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My Feed, My Way

pm.gov.au

31–40 of 165 posts

Re: My Feed, My Way

#31
post #21

Why do people (or at least politicians pretend to) believe that social networks are popular despite the content algos and not because of them? The reason Tik Tok blew up is because it shows you what you want to see without you twiddling with a dozen dials. Maybe giving people what they want is not great for them. I am ok with this argument. But then "giving people control" won't change anything. Vast majority of user…

The first social networks were actually social (ie relating to friends), algos came later, to better exploit attention for ads.

When twitter changed its feeds it had to force people into the new style feed by giving them a choice but wiping their choice every time they opened the app and forcing the algorithmic slop feed.

This is long overdue and I hope all countries adopt it. It should be the default and if people want to consume slop they will always have a choice to do so.

I came here expecting an apologia for the manipulative feeds of big tech, and found one at the top. If that’s not what you intended, perhaps consider that you’re acting as a useful idiot for them.

Re: My Feed, My Way

#32
post #21

Why do people (or at least politicians pretend to) believe that social networks are popular despite the content algos and not because of them? The reason Tik Tok blew up is because it shows you what you want to see without you twiddling with a dozen dials. Maybe giving people what they want is not great for them. I am ok with this argument. But then "giving people control" won't change anything. Vast majority of user…

Every social media is popular because of the network effect. Even TikTok launched just under a decade ago, grew with help from China’s government and cultural isolation, and only became “mainstream” (in 2020) after already having hundreds of millions of users including celebrities like Justin Bieber.

Re: My Feed, My Way

#33
post #24

Interesting scenarios that could happen in next few years * American internet companies start to make the judgement that supporting EU/ANZ countries with difficult legal/tax requirements is a net cost and stop doing it, just IP-blocking those countries for the lowest legal risk * Alternatively, American govt takes the position of "American companies don't have to follow the laws of random countries just because they…

> * Alternatively, American govt takes the position of "American companies don't have to follow the laws of random countries just because they accept IP packets from those countries". American companies eliminate their official business presence in onerous legal regimes but keep serving users there

Why would they do that? If they can't have a local business presence then they can't book local advertisers.

Which directly cuts any revenue they would get from the enterprise.

None of these companies need to have local business presences: they do because otherwise you can't get revenue from users in that nationality.

Re: My Feed, My Way

#34

I don't think this goes nearly far enough, and is another example of our government latching onto a juicy trending topic and doing the bare minimum to make a positive sounding news byte out of. This should be an opt-in model for algorithmically driven content, infinite scrolling, etc. An opt out model just feels like they're compromising for the benefit of industry lobbyists on the issue.

> another example of our government latching onto a juicy trending topic and doing the bare minimum

Say it ain't so!

For those not following Australian politics, this is the theme of our times. Find a big issue that people want something done about, half-arse it and bow to corporate interests instead of taking decisive action. The big one recently has been gambling advertising. The government commissioned a report that came to the well-argued conclusion that, as the biggest gamblers in the world per capita, Australia really should ban gambling advertising. It's pervasive, offensive and way too normalised.

There appeared to be cross party support for the proposal, and widespread public support. Easy win for the party in power.

The current government sat on it for a couple of years and then came back with a watered down proposal to cap the amount it could be on tv and try to restrict it during times kids might be watching. Way to miss an open goal Albo.

Re: My Feed, My Way

#36
Or just use https://tuhat.net,

>> 1K organic users in the last three months, ,with no marketing budget, and no VC funding.

- Chronological feed of local posts + external RSS feeds in one place

- Email newsletters / RSS

- Journaling feature

- Book log / reviews

- No Algorithms

- No like button

Opensource if you want to spin up your own instance.

Re: My Feed, My Way

#37
post #36

Or just use https://tuhat.net , >> 1K organic users in the last three months, ,with no marketing budget, and no VC funding. - Chronological feed of local posts + external RSS feeds in one place - Email newsletters / RSS - Journaling feature - Book log / reviews - No Algorithms - No like button Opensource if you want to spin up your own instance.

I don't know what I am looking at here?

Re: My Feed, My Way

#38
post #21

Why do people (or at least politicians pretend to) believe that social networks are popular despite the content algos and not because of them? The reason Tik Tok blew up is because it shows you what you want to see without you twiddling with a dozen dials. Maybe giving people what they want is not great for them. I am ok with this argument. But then "giving people control" won't change anything. Vast majority of user…

> Why do people (or at least politicians pretend to) believe that cigarettes are popular despite the content nicotine and not because of them? The reason Malboro blew up is because it gives you a surge of dopamine without having to do anything for it.

Yes - TikTok is popular, precicely because the algorithmic feeds are designed to be addictive. They show content, not because its good, not because its what you ask for, but because its exactly what will keep your eyes glued to the screen.

I would assume that the majority of users would prefer a Facebook experience that showed them just the friends and family they follow, and nothing else.

Re: My Feed, My Way

#39
post #21

Why do people (or at least politicians pretend to) believe that social networks are popular despite the content algos and not because of them? The reason Tik Tok blew up is because it shows you what you want to see without you twiddling with a dozen dials. Maybe giving people what they want is not great for them. I am ok with this argument. But then "giving people control" won't change anything. Vast majority of user…

Before it was social “media” Facebook was a great way to see friends & families updates in a chronological way with very little clutter. Then people began soapboxing, then came the ads, then all the random “interests” they assign to you and it’s completely useless now.

TikTok, IG etc are a little different as they’re actually media streams but I wanted to say that about Facebook - give me what I want on Facebook and it would be a wonderful service.

Re: My Feed, My Way

#40
post #34

I don't think this goes nearly far enough, and is another example of our government latching onto a juicy trending topic and doing the bare minimum to make a positive sounding news byte out of. This should be an opt-in model for algorithmically driven content, infinite scrolling, etc. An opt out model just feels like they're compromising for the benefit of industry lobbyists on the issue.

> another example of our government latching onto a juicy trending topic and doing the bare minimum Say it ain't so! For those not following Australian politics, this is the theme of our times. Find a big issue that people want something done about, half-arse it and bow to corporate interests instead of taking decisive action. The big one recently has been gambling advertising. The government commissioned a report th…

The whole political charade is just getting me so angry, the thin veil of "government working for the people" rhetoric has completely fallen away to expose how directly corporate interests translate into Australian government policy.

Majority of Australians supported changes in how the resource sector is taxed - the government openly met with industry lobbyists right before the budget and just said lol no.

They went to a local byelection and their candidate was a gas lobbyist they parachuted in from a different electorate.

The gambling thing, what a joke.

The social media ban for kids that immediately turned out to be pushed by pro media lobbyists.

The military spending. My word.

They don't even try to hide it anymore, and Labor were meant to be the quasi-progressive-left option in the uniparty system. Now I view them to be equally as corrupt as the Liberal party, leaving the Greens as the only viable option in politics here. And they can never get anywhere due to the way political donations/funding is set up, along with the vested interests owning the media narrative. No one even bothers to read their policy documents because old Rupert Murdoch has their opinion covered for them.

Gah. It's nearly beer time I think.

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