The Facebook bubble just popped • Hacker News Board

Re: The Facebook bubble just popped

#101

Post by meritt » Thu, Nov 10, 2016, 5:58 PM UTC

misterbowfinger wrote: post #36

We're all definitely in an echo chamber. Hacker News is an echo chamber. So is Reddit, FB, Twitter, etc. This is what happens when, as an industry, we move towards "personalization". All of our "personalized" feeds allow businesses to increase their ad revenue, but it siphons us away from the rest of the world. 30 years ago, we were beholden to the large media outlets, which is also bad, but I believe we've overcorre…

HN is an echo chamber when it comes to tech choices, but it's absolutely not when it comes to politics. I've seen many pro-Trump supporters in the ranks here, which is very surprising given the demographic.

Re: The Facebook bubble just popped

#102

Post by istorical » Thu, Nov 10, 2016, 5:59 PM UTC

herbst wrote: post #82

acobster wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an American and former FB user I must admit that before I gave it up entirely, it was my primary channel for finding news. This is still true of many of my friends and, I suspect, no small number of Americans. But yeah.

this is really strange to me honestly. From what i can tell (i avoid facebook as much as possbile) "News" on my feed are mostly just uplifting news style. Everything relevant and political has no place on facebook within my environment. And i dont consider myself sheltered.

Many people use it as a link-sharing medium like others use Twitter.

Re: The Facebook bubble just popped

#103

Post by zzalpha » Thu, Nov 10, 2016, 5:59 PM UTC

jbondeson wrote: post #94

zzalpha wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I almost think this was a textbook troll. Start with a reasonable statement. Back that up with some interesting facts. Then drop a bomb in the room and wait for the aftermath. Pretty nicely crafted, all things considered...

Could be, but personally I'm done with being silent and just chuckling silently to myself or rolling my eyes when people pull out these infotainment zingers disguised as "insight". The last year has ripped covers off the culture war that the US has been slowly boiling in like a frog. BLM and Trump aren't one offs, there are tons of people with serious gripes in this country, and for myself I'd rather call out the BS…

Could be, but personally I'm done with being silent and just chuckling silently to myself or rolling my eyes when people pull out these infotainment zingers disguised as "insight".

I agree. Throwing a derogatory zinger out there like "SJW" (which is unquestionably a dog whistle... anyone who would claim otherwise is being dishonest) does nothing to enhance public discourse, and it's about time we all worked to recognize and discourage that kind of behaviour while we all try to have honest, forthright conversations that help everyone understand each other a little better.

That is what you meant, right?

Re: The Facebook bubble just popped

#104

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Nov 10, 2016, 6:01 PM UTC

ianai wrote: post #70

misterbowfinger wrote: post #36

We're all definitely in an echo chamber. Hacker News is an echo chamber. So is Reddit, FB, Twitter, etc. This is what happens when, as an industry, we move towards "personalization". All of our "personalized" feeds allow businesses to increase their ad revenue, but it siphons us away from the rest of the world. 30 years ago, we were beholden to the large media outlets, which is also bad, but I believe we've overcorre…

It has everything to do with human behavior. It takes energy and induces cognitive load to interact with 'the other' - other people, other view points, etc. So people group up by like interests. Technology just makes it possible to highly concentrate.

[deleted]

Re: The Facebook bubble just popped

#105

Post by pluma » Thu, Nov 10, 2016, 6:02 PM UTC

thewhitetulip wrote: post #46

sickbeard wrote: post #12

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

I find the electoral system in US to be funny. When 47.7% people voted for Hillary and 47.5 voted from Donald, yet Donald won. This is for the second time that Dems have lost this way, the last time was during Al Gore vs Bush

This has happened four times now. http://www.cgpgrey.com/blog/the-trouble-with-the-electoral-c...

Re: The Facebook bubble just popped

#106

Post by jtsnow » Thu, Nov 10, 2016, 6:02 PM UTC

Jemaclus wrote: post #29

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…

Technically, they did predict it: 538 had 35% chance of Trump winning and emphasized the uncertainty factor, while other outlets had Clinton's chances as high as 99%.

Nassim Taleb has rigorously shown that FiveThirtyEight did not accurately account for uncertainty in their models.

Re: The Facebook bubble just popped

#107

Post by gipp » Thu, Nov 10, 2016, 6:02 PM UTC

webkike wrote: post #17

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.

There is no such thing. Even if only through the selection of events considered "newsworthy", reporting news _always_ implies a particular narrative of the world, and politics is nothing but competing narratives.

Re: The Facebook bubble just popped

#108

Post by cmrdporcupine » Thu, Nov 10, 2016, 6:03 PM UTC

Waterluvian wrote: post #45

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #6

> On Facebook, a Trump victory was likely, or a Clinton win was all but assured. And if you were watching the election coverage the night of you could very discernibly see the change in the commentators narrative from "yay! Clinton!" to the shock of "Wait, Trump?" to "Those dirty rednecks! (er ... uneducated white folk)" as their reality was changing before them. It wasn't JUST Facebook.

I watched CNN and it was so painful to watch them try to keep it exciting. They didn't want to call Florida for so long even after it became statically impossible for Clinton to make up the difference. The sense I got is the sooner the conclusion is reached, the sooner people stop watching.

I think since 2000 the networks are super cautious about calling Florida in particular.

Re: The Facebook bubble just popped

#109

Post by renaudg » Thu, Nov 10, 2016, 6:03 PM UTC

herbst wrote: post #86

renaudg wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i never heard anyone using Facebook as news source Well, that's one hell of a bubble you're living in.

I am sorry if this does not fit with your world view. In my environment facebook is some social media platform, with a few uplifting news but mostly irrelevant personal stuff. As anyone i am "friends" with way to many people without a specific genre, so i dont think my feed is special in that regard. There is barely political or relevant stuff on my feed, and as said i never heard anyone say "did you read _that_ on f…

It's definitely not just my world view. According to some studies, 62% of Americans are said to use FB as their primary news source (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/62-people-now-use-facebook-pr...)

So it's not unreasonable to say you're inside a really special bubble, if you've never heard anyone using Facebook as a news source.

Re: The Facebook bubble just popped

#110

Post by gnicholas » Thu, Nov 10, 2016, 6:03 PM UTC

thewhitetulip wrote: post #46

sickbeard wrote: post #12

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

I find the electoral system in US to be funny. When 47.7% people voted for Hillary and 47.5 voted from Donald, yet Donald won. This is for the second time that Dems have lost this way, the last time was during Al Gore vs Bush

The system we have incentivizes campaigns to maximize their electoral college votes. So while we could switch to a popular vote for a future election, looking at the popular vote in an EC-based election doesn't necessarily tell us who would have won the popular vote if we'd changed the rules before this election.

The campaigns would have done things differently (like dems not ignore TX and repubs not ignore CA).

This is more explained more thoroughly and eloquently by Prof Adler: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/201...