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I was Zuckerberg’s speechwriter

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11–20 of 267 posts

Re: I was Zuckerberg’s speechwriter

#11
post #7

Quote from the article: Cambridge Analytica is a scandal that isn’t a scandal: Everyone who has ever worked on or with the Facebook platform knew that for several years, the platform made data available to third-party developers by design. Why is this news and a problem now? What made the sky fall? If everyone knew, then why has someone been picked to be the bad guy now ?

I think part of it is the public lack of understanding of technology. A layman won't understand the phrase "Facebook API allowed access to data" as opposed to "There was a breach".

Re: I was Zuckerberg’s speechwriter

#12
post #7

Quote from the article: Cambridge Analytica is a scandal that isn’t a scandal: Everyone who has ever worked on or with the Facebook platform knew that for several years, the platform made data available to third-party developers by design. Why is this news and a problem now? What made the sky fall? If everyone knew, then why has someone been picked to be the bad guy now ?

Everyone hates when "their side" loses. Someone must suddenly be breaking the rules. There must be blame.

Re: I was Zuckerberg’s speechwriter

#13

I feel like early FB culture had quite a few of the signs of a cult. Like legit, almost religious, cult.

It wasn't just FB. the trend was "openness", let the world know everything you do. It was actively pushed by all the media who are today accusing FB of going to far. When facebook was doing everything in and out of the books to grow faster and faster (such as allowing zynga to force-invite your friends to their games) , they were all looking the other way, because they saw a massive source of traffic that they could control themselves (facebook was giving untapped access to likes/followers back then).

Re: I was Zuckerberg’s speechwriter

#14

I feel like early FB culture had quite a few of the signs of a cult. Like legit, almost religious, cult.

Hardly unique to Facebook though. Isn't it a bit of a Valley cliché to be on a mission to change the world? To ask employees to believe in the company, not just to work there?

Re: I was Zuckerberg’s speechwriter

#15
> why should the world trust Facebook or Zuckerberg to shape and manage this new global meta-society? Could Zuckerberg, who wields considerable power over Facebook’s share structure, develop the self-awareness and responsibility to manage it?

> it’s time to set real limits on Facebook’s power

Makes me wonder: who will be setting those limits, and how can we know they will have the "self-awareness and responsibility" to handle it?

Re: I was Zuckerberg’s speechwriter

#16
post #13

I feel like early FB culture had quite a few of the signs of a cult. Like legit, almost religious, cult.

It wasn't just FB. the trend was "openness", let the world know everything you do. It was actively pushed by all the media who are today accusing FB of going to far. When facebook was doing everything in and out of the books to grow faster and faster (such as allowing zynga to force-invite your friends to their games) , they were all looking the other way, because they saw a massive source of traffic that they could…

People sounded the alarm many years ago. EFF from 2009 "predicted" a CA-like event would happen as a direct result of FB policy changes: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/12/facebooks-new-privacy-...

Rest assured, not everyone in technology openly embraced the externality-disregarding "move fast and break things" ideology that took hold of SV in the last decade or so.

Re: I was Zuckerberg’s speechwriter

#17
post #4

The rise of nationalist populism, although something I still disagree quite contentiously with, really begins making more sense when opinions like this start leaking out.

It goes counter to the idea of a globally connected internet though. Without a degree of oppression of free speech you can't stop the flow of culture and ideas no matter how big of a wall you build.

Re: I was Zuckerberg’s speechwriter

#20

I feel like early FB culture had quite a few of the signs of a cult. Like legit, almost religious, cult.

Hardly unique to Facebook though. Isn't it a bit of a Valley cliché to be on a mission to change the world? To ask employees to believe in the company, not just to work there?

"But my startup is different!"
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