The Facebook bubble just popped • Hacker News Board

Re: The Facebook bubble just popped

#11

Post by herbst » Thu, Nov 10, 2016, 5:17 PM UTC

ghouse wrote: post #8

herbst wrote: post #2

Are they seriously trying to blame facebook for the voting result now?

No, they're not. Read the article. Their research indicates Facebook shows you news, even fabricated news that agrees with whatever you already believe.

I've read the article, it says that Facebook did favor Trump somehow and and does passively suggest that they did this knowingly by showing other cases where they did that.

I realize its not the complete message, but its appearantly the subtle message they want to bring over.

Re: The Facebook bubble just popped

#12

Post by sickbeard » Thu, Nov 10, 2016, 5:18 PM UTC

Not to mention realclearpolitics and projectthirtyfive all had poll after poll with all the number crunching data saying Clinton would win.

In the end..

clinton: 59,938,290 votes

trump: 59,704,886 votes

59million liked all new age sjw stuff

59million other people didn't

Re: The Facebook bubble just popped

#13

Post by DubiousPusher » Thu, Nov 10, 2016, 5:19 PM UTC

gremlinsinc wrote: post #7

Yeah because, all the other news outlets predicted a trump win... this is a shit piece article... Show me one outlet that gave Mr. Trump > 50% chance of winning (Fox doesn't count as news). If anything this is more the fault of bad pollsters, and people not realizing that 4 million Bernie or Bust voters were real and not just spouting empty promises. I was one of those. I wrote in Bernie, and I'd rather have Trump an…

FiveThirtyEight consistently gave Trump a %25+ chance of winning. That's obviously a pretty good chance which is something they constantly reminded their audience of.

Re: The Facebook bubble just popped

#14

Post by wyager » Thu, Nov 10, 2016, 5:19 PM UTC

> Facebook didn’t just reflect your views back to you

Hardly. I'd say it accurately represented the view distribution of my social group, which I infrequently agree with.

> But beyond that, it turns a blind eye to the nature of the content within its walls.

Is this article claiming that FB should censor more? It's also wrong; I know of several Facebook pages that have been unpublished for being politically unsavory (from Facebook's perspective, of course).

I'm not exactly sure what this article is supposed to convince us of.

Re: The Facebook bubble just popped

#15

Post by woodchuck64 » Thu, Nov 10, 2016, 5:19 PM UTC

Not just the left and right's echo-chambers, but those who attempt to actually listen to reality got it wrong, too: FiveThirtyEight for example has been using proven, reality-based statistics for a while and should have predicted this result. (As it was, Silver was lambasted for being too generous on Trump's chances.) At issue in this election is apparently a new idea: people who hold positions that are being publically shamed tend to lie to pollsters.

Re: The Facebook bubble just popped

#16

Post by herbst » Thu, Nov 10, 2016, 5:20 PM UTC

sickbeard wrote: post #9

What an absurd article. Facebook is worldwide but somehow the US only elections popped it's bubble? Not to mention this was a 50/50 opinion split.. not exactly earth shattering.

Well for one thing i never heard anyone using Facebook as news source, if U.S. people really do that there is at least that.

Otherwise really absurd article, agreed.

Re: The Facebook bubble just popped

#17

Post by webkike » Thu, Nov 10, 2016, 5:20 PM UTC

overcast wrote: post #5

As opposed to what? Some other major media outlet, pushing their own agenda on previous elections? Give me a break.

Or maybe - just maybe - they report the news without opinion. Facebook injects opinion into everything by it's very nature. Maybe that's not a good thing.

Re: The Facebook bubble just popped

#18

Post by bdcravens » Thu, Nov 10, 2016, 5:21 PM UTC

overcast wrote: post #5

As opposed to what? Some other major media outlet, pushing their own agenda on previous elections? Give me a break.

When there were only 3 networks, there was less exposure to varying opinions. Over time that has diminished, but I think Facebook is the closest you'll find, given its reach.

Re: The Facebook bubble just popped

#19

Post by admstockdale » Thu, Nov 10, 2016, 5:21 PM UTC

Some of this article is spot on.

There is a need in the internet age to educate people on how to consume information. When we had fewer news organizations, information was more controlled. It was done by professionals with years of training.

While there's a lot of benefit in providing more voices and more outlets, there's a real danger of spreading misinformation propped up by false equivalences as to what qualifies as a professional news organization. I'm not sure the answer other than education.

Re: The Facebook bubble just popped

#20

Post by wskinner » Thu, Nov 10, 2016, 5:21 PM UTC

woodchuck64 wrote: post #15

Not just the left and right's echo-chambers, but those who attempt to actually listen to reality got it wrong, too: FiveThirtyEight for example has been using proven, reality-based statistics for a while and should have predicted this result. (As it was, Silver was lambasted for being too generous on Trump's chances.) At issue in this election is apparently a new idea: people who hold positions that are being publica…

Not really a new idea. This effect is called preference falsification: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preference_falsification

For those who don't want to follow the link: "individuals convey preferences that differ from what they genuinely want"