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> Why are we criticizing Facebook's models that we basically played our own individual role in building? Practicality and precedent. We can effectively regulat

> Why are we criticizing Facebook's models that we basically played our own individual role in building? Practicality and precedent. We can effectively regulate the algorithms a countable number of companies use in their products, but can't effectively make people not susceptible to doom-scrolling (nicotine, heroin, gambling, whatever). > If Facebook went away tomorrow, another platform would fill its place. Not if the troubling practices were illegal or too expensive to operate. It would be a pretty dumb investment to bother. Instead, new platforms would pursue different techniques for content presentation and profitability, just like existing competitors already do.

MuffinFlavored 4y ago
> We can effectively regulate the algorithms a countable number of companies use in their products, but can't effectively make people not susceptible to doom-scrolling (nicotine, heroin, gambling, whatever). What does regulation of Facebook's algorithm look like to you? Promote specifically which types of content less/not at all? Obviously "politically divisive/disinformation" but who gets to be in charge of that/classifying what is/isn't disinformation/divisive?
- swatcoder 4y ago
  You keep missing that the problem is engagement optimization, not political divisive/disinformation per se. A site that optimizes for content that people heavily interact with (engagement) is different than a site that prioritizes the relationship type between users (friends original content > public figure OC > shares > etc) or positive response (upvotes), etc None of these many other systems rely on discerning the specific nature of content or making sure it’s of some certain arbitrary moral character. But they each lead the network as a whole to favor different kinds of content and so the experience for users ends up different. And it’s already known that social media sites can be successful using these other techniques.
  - c23gooey 4y ago
    > A site that optimizes for content that people heavily interact with (engagement) is different than a site that prioritizes the relationship type between users I think that's hit the nail on the head. In a neutral environment, a user would be shown a feed of friends posts with ads mixed in for their demographic. In an optimised for engagement environment, a user is shown posts that are known to increase engagement and quite often those posts are inflammatory. This engagement environment is much more likely to expose people to extreme views

MuffinFlavored 4y ago

> We can effectively regulate the algorithms a countable number of companies use in their products, but can't effectively make people not susceptible to doom-scrolling (nicotine, heroin, gambling, whatever). What does regulation of Facebook's algorithm look like to you? Promote specifically which types of content less/not at all? Obviously "politically divisive/disinformation" but who gets to be in charge of that/classifying what is/isn't disinformation/divisive?

swatcoder 4y ago
You keep missing that the problem is engagement optimization, not political divisive/disinformation per se. A site that optimizes for content that people heavily interact with (engagement) is different than a site that prioritizes the relationship type between users (friends original content > public figure OC > shares > etc) or positive response (upvotes), etc None of these many other systems rely on discerning the specific nature of content or making sure it’s of some certain arbitrary moral character. But they each lead the network as a whole to favor different kinds of content and so the experience for users ends up different. And it’s already known that social media sites can be successful using these other techniques.
- c23gooey 4y ago
  > A site that optimizes for content that people heavily interact with (engagement) is different than a site that prioritizes the relationship type between users I think that's hit the nail on the head. In a neutral environment, a user would be shown a feed of friends posts with ads mixed in for their demographic. In an optimised for engagement environment, a user is shown posts that are known to increase engagement and quite often those posts are inflammatory. This engagement environment is much more likely to expose people to extreme views