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Nobody Trusts Facebook, Twitter Is a Hot Mess, What Is Snapchat Doing?

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Re: Nobody Trusts Facebook, Twitter Is a Hot Mess, What Is Snapchat Doing?

#71

Post by minieggs »

jonshariat wrote: post #68
lolive wrote: post #55

Apart from the title, I do not see any argument why Twitter is a to-be-replaced social network. Personnaly, I see it as a wonderful way to keep track of the topics of interest of people I do not know personnally . Plus I can comment, and these people can comment back. Sounds good to me.

If you haven't been following it, the issue is not dealing with racists, calls for violence, hate speech, bullying, etc. There have been major clear cases and they refuse to act.

They've chosen to act w/ private accounts, muted accounts, muted words, and blocked accounts. Personally, I find muted words a powerful feature but perhaps my story is a bit different as I don't find myself targeted by hate too often (ever). I'm hesitant to believe kicking accounts off the platform is a great solve.

Does any social media platform take part in shadow banning? How has that worked out?

Re: Nobody Trusts Facebook, Twitter Is a Hot Mess, What Is Snapchat Doing?

#72

Post by venantius »

Maro wrote: post #64

Based on my brief time at FB (in 2016-2017), FB is not evil. MZ is trying to do the right thing, overall. Using this as a major piece of positioning/propaganda is not going to work for Spiegel. Also, if they ever want to make money, they'll be playing the exact same game as FB. That's going to be tough, as by now Snapchat is just a feature (of FB). Also, I can tell you, FB employees are laser focused on executing and…

I think you're missing the point. It's not about MZ's motivations or even how FB thinks about things internally. It's about the perception by significant numbers of people - and, critically, their elected representatives - that FB is fundamentally shady.

There is a very good chance the path we're on ends with FB and potentially all of the social networks being considerably more regulated than they are currently, and I'd argue GDPR shows that we're already well on our way down that path.

Re: Nobody Trusts Facebook, Twitter Is a Hot Mess, What Is Snapchat Doing?

#73

Post by samstave »

Maro wrote: post #64

Based on my brief time at FB (in 2016-2017), FB is not evil. MZ is trying to do the right thing, overall. Using this as a major piece of positioning/propaganda is not going to work for Spiegel. Also, if they ever want to make money, they'll be playing the exact same game as FB. That's going to be tough, as by now Snapchat is just a feature (of FB). Also, I can tell you, FB employees are laser focused on executing and…

The correct phrase, IMO, would be "cumulative shadiness" for FB...

Individually, and within groups, the work of the employees and teams at FB is nothing short of amazing (and apple, google, etc)... cumulatively though? The nature of these companies are not in the best interests of individual users, and when looked at the power and impact the company as a whole has over any individual in specific, is pretty obviously not in the favor of the individual.

The only problem that I have with anything related to the internet reality, is that it is no longer possible to not be connected to it and have any modicum semblance of a modern existence.

Re: Nobody Trusts Facebook, Twitter Is a Hot Mess, What Is Snapchat Doing?

#74

Post by FLUX-YOU »

phobosdeimos wrote: post #27

Nobody trusts this sector. Was the same for doctors a hundred years ago. Now doctors take an oath and lose their license if they are caught doing something unethical. Maybe the tech sector will get there one day too. Until then assume hostility.

Will probably need a high profile case before anything gets moving (since there's a LOT of money to fight back against ethical laws). We need a governing ethics body to determine ethical guidelines, otherwise people are just going to invent their own ethics hosted on Github and that's bad if you follow it and have to go to court.

Re: Nobody Trusts Facebook, Twitter Is a Hot Mess, What Is Snapchat Doing?

#75

Post by dvtrn »

Filligree wrote: post #45
dvtrn wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd be inordinately curious to hear from anyone as to how it works though.

There was an article very recently about how rituals help. Let's see... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17817912 Cults do the same thing, but doesn't mean it's inherently culty. It just easily lends itself to that.

Well yes, I can certainly understand the impact of rituals, I'm curious to know more about this specific one. Sorry but in a workplace context, lighting a candle and commemorating the moment like this just feels...kitschy to me

Re: Nobody Trusts Facebook, Twitter Is a Hot Mess, What Is Snapchat Doing?

#76

Post by barrkel »

Maro wrote: post #64

Based on my brief time at FB (in 2016-2017), FB is not evil. MZ is trying to do the right thing, overall. Using this as a major piece of positioning/propaganda is not going to work for Spiegel. Also, if they ever want to make money, they'll be playing the exact same game as FB. That's going to be tough, as by now Snapchat is just a feature (of FB). Also, I can tell you, FB employees are laser focused on executing and…

You know, capitalist food producers don't need to be evil. All they need do is keep tuning their food, and a blind process of optimization will lead to addictive foods that people eat until they're obese, because that's what maximizes profits for the food industry.

It's not much different for Facebook. A blind process of engagement and relevance optimization leads to a more addictive product that steals more and more of your attention.

It's also not much different for Google. A blind process of information gathering leads to a more privacy violating product.

Different companies have different optimization processes depending on their business models, and they don't need to be made out of evil or have malevolent intent to end up having (potentially) evil outcomes.

Re: Nobody Trusts Facebook, Twitter Is a Hot Mess, What Is Snapchat Doing?

#77

Post by reb »

phobosdeimos wrote: post #27

Nobody trusts this sector. Was the same for doctors a hundred years ago. Now doctors take an oath and lose their license if they are caught doing something unethical. Maybe the tech sector will get there one day too. Until then assume hostility.

Oath and licensing aside, public trust in doctors isn't great.

Still, some code of ethics and associated incentive structure for tech would be great. But as long as the industry can stay just ahead of legal ramifications and stay solvent... The hostility is an easy hoop to jump through.

Re: Nobody Trusts Facebook, Twitter Is a Hot Mess, What Is Snapchat Doing?

#78

Post by dredmorbius »

chrisco255 wrote: post #30
captainbland wrote: post #26

Mastodon is growing on me. These big ol' VC driven social media giants are all overgrown and the cracks are showing. With mastodon, if one instance screws up, just go to another and still contact friends. I can even choose an instance with the economic and decision making model of my choosing, or run one myself and just engage with the federation on my own terms.

Thing is, I've seen performance issues on some of the instances out there. Also, the UI could use a lot of work before it goes mainstream.

Fail Whale on line three.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/01/the-s...

Re: Nobody Trusts Facebook, Twitter Is a Hot Mess, What Is Snapchat Doing?

#79

Post by Maro »

venantius wrote: post #72
Maro wrote: post #64

Based on my brief time at FB (in 2016-2017), FB is not evil. MZ is trying to do the right thing, overall. Using this as a major piece of positioning/propaganda is not going to work for Spiegel. Also, if they ever want to make money, they'll be playing the exact same game as FB. That's going to be tough, as by now Snapchat is just a feature (of FB). Also, I can tell you, FB employees are laser focused on executing and…

I think you're missing the point. It's not about MZ's motivations or even how FB thinks about things internally. It's about the perception by significant numbers of people - and, critically, their elected representatives - that FB is fundamentally shady. There is a very good chance the path we're on ends with FB and potentially all of the social networks being considerably more regulated than they are currently, and…

Re regulation: I think regulation wouldn't help Snapchat, as any regulation would also apply to them. Actually, you could even argue that it's harder for a small(er) company to comply to regulation. (And btw. regulation is good, at this point MZ also thinks it's good and wants it.)

Re people think FB is shady: that seems to be true, but FB's MAU and DAU keeps going up, whereas Snapchat's has stalled. Actions speak louder than words, literally.

I'm not saying "Snapchat is f-cked", I'm just saying it will be very tough for them.

Re: Nobody Trusts Facebook, Twitter Is a Hot Mess, What Is Snapchat Doing?

#80

Post by Maro »

barrkel wrote: post #76
Maro wrote: post #64

Based on my brief time at FB (in 2016-2017), FB is not evil. MZ is trying to do the right thing, overall. Using this as a major piece of positioning/propaganda is not going to work for Spiegel. Also, if they ever want to make money, they'll be playing the exact same game as FB. That's going to be tough, as by now Snapchat is just a feature (of FB). Also, I can tell you, FB employees are laser focused on executing and…

You know, capitalist food producers don't need to be evil. All they need do is keep tuning their food, and a blind process of optimization will lead to addictive foods that people eat until they're obese, because that's what maximizes profits for the food industry. It's not much different for Facebook. A blind process of engagement and relevance optimization leads to a more addictive product that steals more and more…

People are in charge of their own diet. People are in charge of their own time, how they spend it, on the Internet or offline. Blaming big corporations and capitalism is a sorry excuse for making bad decisions.
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