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The Facebook Algorithm Mom Problem

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Re: The Facebook Algorithm Mom Problem

#51

Post by ghostly_s »

emodendroket wrote: post #19
aeturnum wrote: post #12

I'm pretty sure this description is wrong. My impression is facebook shows your content to a subset of friends and then classifies it based on likes received. If your mom 'like's 9/10 posts and your other friends like 3/10 posts, then 60% of your posts /are/ family content. Even if they're about mathematical theories.

It seems like what he is claiming is that his mom instantly clicks like on everything and so the post gets gated before his other friends ever have the opportunity to indicate whether they like it.

The missing detail here of course is...maybe his posts aren't getting engagement outside of mom because his Facebook 'friends' aren't interested in them?

Re: The Facebook Algorithm Mom Problem

#52

Post by emodendroket »

ghostly_s wrote: post #51
emodendroket wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like what he is claiming is that his mom instantly clicks like on everything and so the post gets gated before his other friends ever have the opportunity to indicate whether they like it.

The missing detail here of course is...maybe his posts aren't getting engagement outside of mom because his Facebook 'friends' aren't interested in them?

Well, that would seem to be contradicted by the observation that his friends do engage with them if he hides the posts from his mom.

Re: The Facebook Algorithm Mom Problem

#53

Post by ProblemFactory »

bad_user wrote: post #38
danso wrote: post #13

tl;dr, as I understand it: when family members Like your Facebook content in relative quick succession, FB apparently interprets it as a signal that it is family-specific content. I didn't see any metrics but this seems plausible. I think I'm more of a fan of FB than the average web geek, probably because I used it at its phase of peak innocence (college years) and have since weaned myself off to the point of checkin…

> But wasn't the feature of making yourself a "brand page" and/or having "subscribers" (which don't count toward the 5,000 friend limit) supposed to mitigate this a bit? If you have a page, Facebook wants to milk you, so they've got this weird algorithm that pushes your posts to only a small fraction of the page's followers, expecting you to start "promoting" them. Basically they screwed "organic reach". Oh, and abou…

> If you have a page, Facebook wants to milk you, so they've got this weird algorithm that pushes your posts to only a small fraction of the page's followers, expecting you to start "promoting" them.

While this does enable Facebook to force brands to buy advertising, it is also an user-friendly change.

Nobody who I have spoken to about this thinks that "like/follow" = "I want to see everything they post" on Facebook. People like restaurants they had a nice dinner at and want to publish their support, it doesn't mean they want to see the daily special every day. Even if they "follow" you, it doesn't mean it should show up before a friend's holiday pictures today, and tomorrow there is already new content.

The reality is that most facebook users do not care about the posts from pages they like/follow, even if they pressed the button some time ago. An automated filter that keeps these posts from showing up is good for the user experience.

It's the same as "facebook friends" - they aren't real friends, just people you met once at a party in college. It might be interesting to see a post from them once in 10 years when they get married or move to a new country, but not their daily life. The same applies for brand pages - a like should give you once in 10 years access to their feed, but not more.

Re: The Facebook Algorithm Mom Problem

#54

Post by andreasgonewild »

It's simple really, just stop participating in that evil experiment. From the outside, you look like morons; talking to opposite sides of an algorithm while interpreting what comes out as reality. It's been proven over and over again that consuming that crap makes everyone feel bad and hate each other. There are plenty of alternatives, but this one is mine: https://github.com/andreas-gone-wild/snackis

Re: The Facebook Algorithm Mom Problem

#55

Post by baq »

bad_user wrote: post #38
danso wrote: post #13

tl;dr, as I understand it: when family members Like your Facebook content in relative quick succession, FB apparently interprets it as a signal that it is family-specific content. I didn't see any metrics but this seems plausible. I think I'm more of a fan of FB than the average web geek, probably because I used it at its phase of peak innocence (college years) and have since weaned myself off to the point of checkin…

> But wasn't the feature of making yourself a "brand page" and/or having "subscribers" (which don't count toward the 5,000 friend limit) supposed to mitigate this a bit? If you have a page, Facebook wants to milk you, so they've got this weird algorithm that pushes your posts to only a small fraction of the page's followers, expecting you to start "promoting" them. Basically they screwed "organic reach". Oh, and abou…

...and it causes the political echo chamber problem which results in extreme polarization of whole societies based on fake perception of what the other side is doing vs what they're actually doing. terrible indeed but generates views thus revenue.

Re: The Facebook Algorithm Mom Problem

#56

Post by tehwebguy »

bad_user wrote: post #38
danso wrote: post #13

tl;dr, as I understand it: when family members Like your Facebook content in relative quick succession, FB apparently interprets it as a signal that it is family-specific content. I didn't see any metrics but this seems plausible. I think I'm more of a fan of FB than the average web geek, probably because I used it at its phase of peak innocence (college years) and have since weaned myself off to the point of checkin…

> But wasn't the feature of making yourself a "brand page" and/or having "subscribers" (which don't count toward the 5,000 friend limit) supposed to mitigate this a bit? If you have a page, Facebook wants to milk you, so they've got this weird algorithm that pushes your posts to only a small fraction of the page's followers, expecting you to start "promoting" them. Basically they screwed "organic reach". Oh, and abou…

> If you have a page, Facebook wants to milk you, so they've got this weird algorithm that pushes your posts to only a small fraction of the page's followers, expecting you to start "promoting" them.

> Basically they screwed "organic reach".

Average user follows way too many pages and has too many friends all posting to see all content every day.

Algorithm isn't here to milk you, it's to stop the news feed from becoming the MySpace bulletin feed (which was an effective way to post in 2007, so long as you posted 5x every hour)

Re: The Facebook Algorithm Mom Problem

#57

Post by wutbrodo »

andreasgonewild wrote: post #54

It's simple really, just stop participating in that evil experiment. From the outside, you look like morons; talking to opposite sides of an algorithm while interpreting what comes out as reality. It's been proven over and over again that consuming that crap makes everyone feel bad and hate each other. There are plenty of alternatives, but this one is mine: https://github.com/andreas-gone-wild/snackis

> It's been proven over and over again that consuming crap like this makes everyone feel bad and hate each other.

Consuming posts about theoretical math? Because that's them only content that the article talks about. I'd love to see the research that claims this.

Re: The Facebook Algorithm Mom Problem

#58

Post by wutbrodo »

isoskeles wrote: post #42
_greim_ wrote: post #37

> Facebook, despite the fact that they know she’s my mom, doesn’t take this fact into account in their algorithm. Wouldn't it also be possible to analyze the content of the post to determine if it's family-related? It seems like with a math or technical post, that should be easy for FB to do.

What if mom is a mathematician?

Why would that imply that the rest of the family would want to c it? The suggestion here isn't hiding it from mom, it's avoiding interpreting a click from mom as "this is something primarily family cares about."

Re: The Facebook Algorithm Mom Problem

#59

Post by 45h34jh53k4j »

dang wrote: post #46
45h34jh53k4j wrote: post #45

Facebook is disgusting. * Delete your account * Convince your mother to delete her account

Would you please not post unsubstantive comments here? If you have a substantive point to make, make it thoughtfully; otherwise please don't comment until you do.

Im sorry dang. its become a bit of a dirty habit to throw shade on FB whenever it comes up. I hate it with a passion.

My goal is to get as many people to question their usage of FB and if it really enhances their lives.

Ill try to be more constructive with my comments.

Re: The Facebook Algorithm Mom Problem

#60

Post by andreasgonewild »

wutbrodo wrote: post #57
andreasgonewild wrote: post #54

It's simple really, just stop participating in that evil experiment. From the outside, you look like morons; talking to opposite sides of an algorithm while interpreting what comes out as reality. It's been proven over and over again that consuming that crap makes everyone feel bad and hate each other. There are plenty of alternatives, but this one is mine: https://github.com/andreas-gone-wild/snackis

> It's been proven over and over again that consuming crap like this makes everyone feel bad and hate each other. Consuming posts about theoretical math? Because that's them only content that the article talks about. I'd love to see the research that claims this.

I was rather thinking about consuming bullshit lies about other peoples fabulous lives, algorithmically arranged for maximum impact. But yes, bragging about the size of your intellect falls in the same basket. Google it if you desperately need authority to back up common sense. Most of the stuff people post on Facebook just wouldn't be posted in a less twisted medium, and we would all be better off. I know I'm growing tired of watching adults, companies and even authorities do anything for a few like-clicks. It's sick and corrupting, and it needs to stop.
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