An open letter to FB, Twitter, Instagram regarding algorithms and my son's birth

Post by dwighttk » Thu, Dec 13, 2018, 12:03 AM UTC

skystrife wrote: post #29

srvo wrote: post #21

This seems to happen a lot when one's experience is statistically unlikely, or when it doesn't neatly mesh with a commercial opportunity. For instance, I am a transgender woman and I get THE WEIRDEST ads. Makes sense, since an algorithm meshing together my engagement histories from ten years of social platforms must see something quite strange. The only appropriately targeted advertisements I get are from academics i…

I wonder if it makes sense for ad platforms to enable a "clear history" option just like our browsers do? That way you can say very clearly "the current model is wrong, please restart and try building a new one for me". That might also help this particular case: rebuild the model from scratch including only content going forward rather than backward. Should eliminate the baby ads effectively, right?

Post by danso » Thu, Dec 13, 2018, 12:04 AM UTC

lkdjjdjjjdskjd wrote: post #255

danso wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where did she say that her suboptimal experience was exclusive to her?

She said it is a "rejection of her reality", which is complete hyperbole. I can't find the original comment to check the exact words she used.

Post by ryanlol » Thu, Dec 13, 2018, 12:06 AM UTC

danaris wrote: post #256

NorthOf33rd wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should have said, "Everything they can that's potentially profitable," but overall I'm aiming for pith over nuance. I'm not throwing up my hands, I'm here saying: consider the things you're letting into your life and their motivations. There are plenty of things we can do about it. Not share every single detail about ourselves on social media being a good start. This isn't private data we're talking about with the au…

But I think that her post highlights some other obvious holes in what we know about what information these companies collect and what they do about it. Did they notice the posts she made and the behaviour she exhibited after she lost her baby? Did their algorithms capture it in any way, and they just aren't tuned to do anything about it because it's unprofitable? Or are their algorithms dumber and less all-consuming…

Post by jimktrains2 » Thu, Dec 13, 2018, 12:10 AM UTC

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #144

srvo wrote: post #21

This seems to happen a lot when one's experience is statistically unlikely, or when it doesn't neatly mesh with a commercial opportunity. For instance, I am a transgender woman and I get THE WEIRDEST ads. Makes sense, since an algorithm meshing together my engagement histories from ten years of social platforms must see something quite strange. The only appropriately targeted advertisements I get are from academics i…

In the case of the letter author, I suspect the problem isn't just that stillbirths are rare, but that you can't really monetize a stillbirth. Better to assume the baby was born successfully than miss out on the opportunity to advertise to a new mom. I'm sure no one in the room of marketing execs has considered personal consequences like this one. This type of thing is why I do my best to enable privacy settings and…

Post by ryanlol » Thu, Dec 13, 2018, 12:13 AM UTC

benj111 wrote: post #190

It always amazes me how stupid these company's algos are sometimes. Amazon tells me I've had an account with them for over a decade. It knows I've bought 2 kettles from them. When does it start serving ads for kettles? Just after I've bought one. On the other hand I'm not sure most people would want facebook wt al 'knowing' they've just lost their child, so other than getting rid of targetted ads, I'm not sure what o…