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Facebook removed the news feed algorithm in an experiment

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Re: Facebook removed the news feed algorithm in an experiment

#101

Post by sokoloff »

jaywalk wrote: post #99
threeseed wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except that it is exactly what people have been asking for: Simple reverse chronological order feed with no ranking.

Did you even read the comment I replied to? BS like "we're throwing this post in your feed because one of your friends liked/commented on it" is not part of what people have been asking for, but that was still part of their "no algorithm" test. All they did was get rid of the ranking, but that's only part of the issue.

I am some non-zero amount interested that a Facebook friend of mine liked or commented on some random post. I’m not as interested as something that they posted originally, but clearly non-zero interested in many of those.

Re: Facebook removed the news feed algorithm in an experiment

#102

Post by fortuna86 »

d3vmax wrote: post #4

Have a chronological time series newsfeed only from friends. Once you have caught up show the recommended / algo posts. + Facebook should allow you to go filter and show posts using a calendar. Like all post from X date to Y date, from this location / friends. It will actually improve usage. Miss the old photo sharing days.

This would make them hugely less profitable, and therefore would never happen.

Re: Facebook removed the news feed algorithm in an experiment

#103

Post by svachalek »

Consultant32452 wrote: post #80
azinman2 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YTs recommendations are infamous for getting people radicalized, into conspiracy theories, and filled with misinformation.

I'm highly skeptical of those claims. This seems mostly like wild claims from legacy media that doesn't want you to watch streaming video. Yes, I'm familiar with the relevant studies.

I've had a Google account for... 15+ years? and have never really interacted on YouTube, in large part because I don't want to give Google my data. Just recently though I've been getting more into hobbyist boardgaming and wanted to help out some of the little guys in this niche by giving them some likes and subscribes.

So, now it's feeding me incel videos. Maybe this just is giving me more info than I want about people who play board games. But wow, Google.

Re: Facebook removed the news feed algorithm in an experiment

#104

Post by dataflow »

lanerobertlane wrote: post #32

When people argue against the 'news feed algorithm' they mean anything other than a reverse chronological feed of posts from the people they follow. status updates, and interactions between people/pages you both follow. This article mentions that they turned the news feed off but people were still hiding posts from pages they don't follow, which friends had commented on. These shouldn't appear in a news feed that is…

I can't tell if they want us to believe none of their brilliant minds realize this, or that they deliberately wanted a test that would give them an excuse to keep things as is.

Re: Facebook removed the news feed algorithm in an experiment

#105

Post by jaywalk »

sokoloff wrote: post #101
jaywalk wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you even read the comment I replied to? BS like "we're throwing this post in your feed because one of your friends liked/commented on it" is not part of what people have been asking for, but that was still part of their "no algorithm" test. All they did was get rid of the ranking, but that's only part of the issue.

I am some non-zero amount interested that a Facebook friend of mine liked or commented on some random post. I’m not as interested as something that they posted originally, but clearly non-zero interested in many of those.

That's perfectly fine. Me personally, I am not at all interested in it. But Facebook could very easily allow us to tailor our individual Newsfeeds to our liking, so you can have what you want and I can have what I want.

But that's not what Facebook wants, so that's not what we get.

Re: Facebook removed the news feed algorithm in an experiment

#106

Post by sam0x17 »

civilized wrote: post #97
lanerobertlane wrote: post #32

When people argue against the 'news feed algorithm' they mean anything other than a reverse chronological feed of posts from the people they follow. status updates, and interactions between people/pages you both follow. This article mentions that they turned the news feed off but people were still hiding posts from pages they don't follow, which friends had commented on. These shouldn't appear in a news feed that is…

And as Twitter shows, it's not hard to offer both options and let users choose. Twitter also implemented a timer so that, if you choose simple reverse chron, it forces you back into the ranking algorithm after a certain period of time. Hmm, I wonder why they'd go to the trouble to do that? Maybe these social networks have motivations that override user experience?

FB isn't going to do anything that doesn't affect at least 30% of users. As always this is all about revenue.

Re: Facebook removed the news feed algorithm in an experiment

#107

Post by jfengel »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #60
jfengel wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I shudder to think about a system where random people could message me. On Quora, I just turned off that feature. Almost every single message I got was "hi", from somebody who was trying to either sell me crypto or catfish me. Maybe there's a period when a new open messaging system opens you up to just fun new people, but when it grows, spammers and scammers will follow. Glad you enjoyed Facebook before everybody got…

> I shudder to think about a system where random people could message me. Do you not have a phone number that anyone can call? Or an e-mail address that anyone can send to? Or have you used a platform like IRC that allows users anyone to send you direct messages? > Glad you enjoyed Facebook before everybody got to enjoy Facebook, but most people never saw it like that Facebook messenger isn't overrun by spammers. I'v…

Yeah, I have a phone number, and I don't pick it up if I don't recognize it. I don't know you, I probably don't want random communication from you.

I am pleased with the state of spam detection for things that implement it. Google does a good job, both on my phone (Pixel) and my email. Quora does not, and I resent it; it makes the site worse, so I turned it off.

If Facebook were letting strangers talk to me, I'd probably stop using it.

Re: Facebook removed the news feed algorithm in an experiment

#108

Post by xg15 »

s17n wrote: post #18
gfosco wrote: post #6

Data wins arguments. One of my least favorite Facebook quotes. Bad data wins arguments, too. The misdirection term here is 'news feed ranking algorithm'... and what that means in the experiment versus what you might think that means, huge difference. e.g. I think most would assume the algorithm is responsible for showing you an unknown post that a friend merely liked, but it's right there in the article as still happ…

You can say that explicit curation and intention is the way things "should be" as much as you like, but all the evidence suggests that most people strongly prefer automated curation.

> all the evidence suggests that most people strongly prefer automated curation.

What evidence would that be?

I don't think having to actively force a feature on your audience is a good sign that they prefer it.

Re: Facebook removed the news feed algorithm in an experiment

#109

Post by saurik »

lanerobertlane wrote: post #32

When people argue against the 'news feed algorithm' they mean anything other than a reverse chronological feed of posts from the people they follow. status updates, and interactions between people/pages you both follow. This article mentions that they turned the news feed off but people were still hiding posts from pages they don't follow, which friends had commented on. These shouldn't appear in a news feed that is…

Expand your mind to "a reverse chronological list of actions taken by my friends"? I don't want to--and don't need to--miss out on my friends replying to stuff just because I don't want to have an opaque content filtering and recommendation algorithm curating my life.

Re: Facebook removed the news feed algorithm in an experiment

#110

Post by tcgv »

suzzer99 wrote: post #95
azinman2 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YTs recommendations are infamous for getting people radicalized, into conspiracy theories, and filled with misinformation.

YT continues to push Jordan Peterson videos on me even though I've downvoted them many times. Other friends report the same thing. I think the algorithm has figured out that if it can get people into JP, there's a chance they go down into more extreme rabbit holes and thus become super-engaged. So it's worth it for the algorithm to keep trying to push JP even on people who don't seem interested at first.

I used to get a lot of "Jordan Peterson" recommendations too. A bit off topic, but I really don't like his take on many subjects. I can see that he's truly articulated and it seems he mostly wins arguments by carefully crafting his phrases and forcing his view to less skilled communicators rather than by following a reasonable line of thought. I'm glad I don't receive recommendations of his videos anymore.
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