Facebook Overhauls News Feed to Focus on What Friends and Family Share • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook Overhauls News Feed to Focus on What Friends and Family Share

#111

Post by fizx » Fri, Jan 12, 2018, 2:36 AM UTC

thinkloop wrote: post #74

archiepeach wrote: post #45

Good intentions or not, we must remember that history has proven time and time again, when any entity has far too much unchecked power, it is inevitably exploited by bad actors. A user base of two billion users without any real accountability is a scary thing. The only people policing Facebook are Facebook. We would never agree to a having a single dictator who answers to no one, why should Facebook be treated any di…

Because unlike a dictator Facebook has zero real power over your life? It's a site of puppies and horoscopes, you think we should be dealing with them like we do Kim Jong Un? How have we moved so far on the personal responsibility scale. Why aren't people partly responsible for not making better use of their time? Facebook is an "evil echo chamber", "wasting people's lives", "catering to business", etc - ALL THEY DO…

> Are we that simple that our entire personalities can be fully pwned with some basic machine learning?

Unfortunately, yes.

Re: Facebook Overhauls News Feed to Focus on What Friends and Family Share

#112

Post by adrianratnapala » Fri, Jan 12, 2018, 2:36 AM UTC

roywiggins wrote: post #28

george3383 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's bad for journalists and advertisers then it's good for users.

It depends. Some people use Facebook "likes" as a crappy replacement for RSS, so it's probably not great for them.

I can't be smug though. HN has become my replacement for RSS. Surely even Facebook is a better approximation.

Re: Facebook Overhauls News Feed to Focus on What Friends and Family Share

#113

Post by kazinator » Fri, Jan 12, 2018, 2:41 AM UTC

thinkloop wrote: post #74

archiepeach wrote: post #45

Good intentions or not, we must remember that history has proven time and time again, when any entity has far too much unchecked power, it is inevitably exploited by bad actors. A user base of two billion users without any real accountability is a scary thing. The only people policing Facebook are Facebook. We would never agree to a having a single dictator who answers to no one, why should Facebook be treated any di…

Because unlike a dictator Facebook has zero real power over your life? It's a site of puppies and horoscopes, you think we should be dealing with them like we do Kim Jong Un? How have we moved so far on the personal responsibility scale. Why aren't people partly responsible for not making better use of their time? Facebook is an "evil echo chamber", "wasting people's lives", "catering to business", etc - ALL THEY DO…

Facebook affects you even if you've never had an account, which represents the "least often" point on the "choose when to log on" scale.

> ALL THEY DO IS HOST YOUR FRIENDS' PHOTOS

You might not have noticed that Facebook also hosts a lot of Javascript that non-facebook sites load for some aspect of their implementation.

Re: Facebook Overhauls News Feed to Focus on What Friends and Family Share

#114

Post by thinkloop » Fri, Jan 12, 2018, 2:46 AM UTC

wu-ikkyu wrote: post #103

thinkloop wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because unlike a dictator Facebook has zero real power over your life? It's a site of puppies and horoscopes, you think we should be dealing with them like we do Kim Jong Un? How have we moved so far on the personal responsibility scale. Why aren't people partly responsible for not making better use of their time? Facebook is an "evil echo chamber", "wasting people's lives", "catering to business", etc - ALL THEY DO…

>Facebook has zero real power over your life >ALL THEY DO IS HOST YOUR FRIENDS' PHOTOS. These two obviously false statements completely undermine your otherwise valid point about personal responsibility.

Power is very different from influence. Facebook does a great job of encouraging people to choose to visit, but they have no power to force anyone to do so. The second comment is hyperbolic for sure, I used that device to try and swing the conversation closer to the other side where I think it needs to be.

Re: Facebook Overhauls News Feed to Focus on What Friends and Family Share

#115

Post by thinkloop » Fri, Jan 12, 2018, 2:51 AM UTC

losteric wrote: post #94

thinkloop wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because unlike a dictator Facebook has zero real power over your life? It's a site of puppies and horoscopes, you think we should be dealing with them like we do Kim Jong Un? How have we moved so far on the personal responsibility scale. Why aren't people partly responsible for not making better use of their time? Facebook is an "evil echo chamber", "wasting people's lives", "catering to business", etc - ALL THEY DO…

Traditional media only broadcasts content to millions, and they are regulated. Why isn't Facebook regulated?

Facebook is regulated (everything is regulated to some degree either directly or indirectly). Is there a specific regulation you mean? Perhaps traditional media should be less regulated? I personally really like the way the internet is.

Re: Facebook Overhauls News Feed to Focus on What Friends and Family Share

#116

Post by Avshalom » Fri, Jan 12, 2018, 2:55 AM UTC

jp555 wrote: post #105

untog wrote: post #35

I very much hope this isn't just words. The core problem, IMO, is that content that makes us angry, anxious or jealous is a much better driver of clicks than content that makes us happy. I'm sure Facebook knows this. If they really mean it, they'll accept that they will make less money as a result of this change. It would be the right decision in the long term, but the short term will hurt.

Are clicks the majority of revenue for FB? An ad unit that fills a users screen for a few second as they scroll throughout the day every day is super super valuable to brand advertising. I think that’s ~$450 billion of the total ~$500 billion total annual global ad spend. To me browsing the fb feed is a lot like like flipping through tv channels used to be. Brand advertising loved that too. I’d think the More people…

Right I mean, driving a click through to a website due to rage has to be less profitable than driving a click through to say DeWalt power tools due to delight. Right? I mean some fraction of a fraction of of an ad for DeWalt must be worth less than keeping your friends pro DeWalt status update on top.

(This is not a paid ad for DeWalt but seriously, fucking DeWalt. Them and Stihl: just gorgeous power tools)

Re: Facebook Overhauls News Feed to Focus on What Friends and Family Share

#117

Post by DashRattlesnake » Fri, Jan 12, 2018, 2:55 AM UTC

thinkloop wrote: post #115

losteric wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Traditional media only broadcasts content to millions, and they are regulated. Why isn't Facebook regulated?

Facebook is regulated (everything is regulated to some degree either directly or indirectly). Is there a specific regulation you mean? Perhaps traditional media should be less regulated? I personally really like the way the internet is.

> I personally really like the way the internet is.

Giant monopolies that control most of it for most users?

Re: Facebook Overhauls News Feed to Focus on What Friends and Family Share

#118

Post by rdiddly » Fri, Jan 12, 2018, 3:00 AM UTC

Oh brother... the quote at the end there? "It’s important to me that when Max and August grow up that they feel like what their father built was good for the world." Why does it bother me? Let me analyze.

OK 1) There are people out there who live their whole lives according to good values pretty much the whole time, and don't need the shock of parenthood to finally make them care about acting like a decent human being. And most are not 2) billionaires. However, quite a few apparently do need that little kick in the pants, which explains 3) how trite this sentiment is.

But owing precisely to how common it is, we may never know if this is something Zuckerberg actually feels, or if it's 4) just something he picked up that he thought sounded like something an earthling might say. A nice platitude to conceal the true market-driven motivation for this move, and 5) you just know there is one.

Also even assuming it's sincere, there's a prominent tone of 6) narcissism in it, when people suddenly start caring about their legacy. (Like "my legacy" and "how I will be viewed" as opposed to anything about the kids themselves or you or me or anyone that person might've hurt.)

I feel like as outlandish as it is, South Park's animated version of him, voiced like a badly dubbed Hong Kong martial arts actor, saying "Ha ha ha, you cannot block my shtoyle" and such, is more convincing & realistic than the reality!

Re: Facebook Overhauls News Feed to Focus on What Friends and Family Share

#119

Post by matwood » Fri, Jan 12, 2018, 3:01 AM UTC

Avshalom wrote: post #116

jp555 wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are clicks the majority of revenue for FB? An ad unit that fills a users screen for a few second as they scroll throughout the day every day is super super valuable to brand advertising. I think that’s ~$450 billion of the total ~$500 billion total annual global ad spend. To me browsing the fb feed is a lot like like flipping through tv channels used to be. Brand advertising loved that too. I’d think the More people…

Right I mean, driving a click through to a website due to rage has to be less profitable than driving a click through to say DeWalt power tools due to delight. Right? I mean some fraction of a fraction of of an ad for DeWalt must be worth less than keeping your friends pro DeWalt status update on top. (This is not a paid ad for DeWalt but seriously, fucking DeWalt. Them and Stihl: just gorgeous power tools)

Haha. Yeah. My wife doesn't get it yet that when I pay a little extra for DeWalt it means I will not have to buy the same tool again for a very long time.

Re: Facebook Overhauls News Feed to Focus on What Friends and Family Share

#120

Post by crorella » Fri, Jan 12, 2018, 3:05 AM UTC

untog wrote: post #35

I very much hope this isn't just words. The core problem, IMO, is that content that makes us angry, anxious or jealous is a much better driver of clicks than content that makes us happy. I'm sure Facebook knows this. If they really mean it, they'll accept that they will make less money as a result of this change. It would be the right decision in the long term, but the short term will hurt.

They mention this quite explicitly: "As we make these updates, Pages may see their reach, video watch time and referral traffic decrease. The impact will vary from Page to Page, driven by factors including the type of content they produce and how people interact with it."

I think it's bold but good for the long term.