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> Facebook says its algorithm will now consider how long users spend reading an article as a way of judging the importance. A result of Facebook monitoring you

by Zikes 12y ago

> Facebook says its algorithm will now consider how long users spend reading an article as a way of judging the importance. A result of Facebook monitoring your browsing habits on other web sites. Thank goodness for Ghostery [1] [1] https://www.ghostery.com/en/ https://www.ghostery.com/en/

sp332 12y ago
That's not the only way for FB to tell how long you spent on a linked page. If you click a link on FB, then reload the page a few seconds later, they know you probably didn't spend much time on the linked page.
- Zikes 12y ago
  I'm at work so I can't confirm, but isn't the default click behavior to open the link in a new tab/window? It would be a pretty big assumption to think that someone wouldn't leave that tab open for later, or multitask reading it and Liking their friends' status posts.
  - sp332 12y ago
    Hm, that's true. I would guess that most people don't use the web that way, though. And this is all about averages, so as long as other people don't use Ghostery, Facebook will still edit your feed based on their behavior. The only solution is to get everyone to use Ghostery :)
  - tedunangst 12y ago
    Can the Facebook tab not tell when it has focus?
    - sp332 12y ago
      But it doesn't know if you left the other tab open in the background to read later (if that page doesn't have effective analytics because Ghostery blocked them).
      - troels 12y ago
        You're right, but with enough data I suspect that becomes a relatively small error source.
  - nql 12y ago
    It is knowable whether the page was opened that way, by seeing if the browser environment is still around after the click. The analysis could just ignore that set of data.
antihero 12y ago
So they actually try and do something useful with this power and you're saying that this is a bad thing?
- Zikes 12y ago
  I'm not saying that what they're doing with it is the part that is bad.
Aldo_MX 12y ago
They can count the time it took you to go back to Facebook after you clicked, no need for tracking...
- Zikes 12y ago
  See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8223697 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8223697
greglindahl 12y ago
Did you read FB posting[1]? Especially this part: One way is to look at how long people spend reading an article away from Facebook. If people click on an article and spend time reading it, it suggests they clicked through to something valuable. If they click through to a link and then come straight back to Facebook, it suggests that they didn’t find something that they wanted. With this update we will start taking into account whether people tend to spend time away from Facebook after clicking a link, or whether they tend to come straight back to News Feed when we rank stories with links in them. [1] http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2014/08/news-feed-fyi-click-baiting/ http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2014/08/news-feed-fyi-click-bait...
- Zikes 12y ago
  "One way", and a speculative one at that. Their tracking cookies are a much more effective means to gather that sort of data with certainty. Anything else is just fancy guesswork.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - jarin 12y ago
    They don't even need tracking cookies. They can just use the Like button.
- Scoundreller 12y ago
  I worry about this philosophy. I write very niche articles that are often the sole resource on the internet for that particular topic/question. Admittedly, Facebook referrals are not even on the charts with regards to user visits since I provide information rather than entertainment. My aim is to for my visitors to spend as little time on my site as possible by giving them whatever they came for. I may have spent hours digging up a phone number, address, directions, tricks or instructions for a particular department/company/thing, and now I'm sharing it with the world. What was going to take you hours now takes you seconds. It's your reward for doing research before starting something. I have no desire to become a "portal". Heck, people visiting my site directly (rather than a search engine referral) tend to get confused since it's just a bunch of disconnected articles about unrelated topics. I don't want you to spend more than a minute on my site. My "bounce rate" would make most people cringe. As much as someone clicking a link and then going straight back to where they came from can be a sign of them not finding something they wanted, it can also be a very good sign that they got exactly what they wanted.
fsaintjacques 12y ago
Most non-tech that I know use FB on mobile with the native app.
snowwrestler 12y ago
On the iPhone and iPad, if you open a link in the Facebook app, it opens in the app's browser, not Safari. They could certainly instrument that to report time spent.

by Zikes 12y ago

sp332 12y ago

That's not the only way for FB to tell how long you spent on a linked page. If you click a link on FB, then reload the page a few seconds later, they know you probably didn't spend much time on the linked page.

Zikes 12y ago
I'm at work so I can't confirm, but isn't the default click behavior to open the link in a new tab/window? It would be a pretty big assumption to think that someone wouldn't leave that tab open for later, or multitask reading it and Liking their friends' status posts.
- sp332 12y ago
  Hm, that's true. I would guess that most people don't use the web that way, though. And this is all about averages, so as long as other people don't use Ghostery, Facebook will still edit your feed based on their behavior. The only solution is to get everyone to use Ghostery :)
- tedunangst 12y ago
  Can the Facebook tab not tell when it has focus?
  - sp332 12y ago
    But it doesn't know if you left the other tab open in the background to read later (if that page doesn't have effective analytics because Ghostery blocked them).
    - troels 12y ago
      You're right, but with enough data I suspect that becomes a relatively small error source.
- nql 12y ago
  It is knowable whether the page was opened that way, by seeing if the browser environment is still around after the click. The analysis could just ignore that set of data.

antihero 12y ago

So they actually try and do something useful with this power and you're saying that this is a bad thing?

Zikes 12y ago
I'm not saying that what they're doing with it is the part that is bad.

Aldo_MX 12y ago

They can count the time it took you to go back to Facebook after you clicked, no need for tracking...

Zikes 12y ago
See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8223697 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8223697

greglindahl 12y ago

Did you read FB posting[1]? Especially this part: One way is to look at how long people spend reading an article away from Facebook. If people click on an article and spend time reading it, it suggests they clicked through to something valuable. If they click through to a link and then come straight back to Facebook, it suggests that they didn’t find something that they wanted. With this update we will start taking into account whether people tend to spend time away from Facebook after clicking a link, or whether they tend to come straight back to News Feed when we rank stories with links in them. [1] http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2014/08/news-feed-fyi-click-baiting/ http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2014/08/news-feed-fyi-click-bait...

Zikes 12y ago
"One way", and a speculative one at that. Their tracking cookies are a much more effective means to gather that sort of data with certainty. Anything else is just fancy guesswork.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- jarin 12y ago
  They don't even need tracking cookies. They can just use the Like button.
Scoundreller 12y ago
I worry about this philosophy. I write very niche articles that are often the sole resource on the internet for that particular topic/question. Admittedly, Facebook referrals are not even on the charts with regards to user visits since I provide information rather than entertainment. My aim is to for my visitors to spend as little time on my site as possible by giving them whatever they came for. I may have spent hours digging up a phone number, address, directions, tricks or instructions for a particular department/company/thing, and now I'm sharing it with the world. What was going to take you hours now takes you seconds. It's your reward for doing research before starting something. I have no desire to become a "portal". Heck, people visiting my site directly (rather than a search engine referral) tend to get confused since it's just a bunch of disconnected articles about unrelated topics. I don't want you to spend more than a minute on my site. My "bounce rate" would make most people cringe. As much as someone clicking a link and then going straight back to where they came from can be a sign of them not finding something they wanted, it can also be a very good sign that they got exactly what they wanted.

fsaintjacques 12y ago

Most non-tech that I know use FB on mobile with the native app.

snowwrestler 12y ago

On the iPhone and iPad, if you open a link in the Facebook app, it opens in the app's browser, not Safari. They could certainly instrument that to report time spent.