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Apparently most people don't work that way. Or at least it drives up engagement up until a person-specific breaking point.

by dtech 5y ago

badRNG 5y ago
Anecdotally, I've known several folks who've left Facebook for one reason or another, often at least in part because of the poor experience they had on the platform. > Or at least it drives up engagement up until a person-specific breaking point. Surely as this plays out, Facebook will see it's userbase fall out at some point...
jayess 5y ago
My guess is that they've determined what that breaking point is and have optimized for it.
- badRNG 5y ago
  So basically "How much daily misery can we put our users through algorithmically before they break down and uninstall"? Why does anyone who is sufficiently aware of this still use Facebook? Not even as an ethical question, why use something that makes your life miserable?
  - rgoulter 5y ago
    This reminds me of Jonathan Haidt's "Righteous Minds". One of the key points in the book is that "righteousness binds and blinds". As in, the 'righteousness binds' part is there's a social bond between people who believe the same thing. (And "blinds" is that the righteousness will blind you to certain truths). I think flamewars are like that. You gotta leave a comment otherwise you feel your side loses out.
    - wussboy 5y ago
      I'm a huge fan of "The Righteous Mind" and think it is almost horrifically relevant for our times. Recommended to all.
xmprt 5y ago
This is completely anecdotal but at least in my friends circle in the US a lot of people have stopped using Facebook (Messenger is different) or they use it for very specific purposes like Marketplace, specific events, or major life updates. None of those are really engagement driving activities. It seems like most of Facebook's growth is coming from developing nations and older generations who are just now finding about it or haven't bothered moving on to other forms of social media.

Apparently most people don't work that way. Or at least it drives up engagement up until a person-specific breaking point.

by dtech 5y ago

Apparently most people don't work that way. Or at least it drives up engagement up until a person-specific breaking point.

badRNG 5y ago

Anecdotally, I've known several folks who've left Facebook for one reason or another, often at least in part because of the poor experience they had on the platform. > Or at least it drives up engagement up until a person-specific breaking point. Surely as this plays out, Facebook will see it's userbase fall out at some point...

jayess 5y ago

My guess is that they've determined what that breaking point is and have optimized for it.

badRNG 5y ago
So basically "How much daily misery can we put our users through algorithmically before they break down and uninstall"? Why does anyone who is sufficiently aware of this still use Facebook? Not even as an ethical question, why use something that makes your life miserable?
- rgoulter 5y ago
  This reminds me of Jonathan Haidt's "Righteous Minds". One of the key points in the book is that "righteousness binds and blinds". As in, the 'righteousness binds' part is there's a social bond between people who believe the same thing. (And "blinds" is that the righteousness will blind you to certain truths). I think flamewars are like that. You gotta leave a comment otherwise you feel your side loses out.
  - wussboy 5y ago
    I'm a huge fan of "The Righteous Mind" and think it is almost horrifically relevant for our times. Recommended to all.

xmprt 5y ago

This is completely anecdotal but at least in my friends circle in the US a lot of people have stopped using Facebook (Messenger is different) or they use it for very specific purposes like Marketplace, specific events, or major life updates. None of those are really engagement driving activities. It seems like most of Facebook's growth is coming from developing nations and older generations who are just now finding about it or haven't bothered moving on to other forms of social media.