Users Abandon Facebook After Cambridge Analytica Findings • Hacker News Board

Re: Users Abandon Facebook After Cambridge Analytica Findings

#291

Post by wilsonnb » Thu, Mar 22, 2018, 2:25 PM UTC

joering2 wrote: post #106

eric_b wrote: post #47

I've had a dormant FB account for years. I don't like the site and I never add content. I believe that social media has become a net detractor to quality-of-life for many (most?) humans who use it. I think Mark Zuckerberg is either incredibly naive, or a sleaze bag, but in either case should suffer some consequences from this. That said, I probably won't delete my account. It remains the only way many of my friends p…

> I think Mark Zuckerberg is either incredibly naive, or a sleaze bag Hmm typically when someone says that people are "dumb fucks" it usually means they are simply incredibly naive /s

When a 20 year old calls people dumb fucks in a private conversation, it generally means that they are a normal 20 year old.

Saying that Zuckerberg is a sleazebag based on a snippet of a private conversation he had 15 years ago when he was a college student is a stretch.

Re: Users Abandon Facebook After Cambridge Analytica Findings

#292

Post by wilsonnb » Thu, Mar 22, 2018, 2:26 PM UTC

wellboy wrote: post #210

joering2 wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think Mark Zuckerberg is either incredibly naive, or a sleaze bag Hmm typically when someone says that people are "dumb fucks" it usually means they are simply incredibly naive /s

Or he lacks the social awareness, introspectiveness to see how his product has a negative impact.

Or in this case, he was a 20 year old kid running a website with his college friends and roommates.

Re: Users Abandon Facebook After Cambridge Analytica Findings

#293

Post by ashelmire » Thu, Mar 22, 2018, 2:27 PM UTC

wpasc wrote: post #285

First, I think what happened with Facebook/Cambridge Analytica is appalling. With that said, I think this article is silly and emblematic of poor technology coverage in the media. I think it would be awesome if users really did delete their facebook accounts if they thought these actions crossed some line. But the article cites ~50,000 #deletefacebook mentions. Come on, 50k hashtag shares is evidence of "Users Abando…

Who do you think would give us that data? Facebook? Doubtful.

I think it's reasonable to assume that if 50k people tweeted about it, a far larger number probably took action (active tweeters are just a small subset of the population) or are at least thinking about reducing usage or deleting.

Deleting facebook has been a topic of conversation in my circle for months since I did it ~4 months ago or so. It's definitely on people's radar as far as other media seems to indicate (we've had anti-facebook threads daily for months on HN), and my friends (mostly tech people and very active facebook users) have almost all reduced their usage significantly.

Re: Users Abandon Facebook After Cambridge Analytica Findings

#294

Post by paws » Thu, Mar 22, 2018, 2:28 PM UTC

wpasc wrote: post #285

First, I think what happened with Facebook/Cambridge Analytica is appalling. With that said, I think this article is silly and emblematic of poor technology coverage in the media. I think it would be awesome if users really did delete their facebook accounts if they thought these actions crossed some line. But the article cites ~50,000 #deletefacebook mentions. Come on, 50k hashtag shares is evidence of "Users Abando…

Ian Betteridge[1] called for you.

More seriously though, it's not unusual for newsroom editors to modify or even completely rewrite article headlines.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headline... ("Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.")

Re: Users Abandon Facebook After Cambridge Analytica Findings

#295

Post by icebraining » Thu, Mar 22, 2018, 2:33 PM UTC

rsuelzer wrote: post #68

I am getting a bit annoyed by how shocked people on here are about this. The friends end point in the graph API was hardly a secret. It is an open API. There was no way for Facebook to enforce that data collected from authorized apps wasn't being saved. It's part of the reason the friends API was put under tighter restrictions a few years ago.

I'm not shocked, but why would you assume people would got around reading the documentation of random APIs they are not working with?

Re: Users Abandon Facebook After Cambridge Analytica Findings

#296

Post by CaptainZapp » Thu, Mar 22, 2018, 2:35 PM UTC

jjuel wrote: post #272

cyberferret wrote: post #13

The question is - will this be just a minor blip to Facebook and then normal services will resume after the indignation wears off? Or will it the beginning of the end of the social media dominance of the platform? For me personally, I use FB primarily to keep in touch with friends, family and old colleagues who are spread all over the world. It is purely a contact tool, and not really used to market products of servi…

I mean do we really think Facebook is the only company with data problems? Is switching to something different really going to make a difference? Deleting your Facebook won't get rid of your data. Google, Microsoft, Twitter, your ISP, your cell carrier all have so much data on you. At this point you are out there in someone's database somewhere. Unless you haven't been on the grid at all which clearly anyone on HN is…

2 points to your comment:

No major tech company has shown such disdain for the privacy for its users and

No tech company (at least no customer facing tech company) has driven the handling of user privacy this badly into the gutter.

So much went wrong over the years with Facebook and user privacy (normally followed by a mealy mouthed bullshit apology, same as you see now) that they do not deserve any more benefit of a doubt.

Threatenting to sue the publications uncovering this tragedy is just about the icing on the cake.

And yes, I "deleted" my account some 4 years ago.

Re: Users Abandon Facebook After Cambridge Analytica Findings

#297

Post by edraferi » Thu, Mar 22, 2018, 2:44 PM UTC

ashelmire wrote: post #293

wpasc wrote: post #285

First, I think what happened with Facebook/Cambridge Analytica is appalling. With that said, I think this article is silly and emblematic of poor technology coverage in the media. I think it would be awesome if users really did delete their facebook accounts if they thought these actions crossed some line. But the article cites ~50,000 #deletefacebook mentions. Come on, 50k hashtag shares is evidence of "Users Abando…

Who do you think would give us that data? Facebook? Doubtful. I think it's reasonable to assume that if 50k people tweeted about it, a far larger number probably took action (active tweeters are just a small subset of the population) or are at least thinking about reducing usage or deleting. Deleting facebook has been a topic of conversation in my circle for months since I did it ~4 months ago or so. It's definitely…

Facebook is a public company, so this should all show up in their quarterly earnings reports.

At minimum the Cambridge Analytica scandal will have to be addressed. If users are leaving the platform, that would need to be reported too.

Re: Users Abandon Facebook After Cambridge Analytica Findings

#298

Post by nojvek » Thu, Mar 22, 2018, 2:44 PM UTC

cyberferret wrote: post #13

The question is - will this be just a minor blip to Facebook and then normal services will resume after the indignation wears off? Or will it the beginning of the end of the social media dominance of the platform? For me personally, I use FB primarily to keep in touch with friends, family and old colleagues who are spread all over the world. It is purely a contact tool, and not really used to market products of servi…

I removed FB app, deleted everything in FB except my friends list.

I just use web.messenger.com to contact them. That is the only value for me.

Re: Users Abandon Facebook After Cambridge Analytica Findings

#299

Post by rmc » Thu, Mar 22, 2018, 2:46 PM UTC

ashelmire wrote: post #293

wpasc wrote: post #285

First, I think what happened with Facebook/Cambridge Analytica is appalling. With that said, I think this article is silly and emblematic of poor technology coverage in the media. I think it would be awesome if users really did delete their facebook accounts if they thought these actions crossed some line. But the article cites ~50,000 #deletefacebook mentions. Come on, 50k hashtag shares is evidence of "Users Abando…

Who do you think would give us that data? Facebook? Doubtful. I think it's reasonable to assume that if 50k people tweeted about it, a far larger number probably took action (active tweeters are just a small subset of the population) or are at least thinking about reducing usage or deleting. Deleting facebook has been a topic of conversation in my circle for months since I did it ~4 months ago or so. It's definitely…

We'll be able to tell how many people did it by how Facebook reacts. If they do basically nothing and carry on as normal, then we know that FB knows that hardly anyone has deleted their accounts.

If it looks like FB is shitting bricks, then we know they're hella scared, which means enough people deleted it to scare them.

Re: Users Abandon Facebook After Cambridge Analytica Findings

#300

Post by evo_9 » Thu, Mar 22, 2018, 2:58 PM UTC

paws wrote: post #294

wpasc wrote: post #285

First, I think what happened with Facebook/Cambridge Analytica is appalling. With that said, I think this article is silly and emblematic of poor technology coverage in the media. I think it would be awesome if users really did delete their facebook accounts if they thought these actions crossed some line. But the article cites ~50,000 #deletefacebook mentions. Come on, 50k hashtag shares is evidence of "Users Abando…

Ian Betteridge[1] called for you. More seriously though, it's not unusual for newsroom editors to modify or even completely rewrite article headlines. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headline... ("Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.")

Or bored HN Mods.