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Actual Facebook Graph Searches

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Re: Actual Facebook Graph Searches

#21

Post by corporalagumbo »

GuiA wrote: post #5

With great power comes great responsibility. Companies such as Facebook and the like undoubtedly draw great power from their "social graph"; however, human interactions are subtle, complex, multifaceted and often contradictory. Nothing good can come out of applying dumb algorithms (that is, any algorithm) to a sufficiently rich "social graph"; it will always lead to situations like that which are, at best, embarrassi…

Really? Nothing good? From any algorithm at all? How can you be so sure? Amazon seems to do a pretty good job thinking up new stuff I might like with its algorithms, for one.

Re: Actual Facebook Graph Searches

#22

Post by newman314 »

corporalagumbo wrote: post #21
GuiA wrote: post #5

With great power comes great responsibility. Companies such as Facebook and the like undoubtedly draw great power from their "social graph"; however, human interactions are subtle, complex, multifaceted and often contradictory. Nothing good can come out of applying dumb algorithms (that is, any algorithm) to a sufficiently rich "social graph"; it will always lead to situations like that which are, at best, embarrassi…

Really? Nothing good? From any algorithm at all? How can you be so sure? Amazon seems to do a pretty good job thinking up new stuff I might like with its algorithms, for one.

Try an Amazon account which is shared with family members.

Amazon thinks I like electronics, Hello Kitty and bows.

Re: Actual Facebook Graph Searches

#23

Post by aaronbrethorst »

Apple Inc Employees Who Like Android: https://www.facebook.com/search/103818329656399/likers/13794...

People who like Barack Obama and Mitt Romney: https://www.facebook.com/search/6815841748/likers/2139280112...

People who like MPAA and The Pirate Bay: https://www.facebook.com/search/108476252505746/likers/11101...

Re: Actual Facebook Graph Searches

#24

Post by corporalagumbo »

Maybe this seems horrible right now, but Facebook didn't create these problems and contradictions, it just exposed them uncomfortably. I expect that the eventual abuses springing from this exposure will spur a counterreaction, hopefully with net-positive results. After all, what's the most meaningful take-away from this? Is it that Facebook is endangering individuals? Not really. Powerful, global social search tools like this were bound to happen eventually. The potential benefits of integrative technologies like this are just too great to ignore. No, the real take-away is this: sexual freedoms suck in Iran. Religious freedoms suck in China. And lots of people have embarrassing and/or contradictory and/or naive views and tastes.

So all this tells me is that we should focus on improving sexual freedoms in Iran and religious freedoms in China. Hopefully the people with embarrassing views will take care of themselves as tools such as this subject them to increasing scrutiny.

Re: Actual Facebook Graph Searches

#25

Post by potatolicious »

GuiA wrote: post #5

With great power comes great responsibility. Companies such as Facebook and the like undoubtedly draw great power from their "social graph"; however, human interactions are subtle, complex, multifaceted and often contradictory. Nothing good can come out of applying dumb algorithms (that is, any algorithm) to a sufficiently rich "social graph"; it will always lead to situations like that which are, at best, embarrassi…

> "Nothing good can come out of applying dumb algorithms (that is, any algorithm) to a sufficiently rich "social graph""

These aren't algorithms. This is a search engine - what you put into it is up to you. It can be anywhere from the silliness seen in the link, to "friends who live in London" before you take a trip.

This is just handing people another tool - the uses, and misuses, of said tool are entirely on the users.

> " If you think about who the average Facebook employee is, you'd realize that you probably wouldn't want them to be in charge of designing a system meant to model the intricacies of human interaction."

A snarky and mean-spirited stereotyping of all nerds as socially inept! How clever.

Re: Actual Facebook Graph Searches

#27

Post by CoffeeDregs »

GuiA wrote: post #5

With great power comes great responsibility. Companies such as Facebook and the like undoubtedly draw great power from their "social graph"; however, human interactions are subtle, complex, multifaceted and often contradictory. Nothing good can come out of applying dumb algorithms (that is, any algorithm) to a sufficiently rich "social graph"; it will always lead to situations like that which are, at best, embarrassi…

Wow. When Graph Searches were announced, I thought "meh, I'm tired of FB...". I never thought to explore what Graph Searches actually meant. And I would never have done so or will do so, but I'm very glad that someone has investigated the system.

>it will always lead to situations like that which are [bad]

I wonder if there isn't some definition analogous to "Turing complete" for social graphs? i.e. with a sufficiently powerful API, any question can be answered. Just as Turing complete-ness leads to viruses, worms, etc, might "XYZ complete" social networks lead directly and predictably towards A, B and C bad outcomes?

>Zuckerberg's views on privacy and openness are laughable

Perhaps. I'm not versed in them well enough to know. But I wonder if he isn't a bit Bill-Gates-eyan in his perspective of pushing the border between X-Y quite hard to see what bends and what breaks. For Microsoft, it was Code-Data and, while there were certainly people saying don't mix Code and Data!, people happily used their Excel spreadsheets and we suffered mightily from the resulting viruses. Whereas "viruses" were the unintended consequence of mixing Code-Data, are "outings" the result of mixing Social-Search?

Re: Actual Facebook Graph Searches

#29

Post by artmageddon »

I don't know if it's enough, but I just removed nearly any interest that I liked "i.e. removed snowboarding, hip-hop', etc. along with other stuff that's just promotional fluff. I may not be able to avoid the social graph altogether but I'd like to limit the kind of searches I appear in.

Re: Actual Facebook Graph Searches

#30

Post by corporalagumbo »

newman314 wrote: post #22
corporalagumbo wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? Nothing good? From any algorithm at all? How can you be so sure? Amazon seems to do a pretty good job thinking up new stuff I might like with its algorithms, for one.

Try an Amazon account which is shared with family members. Amazon thinks I like electronics, Hello Kitty and bows.

I've got an arduino-powered robotic bow-gun firing Hello Kitty droid-doll you might be interested in...
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