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> 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 th
by 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 agoThey could just show you the stuff you’ve said to want to see, in chronological order? Nah. Too simple. Far too simple.
- polynomial 6y agoYou 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 agoChrist, what a user-hostile platform FB is.
- polynomial 6y agoAnd yet its's optimized for engagement smh
- sudosysgen 6y agoThose most likely to lead to likes, and most likely to generate long comments.
- contrral 6y agoCounterpoints: - People will write long, impassioned screeds in response to the things they despise most. - People don't just view posts that are about things they hate/fear, they "like" and share them because they feel the need to approve of and disseminate every "exposé" of the "bad guys". Even though most of it is vacuous FUD or twisted misinformation that accomplishes no such "noble" goal.
- sudosysgen 6y agoI don't think it's a bad thing that things that people don't agree with are presented to them. As for the rest, I never argued for valuing sharing, and while those might generate likes they won't generate long comments unless they are at least slightly constructive.
- Nasrudith 6y agoWho the hell /doesn't/ optimize for engagement with a popular publication? Nobody. The metrics for engagement vary by publication and may be more base or positive but they all do it by definition. I thought we already learned that from Yellow Journalism and all of the stupid moral panics like Rainbow Parties, Satanic Ritual Abuse, and Y2K fearmongering that didn't remotely make any sense even if every computer affected bricked itself.