5 ms·

My FB feed is lousy with these sorts of things. My family & friends seem to enjoy answering questions like "What was the first concert you attended?" I don't th

My FB feed is lousy with these sorts of things. My family & friends seem to enjoy answering questions like "What was the first concert you attended?" I don't think it's for advertising purposes because I have not noticed any improvement in the accuracy of targeted ads. I don't think it's for political purposes because that is much easier to figure out without these oblique questions. One group who would benefit from detailed life style profiles are life insurance companies. More detail is better for setting accurate premiums while remaining competitive with other life insurance companies. Edit: I almost forgot to mention a really popular one I've seen a lot of lately: "Have you ever had a DUI ? I'll wait." It's unbelievable to me that people would answer this question, but it definitely something insurance companies would like to know because their records don't go that far back into the paper age. A lot of people answer something like "No, but I should have."

htrp 5y ago
> "What was the first concert you attended?" That's literally a security question for a bank password reset.
- okareaman 5y ago
  That's not a good example, which is why I added the DUI question. I've noticed most of my friends have stopped answering security type questions as they've been warned.
  - creaghpatr 5y ago
    I’ve seen the DUI question in my feed in the past week, along with several other examples from the article.
- tbihl 5y ago
  And if your answer isn't a random string of three words, you're a good mark.
matsemann 5y ago
I've long wished for an opportunity to filter my feed, so that I only see what people post themselves. But I guess fb force these things down my throat because no one actually posts anything anymore, except big life events like weddings or announcing a child. So people would realize fb is dead when it comes to keeping in touch with friends and family.
- okareaman 5y ago
  Facebook is dead as far as I'm concerned because I tested it. I quit all groups and unliked all pages. My feed just became ads and posts from friends. I have a couple of friends who like to post, but the vast majority don't post anything. It's a ghost town.
  - silexia 5y ago
    I shit down my Facebook recently after my interactions with it became unhealthy.
    - yung_steezy 5y ago
      I agree that sounds unhealthy
  - emerged 5y ago
    It’s a pretty weird place these days. There are a few friends who get like 7 trillion likes if they post that their baby farted, but many many other friend posts have literally 0 or very few likes. At some point I stopped commenting or Liking any post which already has more than ~10 Likes or comments. In some sense it feels really strange to me that people bother to engage with content where their engagement is essentially invisible within the crowd.
  - smackeyacky 5y ago
    This is interesting. Perhaps Facebook are partly encouraging the clickbait weirdness to give the continued impression to those that are still using it, that there is something to use. Over the last 4 years I found Facebook an entirely useless vehicle for customer engagement, instagram was marginally better but after the change that got rid of the time based sorting, it became useless as well. It wouldn't surprise me if Facebook has become a ghost town, inhabited only by those who have become addicted to the posts that feign engagement i.e. somebody is asking ME a question! I am important, I want to be heard. It might just be a complicated scheme to keep the share price high. It doesn't necessarily have to be something nefarious.
void_mint 5y ago
> My FB feed is lousy with these sorts of things. My family & friends seem to enjoy answering questions like "What was the first concert you attended?" I don't think it's for advertising purposes because I have not noticed any improvement in the accuracy of targeted ads. I don't think it's for political purposes because that is much easier to figure out without these oblique questions. Hyper dystopian take: Gathering data to be able to create real-seeming narratives for fictional profiles to push political agendas.
standardUser 5y ago
"I don't think it's for political purposes because that is much easier to figure out without these oblique questions." Personally, I cannot imagine a better way to build an in-depth profile of millions of voters.
Damogran6 5y ago
I've been snoozing those people for 30 days...not because I'm angry with them, but because it's the ONLY signal Facebook exposes to adjust things. Perhaps if they see a steep decline in my feed based on this stuff, they'll adjust (but I doubt it). I've had a couple ofpoints int he past where I've broken my graf hard enough for the The Algorhythm to break down and it's kinda interesting. A combination of 'we don't know you well enough, we'll throw this synchronized knitting competition at you' and 'huh, you've reached the end of your endless feed...press refresh...please?'

htrp 5y ago

> "What was the first concert you attended?" That's literally a security question for a bank password reset.

okareaman 5y ago
That's not a good example, which is why I added the DUI question. I've noticed most of my friends have stopped answering security type questions as they've been warned.
- creaghpatr 5y ago
  I’ve seen the DUI question in my feed in the past week, along with several other examples from the article.
tbihl 5y ago
And if your answer isn't a random string of three words, you're a good mark.

matsemann 5y ago

I've long wished for an opportunity to filter my feed, so that I only see what people post themselves. But I guess fb force these things down my throat because no one actually posts anything anymore, except big life events like weddings or announcing a child. So people would realize fb is dead when it comes to keeping in touch with friends and family.

okareaman 5y ago
Facebook is dead as far as I'm concerned because I tested it. I quit all groups and unliked all pages. My feed just became ads and posts from friends. I have a couple of friends who like to post, but the vast majority don't post anything. It's a ghost town.
- silexia 5y ago
  I shit down my Facebook recently after my interactions with it became unhealthy.
  - yung_steezy 5y ago
    I agree that sounds unhealthy
- emerged 5y ago
  It’s a pretty weird place these days. There are a few friends who get like 7 trillion likes if they post that their baby farted, but many many other friend posts have literally 0 or very few likes. At some point I stopped commenting or Liking any post which already has more than ~10 Likes or comments. In some sense it feels really strange to me that people bother to engage with content where their engagement is essentially invisible within the crowd.
- smackeyacky 5y ago
  This is interesting. Perhaps Facebook are partly encouraging the clickbait weirdness to give the continued impression to those that are still using it, that there is something to use. Over the last 4 years I found Facebook an entirely useless vehicle for customer engagement, instagram was marginally better but after the change that got rid of the time based sorting, it became useless as well. It wouldn't surprise me if Facebook has become a ghost town, inhabited only by those who have become addicted to the posts that feign engagement i.e. somebody is asking ME a question! I am important, I want to be heard. It might just be a complicated scheme to keep the share price high. It doesn't necessarily have to be something nefarious.

void_mint 5y ago

> My FB feed is lousy with these sorts of things. My family & friends seem to enjoy answering questions like "What was the first concert you attended?" I don't think it's for advertising purposes because I have not noticed any improvement in the accuracy of targeted ads. I don't think it's for political purposes because that is much easier to figure out without these oblique questions. Hyper dystopian take: Gathering data to be able to create real-seeming narratives for fictional profiles to push political agendas.

standardUser 5y ago

"I don't think it's for political purposes because that is much easier to figure out without these oblique questions." Personally, I cannot imagine a better way to build an in-depth profile of millions of voters.

Damogran6 5y ago

I've been snoozing those people for 30 days...not because I'm angry with them, but because it's the ONLY signal Facebook exposes to adjust things. Perhaps if they see a steep decline in my feed based on this stuff, they'll adjust (but I doubt it). I've had a couple ofpoints int he past where I've broken my graf hard enough for the The Algorhythm to break down and it's kinda interesting. A combination of 'we don't know you well enough, we'll throw this synchronized knitting competition at you' and 'huh, you've reached the end of your endless feed...press refresh...please?'