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Facebook's PR feels broken

themargins.substack.com

151–160 of 262 posts

Re: Facebook's PR feels broken

#151

> I’m sure, internally, it’s looked at as the “mainstream media trying to get clicks... I interviewed with FB shortly after the Cambridge Analytica stuff came out (but long enough after that it was clear to everyone that FB had screwed up big time). When it was my turn to ask questions in one particular interview, I gave a standard fallback when I have nothing else: "[despite all the blahblah positives], having worke…

Someone who worked at Facebook for the better part of a decade responded that they felt the media coverage was unfair to Facebook. You were suprised by this response because from an outsider's perspective you felt that Facebook employees should be apologetic? What makes you more qualified to judge whether the public perception was accurate as compared to someone who actually worked there - an "FB vet" in your own wor…

I'm having a hard time believing that this is a legitimate opinion and not conjured up by Facebook PR.

Facebook is the one that collected the data. It is their responsibility to ensure that who they give your data to is who they are, and that they are doing what they should be doing to your data.

The should have a comprehensive compliance program for third parties with access to user data and have the necessary enforcement regime with enough bite to prevent abuse. Not to hide behind their policies until they get caught red-handed and then shrug off their responsibilities to everyone but themselves.

Re: Facebook's PR feels broken

#152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone who worked at Facebook for the better part of a decade responded that they felt the media coverage was unfair to Facebook. You were suprised by this response because from an outsider's perspective you felt that Facebook employees should be apologetic? What makes you more qualified to judge whether the public perception was accurate as compared to someone who actually worked there - an "FB vet" in your own wor…

I'm having a hard time believing that this is a legitimate opinion and not conjured up by Facebook PR. Facebook is the one that collected the data. It is their responsibility to ensure that who they give your data to is who they are, and that they are doing what they should be doing to your data. The should have a comprehensive compliance program for third parties with access to user data and have the necessary enfor…

I have a hard time understanding why your first sentence is necessary. Nothing against what you said subsequently (and I think it's totally right), and myself disliking facebook, your first sentence is entirely unnecessary and beside the point.

From what I read, your parent comment sound entirely logical coming from a different POV. I don't see anything illegitimate about it, even if it WAS Facebook PR, the point within are entirely valid.

Re: Facebook's PR feels broken

#153

> I’m sure, internally, it’s looked at as the “mainstream media trying to get clicks... I interviewed with FB shortly after the Cambridge Analytica stuff came out (but long enough after that it was clear to everyone that FB had screwed up big time). When it was my turn to ask questions in one particular interview, I gave a standard fallback when I have nothing else: "[despite all the blahblah positives], having worke…

I shared a Lyft ride with a Facebook employee right after the CA controversy. I asked her what do employees think about it.

She told me that people are really worried about how the controversy affected the stock price. (Facebook stock was down around that time.)

I'm not sure how many employees worry about stock price than the supposed effect of the CA controversy but I was disappointed to hear that from a Facebook employee.

Re: Facebook's PR feels broken

#154
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I'm interpreting it correctly, it appears that the author is actually offended at the suggestion of listening to viewpoints that conflict with their own in order to possibly learn things from it.

I didn't read it like that at all. As stated in the article, the offending bit was the last two lines. "If you haven't tried it, I suggest you do" is the smug, condescending jab that was completely unnecessary. It is inflammatory for no benefit. The start of the response was perfectly fine and I did not feel the author took offence to it.

And the author should not take offense to that either.

I have no idea why people would take offense to 'If you haven't tried it, I suggest you do'. Maybe the same reason they would be offended by talking to a person with different opinions.

Re: Facebook's PR feels broken

#155
post #35

This part really struck me: > It feels like finance in 2009. > One one side, you had smart, ambitious people who ended up there simply because you were told to go. On the other, you had the classic Gordon Gekko-ish types reciting Liar’s Poker anecdotes ad nauseam. > Enter the crisis and everyone was equally tarred as the bad guys. The former have slowly made their way out (mostly over to tech), while the latter remai…

"too critical"?

I'm sorry, that's laughable. Almost everyone I know still uses FB's privacy-violating, data-stealing services in willful ignorance.

Until that psychopath Zuck is behind bars where he belongs for violating the Computer Crimes Act on a scale of billions, there will be no peace or sympathy for a criminal service like FB and its defenders, apologists, and employees.

Re: Facebook's PR feels broken

#156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm having a hard time believing that this is a legitimate opinion and not conjured up by Facebook PR. Facebook is the one that collected the data. It is their responsibility to ensure that who they give your data to is who they are, and that they are doing what they should be doing to your data. The should have a comprehensive compliance program for third parties with access to user data and have the necessary enfor…

I have a hard time understanding why your first sentence is necessary. Nothing against what you said subsequently (and I think it's totally right), and myself disliking facebook, your first sentence is entirely unnecessary and beside the point. From what I read, your parent comment sound entirely logical coming from a different POV. I don't see anything illegitimate about it, even if it WAS Facebook PR, the point wit…

The comment I replied to completely ignored FB's responsibility to its user's data and rather than accepting that FB was supposed to be responsible, proceeded to blame everyone else but themselves.

I just don't see that as reasonable in discourse. I mean you can hold those beliefs, but if you do express them in public I think it's right to be called out on how unacceptable that is.

Re: Facebook's PR feels broken

#157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a hard time understanding why your first sentence is necessary. Nothing against what you said subsequently (and I think it's totally right), and myself disliking facebook, your first sentence is entirely unnecessary and beside the point. From what I read, your parent comment sound entirely logical coming from a different POV. I don't see anything illegitimate about it, even if it WAS Facebook PR, the point wit…

The comment I replied to completely ignored FB's responsibility to its user's data and rather than accepting that FB was supposed to be responsible, proceeded to blame everyone else but themselves. I just don't see that as reasonable in discourse. I mean you can hold those beliefs, but if you do express them in public I think it's right to be called out on how unacceptable that is.

Yes, attack the idea, not the user. I also don't see you guys are on the same page either. For one, was there false reporting? It is entirely possible to do 5 bad things and have media report you did 10 bad things. And while 5 bad things was committed it doesn't excuse the media for wrong reporting, not saying that they did this in this case.

Re: Facebook's PR feels broken

#158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone who worked at Facebook for the better part of a decade responded that they felt the media coverage was unfair to Facebook. You were suprised by this response because from an outsider's perspective you felt that Facebook employees should be apologetic? What makes you more qualified to judge whether the public perception was accurate as compared to someone who actually worked there - an "FB vet" in your own wor…

I'm having a hard time believing that this is a legitimate opinion and not conjured up by Facebook PR. Facebook is the one that collected the data. It is their responsibility to ensure that who they give your data to is who they are, and that they are doing what they should be doing to your data. The should have a comprehensive compliance program for third parties with access to user data and have the necessary enfor…

[deleted]

Re: Facebook's PR feels broken

#159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I interviewed there this summer because the position/compensation offered was just too good to not consider seriously. Like, top 10% at FB kind of money, which is a lot. During the interview process, I asked many FB employees about their thoughts on FB in the news, the headlines, scandals, etc. All super smart and dedicated people, but anecdotally there was no hint of them thinking they had done anything wrong. They…

Wait, didn’t the CA folks manage to get info on friends of people who “opted in” as well? Even if they didn’t?

Yes. A few hundred thousand people took the quiz and Facebook's platform allowed them to therefore gather information on tens of millions of people. Facebook had a policy at the time that the extraneous data could only be used to improve user experience, not third-party data harvesting, but reportedly it was weakly enforced.

Re: Facebook's PR feels broken

#160
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cambridge Analytica is one of FB’s most known debacles but how did the PR team specifically fail?

How about by using "We can do better" over and over after every single gaffe that it's become a joke to people outside the SV bubble?

FB stock hit a low at ~$157 right before Zuckerberg's April 10, 2018 testimony to Congress, and bounced back into a steady increase, hitting a then-all-time high in late July before going into a dive after the earnings report. The July 2018 dive was attributed to missing revenue expectations, but AFAIK, the general opinion [0] was that when it came to public fallout specifically related to Cambridge Analytica, FB weathered it quite well – hence the stock's steady climb from Zuckerberg's testimony until the July earnings report.

That confidence in the stock is obviously not just from good PR, but I don't see the evidence that the PR folks fucked things up either, given how much potential damage the CA scandal was predicted to cause.

[0] https://www.marketwatch.com/story/facebook-stock-crushed-aft...

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