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Facebook whistleblower says she wants to fix company, not harm it

wsj.com

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Re: Facebook whistleblower says she wants to fix company, not harm it

#441

Post by frodetb »

mszcz wrote: post #419
worldsayshi wrote: post #414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious if when most people say they "quit" Facebook they removed their account or if they just stopped using it. It feels like most people I know has stopped using it, except for messenger, but almost no-one has actually removed or closed down their account.

I didn't close the account. Once in a blue moon (once in a quater) I'll need to look up some shitty business's only online presence on facebook or contact someone on messenger.

I did close mine completely, early this January, and have since only occasionally been affected when encountering businesses like the ones you describe. However, I view those occasions as a chance to push back against that bad trend, reminding them that there are people willing to give them money that they simply won't reach. While the push is small and they probably have already accounted for this loss in their strategies, I think it is better than nothing.

Re: Facebook whistleblower says she wants to fix company, not harm it

#443

Post by IshKebab »

GekkePrutser wrote: post #431
taurath wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hit the nail on the head there. It’s impossible to actually get what was the damn promise of Facebook to begin with, and instead everyone gets practically drugged with crap because it makes Mark more money.

Facebook was actually pretty good when it just showed me my friends posts and nothing else. But when they moved to their 'timeline' and started fiddling with algorithms that try to decide what I want to see, they got it all wrong and it became a chore to wade through it all. I don't understand how they think an algorithm can decide better what I want to see than me myself (by adding friend and blocking the ones that…

Yeah Facebook was great back in 2006 when you only really had your friends on there.

I think the real downfall was not that they added the timeline, it's that it's impolite to not accept friend requests from e.g. coworkers or relatives that you know but don't really care about.

And then you end up with a news feed full of people you don't care about. I think by the time they added "unfollow" options everybody had moved to WhatsApp where conversations are between 15 people you know quite well rather than 300 people you met once.

I have no idea how they can fix that, or even how they could have prevented it. Google clearly foresaw that problem with their "circles" feature.

Re: Facebook whistleblower says she wants to fix company, not harm it

#444

Post by wedowhatwedo »

worldsayshi wrote: post #414
mszcz wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aside from the mountains of odorless excrement I started seeing on facebook, this was the other reason I quit. It became unusable because once I scrolled past something it was next to impossible to find it again by either scrolling up or searching. Instead of seeing what people were up to I started seeing things they thought would keep me on the platform for as long as possible. Looking at it now, at least to me, it…

I'm curious if when most people say they "quit" Facebook they removed their account or if they just stopped using it. It feels like most people I know has stopped using it, except for messenger, but almost no-one has actually removed or closed down their account.

I went through the process to delete my account but I still get emails from facebook occasionally about the account that they "deleted". I don't think it is possible to delete a facebook account.

Re: Facebook whistleblower says she wants to fix company, not harm it

#445

Post by whitepaint »

joelbluminator wrote: post #373
1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote: post #25

We have seen this story before. Person joins Facebook thinking they can "help". Then quits. Facebook is a public company whose purpose is serve advertisers. Online ads is the only way they can generate revenue. It is not some woo-woo about connecting the world, giving people a voice, or whatever. That's what the internet enables, not a single website controlled by someone else. Facebook tries to take credit for what…

You are exaggerating. Facebook IS providing real value to some users. For example - when I lived abroad a few years and started missing people from my home country, a Facebook group was there to talk and meet. It solved actual loneliness. Instead of individuals trying to create stand alone websites and invest time and money and effort, Facebook made it super easy to connect. My wife used a pregnant lady / new moms Fa…

hn crowd is living in a specific bubble.

Re: Facebook whistleblower says she wants to fix company, not harm it

#446

Post by vrc »

IshKebab wrote: post #443
GekkePrutser wrote: post #431

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook was actually pretty good when it just showed me my friends posts and nothing else. But when they moved to their 'timeline' and started fiddling with algorithms that try to decide what I want to see, they got it all wrong and it became a chore to wade through it all. I don't understand how they think an algorithm can decide better what I want to see than me myself (by adding friend and blocking the ones that…

Yeah Facebook was great back in 2006 when you only really had your friends on there. I think the real downfall was not that they added the timeline, it's that it's impolite to not accept friend requests from e.g. coworkers or relatives that you know but don't really care about. And then you end up with a news feed full of people you don't care about. I think by the time they added "unfollow" options everybody had mov…

Google+ was started in 2010, so Google didn’t “fore”see the problem as much as “see”. I think I banged into the 1500 (1600?) FB friend cap in 2008 or 2009 from the rampant friending, and already started reducing the number and openness of my posts once older and younger relatives started joining in 2006/7ish. The timeline redesign did pour gas on the fire, but the issue of unbridled friending was noticeable far sooner to users and observers.

Re: Facebook whistleblower says she wants to fix company, not harm it

#447

Post by mszcz »

frodetb wrote: post #441
mszcz wrote: post #419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't close the account. Once in a blue moon (once in a quater) I'll need to look up some shitty business's only online presence on facebook or contact someone on messenger.

I did close mine completely, early this January, and have since only occasionally been affected when encountering businesses like the ones you describe. However, I view those occasions as a chance to push back against that bad trend, reminding them that there are people willing to give them money that they simply won't reach. While the push is small and they probably have already accounted for this loss in their stra…

> reminding them

I hear you but I'm past that phase. "They" don't listen. It's not worth my time and energy being angry and going down that rabbit hole to "remind them" (my base anger level is high enough :P). Why? "They" don't have the capacity to listen. It's not in their interest to make their product better for you. You think you can't scroll back and see what you saw just a second ago because it's a really challenging technical problem? You think you can't set your home and work location in google Maps when you have location tracking disabled because it's a really complex problem?

No. They'll listen when they'll get their teeth kicked in by a regulator. I'm just glad that they consistently keep fucking up, even in the face of mounting negative sentiment.

Re: Facebook whistleblower says she wants to fix company, not harm it

#448

Post by mrjin »

code_duck wrote: post #301

>Frances Haugen: So, you know, you have your phone. You might see only 100 pieces of content if you sit and scroll on for, you know, five minutes. But Facebook has thousands of options it could show you. >The algorithm picks from those options based on the kind of content you've engaged with the most in the past. This is the primary reason I stopped using Facebook. I did everything I could to signal I did not wish to…

Have always been curious why people use Facebook. Personally I don't believe most of my life should ever concern most of my connections(to be clear, the people I know and know me too), so don't event mention those I've no idea who. I know quite a few people who will take pictures of what ever they are doing and share. They might think they are doing something fancy, I can get that. But, how does that concern other people, I don't know.

Re: Facebook whistleblower says she wants to fix company, not harm it

#449

Post by jb1991 »

worldsayshi wrote: post #414
mszcz wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aside from the mountains of odorless excrement I started seeing on facebook, this was the other reason I quit. It became unusable because once I scrolled past something it was next to impossible to find it again by either scrolling up or searching. Instead of seeing what people were up to I started seeing things they thought would keep me on the platform for as long as possible. Looking at it now, at least to me, it…

I'm curious if when most people say they "quit" Facebook they removed their account or if they just stopped using it. It feels like most people I know has stopped using it, except for messenger, but almost no-one has actually removed or closed down their account.

I did a full closure of my account. I have not received any emails in about 18 months, when I closed it. I'm scared to even attempt to login to verify that it is actually closed, for fear that FB will somehow interpret that as a desire for the account to reopen, and do so, despite that I did close it fully (and did not merely "deactivate" it or whatever they call the other option that does not really close it).
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