4 ms·

I haven't used FB in 7 years but I wonder if FB will become a much better platform in Australia after the news ban, with just posts/photos from friends and less

I haven't used FB in 7 years but I wonder if FB will become a much better platform in Australia after the news ban, with just posts/photos from friends and less noise.

criley2 6y ago
Apparently all the news, government, politician stuff got removed, but all the conspiracy, 5G-allergy, anti-vax, stuff stayed up. I wouldn't bet that banning news will reduce the noise. Instead I think it will create a vacuum for even worse noise to fill.
jkrems 6y ago
The problem is that the substitution isn't always posts from friends. It could be posts from websites that don't qualify as reliable news sources. That doesn't have to be true but I don't think it's a clear win for average FB feed quality in Australia.
mirkules 6y ago
Sharing screenshots of news sites? Copy-pasting text verbatim or non-verbatim? Any number of ways users can - and will - get around it to maintain the toxic environment. Just look at Twitter.
Axien 6y ago
Congrats on not using FB. Personally, I would pay NOT to have news on my FB feed. I want to see pictures of your kids and hear updates about your life ... not your thoughts on whatever political issues in in the news today. So yea, it may actually make it better. FB considers "engagement" as all-important. But engagement occurs most frequently when someone sends out a controversial news article. It devalues the service and makes it a less enjoyable experience.
anotherevan 6y ago
I've never quite understood the, "Facebook would be so much better without news," comments I've been seeing the last few days. I follow ~60 people on FB, most of whom I know IRL. I'm pretty ruthless in unfollowing those that are noisy with memes or other junky stuff. I'm also conservative with the groups and pages I subscribe to. You have the controls to curate what goes into your Facebook feed. So the, "So much better," remarks feels like someone flailing around fecklessly when they actually have the power. Anecdotally I've noticed very little change in my feed since the change here in the Antipodes.
- Gibbon1 6y ago
  What I've been seeing is different groups of friends have switched to slack and barely use FB anymore. Slack is vastly better for social stuff than FB.

I haven't used FB in 7 years but I wonder if FB will become a much better platform in Australia after the news ban, with just posts/photos from friends and less noise.

criley2 6y ago

Apparently all the news, government, politician stuff got removed, but all the conspiracy, 5G-allergy, anti-vax, stuff stayed up. I wouldn't bet that banning news will reduce the noise. Instead I think it will create a vacuum for even worse noise to fill.

jkrems 6y ago

The problem is that the substitution isn't always posts from friends. It could be posts from websites that don't qualify as reliable news sources. That doesn't have to be true but I don't think it's a clear win for average FB feed quality in Australia.

mirkules 6y ago

Sharing screenshots of news sites? Copy-pasting text verbatim or non-verbatim? Any number of ways users can - and will - get around it to maintain the toxic environment. Just look at Twitter.

Axien 6y ago

Congrats on not using FB. Personally, I would pay NOT to have news on my FB feed. I want to see pictures of your kids and hear updates about your life ... not your thoughts on whatever political issues in in the news today. So yea, it may actually make it better. FB considers "engagement" as all-important. But engagement occurs most frequently when someone sends out a controversial news article. It devalues the service and makes it a less enjoyable experience.

anotherevan 6y ago

I've never quite understood the, "Facebook would be so much better without news," comments I've been seeing the last few days. I follow ~60 people on FB, most of whom I know IRL. I'm pretty ruthless in unfollowing those that are noisy with memes or other junky stuff. I'm also conservative with the groups and pages I subscribe to. You have the controls to curate what goes into your Facebook feed. So the, "So much better," remarks feels like someone flailing around fecklessly when they actually have the power. Anecdotally I've noticed very little change in my feed since the change here in the Antipodes.

Gibbon1 6y ago
What I've been seeing is different groups of friends have switched to slack and barely use FB anymore. Slack is vastly better for social stuff than FB.