3 ms·

I think people could really work on self-curating/self-filtering content to make sure it's mostly what they want to see on social media. I've made nearly a doz

I think people could really work on self-curating/self-filtering content to make sure it's mostly what they want to see on social media. I've made nearly a dozen friends in Japan who I've now met there on two separate trips purely through a shared interest by connecting on Instagram. I rarely see content that I don't expect or care to see.

asciimov 5y ago
The problem for me, and many others, is we are friends with people on the complete opposite political spectrum. I don't have the granularity to block their political posts while still being able to see their regular posts.
- filoleg 5y ago
  This sounds more like an issue when it comes to interacting with those people in general, regardless of the medium. I bet those friends would still bring up their political views in irrelevant conversations irl, on twitter, or literally everywhere else they socialize. This isn't a fault on the part of FB. You indicated you are friends with those people and want to follow their content. If you want to be friends with them on FB, but not see their content pop up on your timeline, that option is a click away. If you want more granular filtering, so that you can still see non-political posts from those people, you need to indicate to the algorithm that you want less of that by clicking "show me less posts like this", and it will eventually learn. I see those options as a reasonable approach, as I struggle to come up with a better way to filter the content of people you follow with such granularity. The only option I can see in my mind that would work better is literally having someone work as your personal "filter", so that they can only show you the posts you want from those people. But that, obviously, is not a viable approach. It's just like in real life. If you have a friend who you want to continue socializing with, but in public settings they say extremely off-putting things half the time that you don't want to hear, your options are to either stop socializing with them completely (aka unfollowing), to ask them to stop doing it, and that's pretty much it. All of those options are available on facebook as well, except facebook offers even more options that are all pretty good. And I am saying this as someone who opens facebook at most once-twice a week for a little bit of time, just to check up on what my friends post and to read thru a few interesting discussions in the hobby groups I am in. If I occasionally see a wild political shitpost, I just click "show me less content like this". And the algorithm, surprisingly enough, tends to adjust to this pretty well.
- spike021 5y ago
  If you went to a group meeting with them, even if you're talking to someone else you could potentially overhear the other friends talking to someone else about those political views, wouldn't you? I just personally don't see this as a social media problem but I know it can definitely happen in real life (I've been that person listening to "friends" discuss views I don't agree with at an event/party/hangout).
- rattray 5y ago
  You do! On a post you don't like, click the triple dots in the top right corner, then "Hide post" (subtitle: "See fewer posts like this"). Do this enough and you may be able to avoid politics on fb. IME merely avoiding any interaction (including reading) of political posts is enough to gradually hide them from your timeline (I don't see any).
deleted 5y ago
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asciimov 5y ago

The problem for me, and many others, is we are friends with people on the complete opposite political spectrum. I don't have the granularity to block their political posts while still being able to see their regular posts.

filoleg 5y ago
This sounds more like an issue when it comes to interacting with those people in general, regardless of the medium. I bet those friends would still bring up their political views in irrelevant conversations irl, on twitter, or literally everywhere else they socialize. This isn't a fault on the part of FB. You indicated you are friends with those people and want to follow their content. If you want to be friends with them on FB, but not see their content pop up on your timeline, that option is a click away. If you want more granular filtering, so that you can still see non-political posts from those people, you need to indicate to the algorithm that you want less of that by clicking "show me less posts like this", and it will eventually learn. I see those options as a reasonable approach, as I struggle to come up with a better way to filter the content of people you follow with such granularity. The only option I can see in my mind that would work better is literally having someone work as your personal "filter", so that they can only show you the posts you want from those people. But that, obviously, is not a viable approach. It's just like in real life. If you have a friend who you want to continue socializing with, but in public settings they say extremely off-putting things half the time that you don't want to hear, your options are to either stop socializing with them completely (aka unfollowing), to ask them to stop doing it, and that's pretty much it. All of those options are available on facebook as well, except facebook offers even more options that are all pretty good. And I am saying this as someone who opens facebook at most once-twice a week for a little bit of time, just to check up on what my friends post and to read thru a few interesting discussions in the hobby groups I am in. If I occasionally see a wild political shitpost, I just click "show me less content like this". And the algorithm, surprisingly enough, tends to adjust to this pretty well.
spike021 5y ago
If you went to a group meeting with them, even if you're talking to someone else you could potentially overhear the other friends talking to someone else about those political views, wouldn't you? I just personally don't see this as a social media problem but I know it can definitely happen in real life (I've been that person listening to "friends" discuss views I don't agree with at an event/party/hangout).
rattray 5y ago
You do! On a post you don't like, click the triple dots in the top right corner, then "Hide post" (subtitle: "See fewer posts like this"). Do this enough and you may be able to avoid politics on fb. IME merely avoiding any interaction (including reading) of political posts is enough to gradually hide them from your timeline (I don't see any).

deleted 5y ago

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