Facebook is training rats in a maze. At least the theory is the same. So the question then is, are you a rat in a maze?
Facebook’s Safety Check is a stress-inducing flip of social norms
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Re: Facebook’s Safety Check is a stress-inducing flip of social norms
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Facebook knows about all of your interactions on Facebook, and they probably know what you are buying and what sites you visit through tracking mechanisms. So what? I mean that earnestly - why is it inherently bad if a company knows a lot about me? > What utility are they really getting? It's fake utility. Do you really believe that easily keeping up with friends is "fake" utility? You really think that billions of…
42% of the US population smoked daily. You really think that a hundred million people lit up daily with no "real" utility?
Fair point - people finding value in something doesn't imply that it's a net positive.
That said, I'm not convinced that the value Facebook provides is net negative.
Re: Facebook’s Safety Check is a stress-inducing flip of social norms
#43Ok, I had to make a throwaway for this because apparently its a heated debate. Why does everything Facebook do have to be so heavily criticized? Safety Check is a wonderful feature. If I remember correctly, it started off as an internal hackathon project that got turned into a full feature. They get shit if they turn it on (here), and if they don't turn it on (past tragedies where they failed to turn it on). Why does…
It's so new and so massive that decisions made there affect the world in unpredictable ways.
It's compelling to talk about the effects, clearly people care about it, so it will be written about.
Re: Facebook’s Safety Check is a stress-inducing flip of social norms
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've been at both companies. I highly doubt HN is filled with Google employees bashing Facebook.
Then, who are those people?
In my case, someone who thinks that it dumbs-down the population, leaving them in an echo chamber of made-up bullshit, lifestyle signalling and narcissism.
My position does ignore the positive aspects of Facebook like finding old acquaintances, coordinating social events etc, but then even cannibalism has its bright sides.
Re: Facebook’s Safety Check is a stress-inducing flip of social norms
#45Ok, I had to make a throwaway for this because apparently its a heated debate. Why does everything Facebook do have to be so heavily criticized? Safety Check is a wonderful feature. If I remember correctly, it started off as an internal hackathon project that got turned into a full feature. They get shit if they turn it on (here), and if they don't turn it on (past tragedies where they failed to turn it on). Why does…
Zuckerberg said plainly that people who trust him are "dumb fucks", so I have what I think is the natural response and don't trust him. It's not complicated.
Re: Facebook’s Safety Check is a stress-inducing flip of social norms
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
The HN set really doesn't seem to understand where the value of Facebook actually is. It's not the feed. The feed is mind numbing, time wasting garbage. It's being able to communicate and organise things, with all your friends, in the one place. It's in Facebook Messenger, which everyone has. It's in events organisation and events discovery. It's in groups. Facebook supplies a directory of everything happening in my…
I just call my friends up. Crazy, I know. I don't need an algorithmic feed to tell me what my interests are and what my friends are doing because I know the first and there are other ways of doing the latter that don't involve giving up my privacy.
Well, hey. There's the utility I guess - it makes something I want to do (find out how and when I can hang out with my friends) much simpler than it was previously. If I want to see some live music on a Thursday it's a lot easier to mark myself as "interested" on the gig and see who contacts me about wanting to come along than messaging or calling the 30-40 people who might be interested.
Re: Facebook’s Safety Check is a stress-inducing flip of social norms
#47Ok, I had to make a throwaway for this because apparently its a heated debate. Why does everything Facebook do have to be so heavily criticized? Safety Check is a wonderful feature. If I remember correctly, it started off as an internal hackathon project that got turned into a full feature. They get shit if they turn it on (here), and if they don't turn it on (past tragedies where they failed to turn it on). Why does…
I don't have a strong opinion about your general question, but this is easily explainable:
> Safety Check is a wonderful feature. If I remember correctly, it started off as an internal hackathon project that got turned into a full feature. They get shit if they turn it on (here), and if they don't turn it on (past tragedies where they failed to turn it on).
It's just not the same people doing the complaining. That some people complained about the feature not being on doesn't mean there are no negatives to turning it on, and now people affected by those negatives are complaining.
Or to draw a more absurdist comparison, let's say Facebook had a switch. If they pull it, I get punched in the face. If they don't pull it, you get punched in the face. Now, when they pull it, I'm understandably upset and demand they stop pulling it. When they listen to my complaint and stop pulling it, you are suddenly upset and tell them to keep pulling it. Seems like Facebook just can't catch a break? Or are they simply trying to serve customers with competing needs, something every business has to deal with?
I don't think this situation is special to Facebook, so I think a likely explanation for your initial question(Why does everything Facebook do have to be so heavily criticized?) would be that this is something common to large businesses trying to serve competing interests, and you notice Facebook more because Facebook is very large and has lots of users.
Re: Facebook’s Safety Check is a stress-inducing flip of social norms
#48I've said it before here, and I'll say it every time it's relevant: Stop using Facebook. Start telling your friends and family to do the same. As the "smart computer person" in many people's lives, you can be the voice they need to hear.
What rationale could I possibly give someone to stop using Facebook that would convince them to forgo all of the value they get from it?
Actual empirical studies that show they DON'T get any value from it, and that it actually makes people more miserable on the whole?
Re: Facebook’s Safety Check is a stress-inducing flip of social norms
#49Ok, I had to make a throwaway for this because apparently its a heated debate. Why does everything Facebook do have to be so heavily criticized? Safety Check is a wonderful feature. If I remember correctly, it started off as an internal hackathon project that got turned into a full feature. They get shit if they turn it on (here), and if they don't turn it on (past tragedies where they failed to turn it on). Why does…
>"Ok, I had to make a throwaway for this because apparently its a heated debate."
I am curious why do you feel the need to make a throwaway account because something is a "heated debate."?
Re: Facebook’s Safety Check is a stress-inducing flip of social norms
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree with you up until the mic comment. I ran a few tests with friends. We talked about very obscure topics repeatedly (and nothing else) that we would otherwise would have never messaged, and after scrolling 2 mins, targeted ads appeared for those topics. Happened for multiple topics.
are you serious? Which app/phone?
We both had our phones (one iPhone, one android) and macbooks on with facebook (web/app) open.