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U.S. users are leaving Facebook by the millions, Edison Research says

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Re: U.S. users are leaving Facebook by the millions, Edison Research says

#501

Post by radlad »

Emma_Goldman wrote: post #405
peteretep wrote: post #334

By far the biggest factor that had me stopping checking Facebook, and indeed LinkedIn, is number of utterly fictitious notifications they generate. There was a time a few years back when that red dot made me drop everything to check FB, but these days it’ll be some completely bullshit message they’ve made a notification out of. Feels like they got greedy for my attention and killed the golden goose there. I check it…

Totally agree. The three things which have driven me away are: 1) the proliferation of notifications 2) filling my feed with auto-play videos 3) the fact that fewer and fewer of my friends actively use it Just as rising membership creates a positive feedback loop through network effects, so declining membership does the opposite. The other main reason is that since buying a smart phone, I can access the one feature o…

Messenger.com on the computer.

Re: U.S. users are leaving Facebook by the millions, Edison Research says

#502

Post by tome »

jeffhuys wrote: post #428
throwmeback wrote: post #416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I opted out of all emails altogether - I only check my notifications once in a while. I've never missed anything of value.

Then why do you still check it?

To avoid missing anything of value!

Re: U.S. users are leaving Facebook by the millions, Edison Research says

#503

Post by upofadown »

These sorts of things normally come and go. So the thing that is currently on top is going to show the greatest decline. There isn't really a lot of analysis required. The implication that something like Facebook might be good for the ages is kinda nuts.

Re: U.S. users are leaving Facebook by the millions, Edison Research says

#504

Post by Yhippa »

arethuza wrote: post #445
Matheus28 wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really feels like some companies like Facebook are flying blind by using A/B testing everywhere and ignoring the long term effects of the changes they do.

Isn't A/B testing pretty much going to behave like a steepest ascent hill climbing? At each micro decision point you take what looks like the 'best' option but that means you can get stuck in local maxima?

This is interesting but I don't think I fully understand. Do you mind dumbing it down for me?

Re: U.S. users are leaving Facebook by the millions, Edison Research says

#505

Post by sureaboutthis »

swozey wrote: post #500
sureaboutthis wrote: post #494

The only reason I signed up for Facebook, just five years ago or less, is because someone posted a scientific paper or video there. This post wound up being not worth looking at and I didn't go to Facebook for anything until about three years ago when I went to a funeral and found some long lost relatives I hadn't seen in decades and others I never knew. "Are you on Facebook?", they asked. So I went there and friende…

Not sure your age range, but I'm an older millenial (mid-30s) and I couldn't tell you the last time I picked up the phone and called someone to chat without intention (making plans, etc) or sent a non-work email that wasn't related to something financial/house-buy/sale related. I deleted FB last year but when I did use it it was purely as a messaging platform. My personal gmail about 10 years ago turned into more of…

Well, yes. If I have nothing to say to someone directly, I do not call them but I also do not spray message everything I have to say to everyone on Facebook.

Re: U.S. users are leaving Facebook by the millions, Edison Research says

#506

Post by jmilloy »

arethuza wrote: post #445
Matheus28 wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really feels like some companies like Facebook are flying blind by using A/B testing everywhere and ignoring the long term effects of the changes they do.

Isn't A/B testing pretty much going to behave like a steepest ascent hill climbing? At each micro decision point you take what looks like the 'best' option but that means you can get stuck in local maxima?

I think the bigger problem is that A/B only measures certain things and following it blindly can have you descending in important ways that are hard to measure.

Re: U.S. users are leaving Facebook by the millions, Edison Research says

#507

Post by girmad »

Yhippa wrote: post #504
arethuza wrote: post #445

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't A/B testing pretty much going to behave like a steepest ascent hill climbing? At each micro decision point you take what looks like the 'best' option but that means you can get stuck in local maxima?

This is interesting but I don't think I fully understand. Do you mind dumbing it down for me?

Global vs local maximum. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxima_and_minima

Related: what's the best for one part of the system, may not be the best for the entire system.

Re: U.S. users are leaving Facebook by the millions, Edison Research says

#508

Post by [deleted] »

sm4rk0 wrote: post #193
jjrh wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one wants to install ANOTHER app just to talk to you. Most of us already have at least 3 messaging apps they use on a daily basis and probably a whole lot more they use on a weekly basis.

But why WhatsApp is one of those 3 and Signal is ANOTHER app? Not so long ago WhatsApp was ANOTHER. Now it's not. What changed?

[deleted]

Re: U.S. users are leaving Facebook by the millions, Edison Research says

#509

Post by everdrive »

no_wizard wrote: post #287

Here's the kicker, which I think others have pointed out, but I want to say this succinctly: First, to quote the article: > The big gainer, interestingly, is under the same roof as Facebook. It's their co-owned Instagram Now, to my point: The average person does not care about privacy, just the illusion of privacy (I suspect people reading this site intuitively know this. At some level, nearly everyone is in differen…

Advertising, and tracking user data are not inherently bad. The user must know what's being tracked, and probably more importantly, the user must be getting something of value in exchange. Facebook is an ever-degrading skinner box, providing less and less value to users while being addictive and malicious.

Contrast this with something like Google Maps: It's a privacy nightmare too, but it's also incredibly useful.

Re: U.S. users are leaving Facebook by the millions, Edison Research says

#510

Post by [deleted] »

thatoneuser wrote: post #345
peteretep wrote: post #334

By far the biggest factor that had me stopping checking Facebook, and indeed LinkedIn, is number of utterly fictitious notifications they generate. There was a time a few years back when that red dot made me drop everything to check FB, but these days it’ll be some completely bullshit message they’ve made a notification out of. Feels like they got greedy for my attention and killed the golden goose there. I check it…

Dear God I installed LinkedIn a couple months back and their endless bs notifications made me realize that I don't need it. It doesn't give me anything. Why is it sending me 2-3 notifications a day when I have 5 friends who's profiles arent even actively used? If it did something useful, like find me clients for the work I do then sure - I'll give them my attention. He'll, I'll pay good money for that! But I don't gi…

[deleted]
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