Facebook loses users for the first time • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook loses users for the first time

#401

Post by jollybean » Thu, Feb 03, 2022, 6:09 AM UTC

matt-attack wrote: post #338

elwell wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook is for old people. Instagram is for moderately old people. Snapchat is for moderately young people. TikTok is for young people.

I've literally never logged in to any one of those. I have to say, I'm kind of proud of that. Occasionally people will send me a link to something and it's on Instagram. Clicking for me give me a Login modal. They make it too easy for me, click.

Try TikTok.

It's completely unlike other social media and it's addictive without being negative, which kind of goes against our current instinctive thinking about social media.

At the start, it's completely dumb videos that kids will find funny.

But the algorithm is smart and will find content you like.

My feed is now ultra cute cat and cat rescue stories, and really, really sharp non-professional comedians acting out vignettes, they are better than anything pro, and better than anything on TV, and, amateur musicians playing solos, odd instruments etc..

I enjoy TikTok more than Television or Netflix.

It's very hard to describe to non-users because on paper it's very much like YouTube, but the format is so short, and the kinds of bits are so much more ephermal ... and for some reason most of the toxicity is not there.

Also, you get to see first hand some 'live events' because people stream from everywhere, and it gives you neat perspective. For example, the 'Trucker Convey' in Ottawa Ontario. After watching the event live from various perspectives on TikTok, while simultaneously watching broadcast news cover the event, it became unsettlingly clear how aggressively misinformative broadcast news was of the event. (Even if I fully disagree with the protesters, they should be represented fairly)

TikToks has radically changed my view of content moderation and demonstrated that it additivity does not have to be based on fear and anger.

They censor aggressively, and get away with it partly because it's not really seen as a platform for 'information'. So you won't see a lot of controversial things there, and also I don't mind that technically 'Tiannamen Square' content will be absent. I mean, it's just TikTok (is what I tell myself).

It's disturbingly addictive without being particularly political or controversial and for that reason alone it's worth having a look at for those who care to pay attention.

Re: Facebook loses users for the first time

#402

Post by baby » Thu, Feb 03, 2022, 6:09 AM UTC

sujesh wrote: post #327

I deleted my FB a while ago and it truely helped my online mental health. The fb feed was full of false news and hate speech. I reported as much as I could but nothing happening. There wasn't any regulations and I felt more toxic on the contents. I am not gonna lie there was a positive side like knowing the news instantly but It's not worth it apparently.

I’ve seen some of it. But it’s an essential app to maintain contact with my friends around the globe.

Re: Facebook loses users for the first time

#403

Post by tomrod » Thu, Feb 03, 2022, 6:09 AM UTC

dzink wrote: post #357

The big reason behind losses was likely the iOS 14 tracking update. Right after it a ton of Facebook Advertisers groups on Facebook started complaining all of their carefully crafted campaigns were not producing revenue anymore. Targeting and regathering stopped making sales for advertisers and they quickly stopped spending on FB. The people who still spend are now doing videos as ads. Small advertisers were the cana…

Android has more market share.[0] Is there something intrinsic to FB ads that are significantly more successful for iOS users rather than Android users? Does FB cater their apps to iOS somehow more successfully, e.g Android users are more savvy and less likely to take to digital nudges?

If that's not the case, then the 25% of market loss doesn't make sense to me -- are FB ads bulk purchases somehow, or are they by user?

[0] https://www.statista.com/statistics/272698/global-market-sha...

Re: Facebook loses users for the first time

#404

Post by jollybean » Thu, Feb 03, 2022, 6:10 AM UTC

kajaktum wrote: post #116

People like to hate on Facebook, but how is any other social media different? They are all free services that profit from your personal information. Some just have better PR than the other.

TikTok is very different and will probably turn your view of what drives engagement upside down. Try it for a bit, it's an alternate universe.

Re: Facebook loses users for the first time

#405

Post by naruvimama » Thu, Feb 03, 2022, 6:12 AM UTC

It might have very much to do with their shoddy 2FA rollout.

I have heard of quite a few among my circles who got locked out.

They hurriedly pushed out something that did not work in the first place.

Re: Facebook loses users for the first time

#406

Post by baobabKoodaa » Thu, Feb 03, 2022, 6:13 AM UTC

baobabKoodaa wrote: post #388

sujesh wrote: post #327

I deleted my FB a while ago and it truely helped my online mental health. The fb feed was full of false news and hate speech. I reported as much as I could but nothing happening. There wasn't any regulations and I felt more toxic on the contents. I am not gonna lie there was a positive side like knowing the news instantly but It's not worth it apparently.

Was your page full of actual hate speech such as "exterminate the jews" or was it full of "hate speech" such as criticizing politicians who happen to be minorities? Same question regarding fake news: was your page full of actual fake news suh as "Elon Musk has died", or was it full of political speech you don't like, such as "wearing masks is not worth the inconvenience"?

No post body was provided.

Re: Facebook loses users for the first time

#407

Post by asadlionpk » Thu, Feb 03, 2022, 6:14 AM UTC

tomrod wrote: post #403

dzink wrote: post #357

The big reason behind losses was likely the iOS 14 tracking update. Right after it a ton of Facebook Advertisers groups on Facebook started complaining all of their carefully crafted campaigns were not producing revenue anymore. Targeting and regathering stopped making sales for advertisers and they quickly stopped spending on FB. The people who still spend are now doing videos as ads. Small advertisers were the cana…

Android has more market share.[0] Is there something intrinsic to FB ads that are significantly more successful for iOS users rather than Android users? Does FB cater their apps to iOS somehow more successfully, e.g Android users are more savvy and less likely to take to digital nudges? If that's not the case, then the 25% of market loss doesn't make sense to me -- are FB ads bulk purchases somehow, or are they by us…

US is mostly iOS users and I assume major source of revenue for FB.

Re: Facebook loses users for the first time

#408

Post by deanc » Thu, Feb 03, 2022, 6:15 AM UTC

sujesh wrote: post #327

I deleted my FB a while ago and it truely helped my online mental health. The fb feed was full of false news and hate speech. I reported as much as I could but nothing happening. There wasn't any regulations and I felt more toxic on the contents. I am not gonna lie there was a positive side like knowing the news instantly but It's not worth it apparently.

My FB feed is essentially zero content (500+ friends mostly over 25). It’s an aggregator nowadays of group discussions and primarily page content, even pages I don’t follow. Nobody but boomers use it to share nowadays.

Re: Facebook loses users for the first time

#409

Post by rightbyte » Thu, Feb 03, 2022, 6:15 AM UTC

KerryJones wrote: post #374

iamthemonster wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's so interesting how different people's Facebook feeds are so different. I do have excessive ads for products, that's fair enough, but I have absolutely nothing political. My only issue with Facebook is that it's poorly designed, actually very dated and cluttered, and none of my friends really use it for personal posts except me. I suspect that each Facebook user exists in a different bubble. Possibly they see som…

This is exactly what happens. What's worse, I thought it was doing that because I had responded to some political post, but FB just sees "you engaged with person-X, I will now alert you when person-X posts, and when people respond to his posts, even if you haven't looked at it" This led to increasingly divisive messages literally showing up in my notifications that I had nothing to do with. This still happens months…

Ye FB does something like this. I hate "funny" videos where people hurt them self. But somehow FB thought my annoyance with them was that I liked them, so they spammed them on me. Maybe I moved my cursor to slow over them or something when I took my time to mute the guy posting them.

Re: Facebook loses users for the first time

#410

Post by jjeaff » Thu, Feb 03, 2022, 6:16 AM UTC

xyzzy123 wrote: post #153

NaturalPhallacy wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

reddit used to be great until they pulled their great bait & switch, then added all kinds of authoritarian features. A brief history of reddit: > We want to democratize the traditional model by giving editorial control to the people who use the site, not those who run it. — Reddit FAQ 2005 > We've always benefited from a policy of not censoring content — u/kn0thing 2008 > A bastion of free speech on the World Wide We…

It feels like reddit changed in line with the rest of the Internet though. In 2022 you have the choice of a) "suppressing free speech" or b) "platforming racists" and there is no middle ground and no way to win. You can't pass the buck to moderators. The choice did not feel so stark in 2005.

Ya, if you take a look at any of these supposedly free speech platforms they are just intolerable, gross places.