2 ms·

I’ve seen it said (somewhere, sorry) that humans simply aren’t designed to interact on these mass social scales. And (without evidence, I admit) that feels kind

I’ve seen it said (somewhere, sorry) that humans simply aren’t designed to interact on these mass social scales. And (without evidence, I admit) that feels kind of right to me. The ideal social network is a small one. But the incentives of advertising and/or just growth in general mean that it would difficult to compete in the market against the likes of Facebook.

threeseed 5y ago
This is completely backwards. The large scale social interaction is courtesy of the internet not from Facebook. For example websites like Reddit, HN, Twitter, TikTok etc are the ones that facilite interaction with large, broad groups of people whereas the majority of Facebook users are just interacting with their small social circle.
- afavour 5y ago
  The post I was replying to didn’t mention Facebook once. Just social networks, which Reddit and the like would fall under. So you’re drawing a line that doesn’t exist in the original context. > the majority of Facebook users are just interacting with their small social circle That describes me and my Facebook experience is comparatively pleasant. But I don’t know how typical it actually is, most of the angst on there seems to come from people sharing meme page posts, being members of groups that spread misinformation… certainly that describes how a number of my relatives experience Facebook. I don’t think the social circle is that small for many users.
- ben_w 5y ago
  Hm, not sure. I’m as you say, but my FB friends list have the following friend counts: 432, 139, hidden, 176, 1213, 103, hidden, 510, 179, 277, 217, 262, 233, it’s a cat, 320, 296, 317, hidden, 985, 398, hidden, hidden, 489, 995, hidden, hidden, 434, 167, hidden, 1080, 1297, hidden. And several of those friends are in FB groups which have leaked onto my feed as a result of my friends interacting with those groups.
  - threeseed 5y ago
    Those numbers are completely normal for the list of friends and acquittances you've met over your lifetime. And of that list you would only be interacting with a fraction on a regular basis. But that's completely different from say Reddit where you would be exposed to hundreds of thousands of different people over the lifetime of using the site.
- tshaddox 5y ago
  I’ve always presumed that the vast majority of Facebook engagement now is not with personal content created by Facebook friends, but with the mass media content from large Facebook communities. Most of what I see when I look at my feed are posts from groups or “pages” which I have never heard of. Most of those posts aren’t even there because one of my Facebook friends directly shared or interacted with the post.
neom 5y ago
Google tells me researches at York University research indicates that humans can remember "10,000 faces over the course of a lifetime. The average person can recall around 5000" - and that's on lifetime scale - so it's not surprising that systems that are pushing past that would be uncomfortable/anxiety inducing. Brains are not wired to deal with huge numbers of humans (although I'm sure evolution will eventually have a thing or two to say about that).
ben_w 5y ago
> I’ve seen it said (somewhere, sorry) that humans simply aren’t designed to interact on these mass social scales. This is something I’ve said, though I doubt I’m the only one. One particular problem is the availability heuristic goes very wildly off-course when there’s an internet bandwagon.

threeseed 5y ago

This is completely backwards. The large scale social interaction is courtesy of the internet not from Facebook. For example websites like Reddit, HN, Twitter, TikTok etc are the ones that facilite interaction with large, broad groups of people whereas the majority of Facebook users are just interacting with their small social circle.

afavour 5y ago
The post I was replying to didn’t mention Facebook once. Just social networks, which Reddit and the like would fall under. So you’re drawing a line that doesn’t exist in the original context. > the majority of Facebook users are just interacting with their small social circle That describes me and my Facebook experience is comparatively pleasant. But I don’t know how typical it actually is, most of the angst on there seems to come from people sharing meme page posts, being members of groups that spread misinformation… certainly that describes how a number of my relatives experience Facebook. I don’t think the social circle is that small for many users.
ben_w 5y ago
Hm, not sure. I’m as you say, but my FB friends list have the following friend counts: 432, 139, hidden, 176, 1213, 103, hidden, 510, 179, 277, 217, 262, 233, it’s a cat, 320, 296, 317, hidden, 985, 398, hidden, hidden, 489, 995, hidden, hidden, 434, 167, hidden, 1080, 1297, hidden. And several of those friends are in FB groups which have leaked onto my feed as a result of my friends interacting with those groups.
- threeseed 5y ago
  Those numbers are completely normal for the list of friends and acquittances you've met over your lifetime. And of that list you would only be interacting with a fraction on a regular basis. But that's completely different from say Reddit where you would be exposed to hundreds of thousands of different people over the lifetime of using the site.
tshaddox 5y ago
I’ve always presumed that the vast majority of Facebook engagement now is not with personal content created by Facebook friends, but with the mass media content from large Facebook communities. Most of what I see when I look at my feed are posts from groups or “pages” which I have never heard of. Most of those posts aren’t even there because one of my Facebook friends directly shared or interacted with the post.

neom 5y ago

Google tells me researches at York University research indicates that humans can remember "10,000 faces over the course of a lifetime. The average person can recall around 5000" - and that's on lifetime scale - so it's not surprising that systems that are pushing past that would be uncomfortable/anxiety inducing. Brains are not wired to deal with huge numbers of humans (although I'm sure evolution will eventually have a thing or two to say about that).

ben_w 5y ago

> I’ve seen it said (somewhere, sorry) that humans simply aren’t designed to interact on these mass social scales. This is something I’ve said, though I doubt I’m the only one. One particular problem is the availability heuristic goes very wildly off-course when there’s an internet bandwagon.