potentially horrible, and it's the situation they find themselves in that brings that out. The implied hope here is that it will be easier to change such situations, than change "human nature."
codetrotter 6y ago
> sorted algorithmically to the users' taste But Facebook isn’t even doing that. They are optimizing for “engagement”, and for keeping people on the site so they can serve more ads to them. Just because they are highly effective at this does not mean they serve what we really would like to see. This is why I stopped browsing Facebook a long time ago. The only reason I have an account still is for people that talk to me on Messenger, and for occasionally checking on upcoming events. Now in the Corona pandemic I haven’t even had a reason to check on upcoming events so I haven’t almost gone onto Facebook at all. Instagram, which is also owned by Facebook, is doing a better job however, at providing me with content that I am interested in. So even though I dislike Facebook as a company I am actively using Instagram almost daily still.
- aminozuur 6y ago
  "They are optimizing for “engagement”" How else would they know which pages, friends, posts, you want to see the most?
  - egypturnash 6y ago
    They could just show you the stuff you’ve said to want to see, in chronological order? Nah. Too simple. Far too simple.
    - polynomial 6y ago
      You can choose to that as your preferred sort order in settings, but it will always revert back in a few days, so it's a constant cat and mouse game to switch it back.
      - JKCalhoun 6y ago
        Christ, what a user-hostile platform FB is.
        polynomial 6y ago

StavrosK 6y ago

Can you blame tobacco companies for making something so addictive and harmful? It seems like we can and do.

polynomial 6y ago
That's the beauty of it. Harm from smoking is considered (by most accounts) objectively, medically, measurably bad. Harm from social media addiction isn't quantified in terms of cancer and death. "No one ever died from browsing Facebook" is likely false, but would be generally accepted as arguably true. "No one ever died because of Facebook" should be understood to be obviously untrue to a well-informed person.
- JKCalhoun 6y ago
  Honestly, I feel millions of us (billions?) have died a little inside with the rise of Facebook and the like. But I'm speaking metaphorically, of course.
  - Nasrudith 6y ago
    We have met the enemy and he is us is the real issue. It isn't easy to accept it but by all remotely reasonable standards a large chunk of the population are horrible people. Just look at the approval towards the National Guard's actions at Kent State. Strip away the status and "supports using the military to shoot unarmed and non-violentn students on campus" is not something a non-horrible person supports. But people find scapegoats so much easier. Facebook is vapid trash because vapid trash is highly popular.
    - polynomial 6y ago
      > by all remotely reasonable standards a large chunk of the population are horrible people. It can sometimes seem that way, but I think it's more accurate to say that large chunk are potentially horrible, and it's the situation they find themselves in that brings that out. The implied hope here is that it will be easier to change such situations, than change "human nature."

codetrotter 6y ago

> sorted algorithmically to the users' taste But Facebook isn’t even doing that. They are optimizing for “engagement”, and for keeping people on the site so they can serve more ads to them. Just because they are highly effective at this does not mean they serve what we really would like to see. This is why I stopped browsing Facebook a long time ago. The only reason I have an account still is for people that talk to me on Messenger, and for occasionally checking on upcoming events. Now in the Corona pandemic I haven’t even had a reason to check on upcoming events so I haven’t almost gone onto Facebook at all. Instagram, which is also owned by Facebook, is doing a better job however, at providing me with content that I am interested in. So even though I dislike Facebook as a company I am actively using Instagram almost daily still.

aminozuur 6y ago
"They are optimizing for “engagement”" How else would they know which pages, friends, posts, you want to see the most?
- egypturnash 6y ago
  They could just show you the stuff you’ve said to want to see, in chronological order? Nah. Too simple. Far too simple.
  - polynomial 6y ago
    You can choose to that as your preferred sort order in settings, but it will always revert back in a few days, so it's a constant cat and mouse game to switch it back.
    - JKCalhoun 6y ago
      Christ, what a user-hostile platform FB is.
      - polynomial 6y ago