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I find that number so shocking that I question the methodology behind it. 140 million is nearly half of all Americans. I can see nearly half of all Americans r

I find that number so shocking that I question the methodology behind it. 140 million is nearly half of all Americans. I can see nearly half of all Americans regularly engaging with SOME Facebook property, if you include Instagram and WhatsApp, etc. But the original old Facebook itself? In the 2020’s? I don’t know a single person who still uses that.

jessaustin 5y ago
I've heard that some online accounts don't actually represent real human beings. Perhaps they counted some of those "fake" accounts?
tylerrobinson 5y ago
Perhaps your perspective is based on your demographics or location? In my anecdotal experience I know vanishingly few people who are not on “original old Facebook”. Male, 30s, southeast US.
- StevePerkins 5y ago
  There's a difference between "having an account" (I do too), versus "being any kind of active user". I am responding to a quote claiming that troll fake news "reached 140 million on Facebook". Clearly, this is speaking to the latter. You would have to be a fairly active user to run across deliberate misinformation, generated by offshore troll farms. That's not "I login once in a blue moon to spy on my ex", or "I have Messenger on my phone because a group that I'm in uses it to announce events". That is "I actively choose to consume angry and dumb political content on a regular basis". Perhaps I overestimate people, but 140 million seems high.
  - pwinnski 5y ago
    > You would have to be a fairly active user to run across deliberate misinformation, generated by offshore troll farms. I think you are missing the point of this research. The entire point is that 19 of the top 20 Christian pages, for example, are produced by offshore troll farms, and until recently, this was generally not known. So no, you do not need to be a fairly active user, not at all. Many, many casual users came across this because it was incredibly widely shared, and because Facebook's algorithms push such content far and wide.
    - tylerrobinson 5y ago
      > Many, many casual users came across this because it was incredibly widely shared, and because Facebook's algorithms push such content far and wide. That's my take, too. I know exactly the sort of mass-produced garbage content they're talking about, since I see things that my friends interacted with in my Feed. Therefore I am part of the 140 million people who was exposed to the media produced by these operations.
peterthehacker 5y ago
300M Americans are on FB[0] 7/10 Americans are Christian[1] So, there are around 210M American Christians on FB. So, these posts reached roughly 60% of Christians. Sounds feasible to me. Top brands in a niche like Christians can get broad reach. [0] https://www.statista.com/statistics/408971/number-of-us-facebook-users/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/408971/number-of-us-face... [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_the_United_States https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_the_United_S...

jessaustin 5y ago

I've heard that some online accounts don't actually represent real human beings. Perhaps they counted some of those "fake" accounts?

tylerrobinson 5y ago

Perhaps your perspective is based on your demographics or location? In my anecdotal experience I know vanishingly few people who are not on “original old Facebook”. Male, 30s, southeast US.

StevePerkins 5y ago
There's a difference between "having an account" (I do too), versus "being any kind of active user". I am responding to a quote claiming that troll fake news "reached 140 million on Facebook". Clearly, this is speaking to the latter. You would have to be a fairly active user to run across deliberate misinformation, generated by offshore troll farms. That's not "I login once in a blue moon to spy on my ex", or "I have Messenger on my phone because a group that I'm in uses it to announce events". That is "I actively choose to consume angry and dumb political content on a regular basis". Perhaps I overestimate people, but 140 million seems high.
- pwinnski 5y ago
  > You would have to be a fairly active user to run across deliberate misinformation, generated by offshore troll farms. I think you are missing the point of this research. The entire point is that 19 of the top 20 Christian pages, for example, are produced by offshore troll farms, and until recently, this was generally not known. So no, you do not need to be a fairly active user, not at all. Many, many casual users came across this because it was incredibly widely shared, and because Facebook's algorithms push such content far and wide.
  - tylerrobinson 5y ago
    > Many, many casual users came across this because it was incredibly widely shared, and because Facebook's algorithms push such content far and wide. That's my take, too. I know exactly the sort of mass-produced garbage content they're talking about, since I see things that my friends interacted with in my Feed. Therefore I am part of the 140 million people who was exposed to the media produced by these operations.

peterthehacker 5y ago

300M Americans are on FB[0] 7/10 Americans are Christian[1] So, there are around 210M American Christians on FB. So, these posts reached roughly 60% of Christians. Sounds feasible to me. Top brands in a niche like Christians can get broad reach. [0] https://www.statista.com/statistics/408971/number-of-us-facebook-users/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/408971/number-of-us-face... [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_the_United_States https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_the_United_S...