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‘People You May Know’ helped Facebook grow exponentially

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Re: ‘People You May Know’ helped Facebook grow exponentially

#81

Post by ninth_ant »

zaat wrote: post #57
gretch wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It goes farther than that - the comment parent author doesn't even realize they are exhibiting the same behavior: "This attitude of "we know what's good for you" is apparent in more and more modern tech products" Billions of people used PYMK and are generally happy with it and Facebook in general. Who are you to tell them it's a bad thing? If FB is so bad why don't more people leave? Lots of people on HN leave FB and…

> Billions of people used PYMK and are generally happy with it and Facebook in general. You might be right, but that isn't necessarily so. I'm on Facebook, I hate many of it's features, the product design decisions and I think they are hostile and predatory. Wherever a knob was made available I changed it from the default to the more private setting. But I'm still on Facebook because I have no other option for effect…

> But I'm still on Facebook because I have no other option for effective communication with my globally distributed family and with the local tech community.

But this speaks directly to the crux of this issue mentioned in the article that you take issue with.

Growth team tactics got people on the site and kept them engaged, and having a large and mostly comprehensive network makes it valuable to users. So when you find it valuable that your family and community is there, well that’s the point.

Re: ‘People You May Know’ helped Facebook grow exponentially

#82

Post by weci2i »

fortran77 wrote: post #53

I'm pretty sure Facebook used to suggest people who searched for your name as a "Person You May Know".

Facebook absolutely did this. A couple years ago I had a junior dev under me that management would not allow me to fire. And it’s so much worse than just the person searching. His feed recommended my close connections to him just because I watched his page.

He spent 75% of most days working for personal clients outside our company. The remainder of his days were spent pimping his projects on Facebook to build his personal brand. He was not a rock star programmer. His work was beyond subpar and he needed extra time, not less. We weren’t connected but I stalked his profile for time stamps and evidence. He lived at least 1.5 hours outside my locations except for the office.

One day he overheard me and another coworker discussing Facebook oddities and he interrupted, “Facebook keeps recommending (insert my wife’s name) as a connection.” He did not know my wife’s name and they had never been in proximity of one another.

Re: ‘People You May Know’ helped Facebook grow exponentially

#83

Post by zeta0x10 »

weci2i wrote: post #82
fortran77 wrote: post #53

I'm pretty sure Facebook used to suggest people who searched for your name as a "Person You May Know".

Facebook absolutely did this. A couple years ago I had a junior dev under me that management would not allow me to fire. And it’s so much worse than just the person searching. His feed recommended my close connections to him just because I watched his page. He spent 75% of most days working for personal clients outside our company. The remainder of his days were spent pimping his projects on Facebook to build his per…

Interesting story but why mention that you were not happy with his work? It just seems orthogonal to the story (that FB suggested your wife, implying the social graph was built via your workplace to your wife and that he may have searched for you and you for your wife).

Not to dismiss your story, I am just interested about the reasoning.

Re: ‘People You May Know’ helped Facebook grow exponentially

#84

Post by mehrdadn »

interlocutor wrote: post #60

In the early days, Facebook logged into user's email accounts and stole contact information without users' knowledge or authorization. This was possible because people used the same password for their email and Facebook, a practice common especially back in those days. This is one of their sources for PYMK. In fact Facebook has used this technique very recently too: A security researcher noticed the tech giant was pr…

A little off topic but what happened to that other recent security "incident" last year? I forget at this point what even happened, I just remembered they just let it blow over and I haven't heard anything since.

Re: ‘People You May Know’ helped Facebook grow exponentially

#85

Post by presumably »

uoaei wrote: post #62
interlocutor wrote: post #60

In the early days, Facebook logged into user's email accounts and stole contact information without users' knowledge or authorization. This was possible because people used the same password for their email and Facebook, a practice common especially back in those days. This is one of their sources for PYMK. In fact Facebook has used this technique very recently too: A security researcher noticed the tech giant was pr…

"Unintentionally uploaded" Because you just happened to accidentally interact with the API in just the right way and downloaded the information to just the right database and deployed a service to production which just happens to access that data... I don't understand how that statement right there isn't literally incriminating evidence. They admitted to uploading the data explicitly, and "unintentional" is a straigh…

> "unintentional" is a straight up lie based on how software works

This is a very dangerous statement to make.

Large systems are not like hackathon projects where you might understand and hold the entire scope and flow in your mind.

Software absolutely can and does lead to unintended outcomes, else there would be no bugs.

Re: ‘People You May Know’ helped Facebook grow exponentially

#86

Post by weci2i »

zeta0x10 wrote: post #83
weci2i wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook absolutely did this. A couple years ago I had a junior dev under me that management would not allow me to fire. And it’s so much worse than just the person searching. His feed recommended my close connections to him just because I watched his page. He spent 75% of most days working for personal clients outside our company. The remainder of his days were spent pimping his projects on Facebook to build his per…

Interesting story but why mention that you were not happy with his work? It just seems orthogonal to the story (that FB suggested your wife, implying the social graph was built via your workplace to your wife and that he may have searched for you and you for your wife). Not to dismiss your story, I am just interested about the reasoning.

No problem. I was just trying to give a little context for why I was stalking the guy. In trying to avoid looking like a creeper I see how it just came off as petty. Neither was my intent. I appreciate the check.

Re: ‘People You May Know’ helped Facebook grow exponentially

#87

Post by not2b »

It's not a mystery; Facebook was getting people to upload their contacts and mining those for People You May Know. Some ex might still have the divorced spouse in contacts, particularly if they share a kid. Two clients of the same psychiatrist will both have their shrink's number in contacts.

Re: ‘People You May Know’ helped Facebook grow exponentially

#88

Post by not2b »

presumably wrote: post #85
uoaei wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Unintentionally uploaded" Because you just happened to accidentally interact with the API in just the right way and downloaded the information to just the right database and deployed a service to production which just happens to access that data... I don't understand how that statement right there isn't literally incriminating evidence. They admitted to uploading the data explicitly, and "unintentional" is a straigh…

> "unintentional" is a straight up lie based on how software works This is a very dangerous statement to make. Large systems are not like hackathon projects where you might understand and hold the entire scope and flow in your mind. Software absolutely can and does lead to unintended outcomes, else there would be no bugs.

Yes, but in this case it is a highly desirable outcome for Facebook. They didn't just get lucky.

Re: ‘People You May Know’ helped Facebook grow exponentially

#89

Post by michaelborromeo »

AlexandrB wrote: post #9

This quote from Zuckerberg is something else: > “We don’t view your experience with the product as a single-player game,” he says. Yes, in the short run, some users might benefit more than others from PYMK friending. But, he contends, all users will benefit if everyone they know winds up on Facebook. We should think of PYMK as kind of a “community tax policy,” he says. Or a redistribution of wealth. “If you’re ramped…

Underneath it’s “what’s good for facebook” but on the surface they have to paint it as “what is good for you.”

Or they could just say nothing.

Which is better?

Re: ‘People You May Know’ helped Facebook grow exponentially

#90

Post by bathtub365 »

presumably wrote: post #85
uoaei wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Unintentionally uploaded" Because you just happened to accidentally interact with the API in just the right way and downloaded the information to just the right database and deployed a service to production which just happens to access that data... I don't understand how that statement right there isn't literally incriminating evidence. They admitted to uploading the data explicitly, and "unintentional" is a straigh…

> "unintentional" is a straight up lie based on how software works This is a very dangerous statement to make. Large systems are not like hackathon projects where you might understand and hold the entire scope and flow in your mind. Software absolutely can and does lead to unintended outcomes, else there would be no bugs.

You’re saying an entire system was added to integrate with user email accounts, download all their contacts, and upload them to a database at Facebook, accidentally?
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