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Facebook is nearing a reputational point of no return

economist.com

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Re: Facebook is nearing a reputational point of no return

#91

Post by coldtea »

shoto_io wrote: post #3

No. That’s what people like us and all the main stream media hope for. But: most people I know don’t have the slightest clue that Insta and WhatsApp belong to the FB group. And even worse: most of them don’t give a shit about the reputation of FB. They just want to send messages and share pictures through those apps.

>And even worse: most of them don’t give a shit about the reputation of FB. They just want to send messages and share pictures through those apps.

Yes. But those people will die eventually. And younger people aren't adopting FB or care about it.

Re: Facebook is nearing a reputational point of no return

#92

Post by katbyte »

donatj wrote: post #27
efields wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. 73 yo dad is not quitting Facebook anytime soon. He genuinely uses it to find old friends and coworkers and goof around in the comments.

I mean as a 30 something who knows their evil, that’s what I use it for too. I’ve gone to close my account a bunch of times, but for so many old friends it’s my only link to them, I could not bring myself to do it.

I haven’t closed my account but I deleted the apps and only access it via web, on a computer, and only when I need something specific from it. I’ve logged in maybe 3 times all of 2021

Re: Facebook is nearing a reputational point of no return

#93

Post by Bhilai »

jwond wrote: post #72
whitepaint wrote: post #21

I don't really know much about US politics, but could this recent attack on Facebook be a political move and a power grab? Attack FB so they block certain groups / certain topics and promote what the regulators want? I listened to the whistle-blower's testimony and I didn't hear any reasonable solutions (in my opinion at least; I am a software developer myself). Also, it seems there might be some regulations imposed.…

Glenn Greenwald wrote an article arguing that yes, it is a power grab. https://greenwald.substack.com/p/democrats-and-media-do-not-...

Glenn Greenwood in my opinion is not a neutral party here. In recent times he clearly has chosen sides.

Re: Facebook is nearing a reputational point of no return

#94

Post by danso »

vmception wrote: post #40
donatj wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean as a 30 something who knows their evil, that’s what I use it for too. I’ve gone to close my account a bunch of times, but for so many old friends it’s my only link to them, I could not bring myself to do it.

You can recreate your social graph at any time by telling it your phone number, or email, or friending the same people. Any app is doing that and will find other friends on that app with shared contacts. You can even do it in a future FB account. With that knowledge it is easy for me to delete FB account, even if there are active group chats there.

I don’t share my phone with the 500+ people in my FB network, and vice versa.

Re: Facebook is nearing a reputational point of no return

#95

Post by quotemstr »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #56
shoto_io wrote: post #3

No. That’s what people like us and all the main stream media hope for. But: most people I know don’t have the slightest clue that Insta and WhatsApp belong to the FB group. And even worse: most of them don’t give a shit about the reputation of FB. They just want to send messages and share pictures through those apps.

> most of them don’t give a shit about the reputation of FB This is close to a straw man argument. Nobody claims users will abandon Facebook. The article posits, instead, strengthening headwinds. Headwinds in hiring (there is already a double-digit premium Facebook must pay for talent). From recurring whistleblowing, and its impact on morale and productivity. Headwinds in projects and partnerships, like Libre/Diem be…

> there is already a double-digit premium Facebook must pay for talent

That's an odd way of putting it. Do Google and Netflix and other big tech companies face the same "headwinds"? Their compensation is comparable.

Facebook pays a premium because it's drawing from the top of the talent pool and is facing competition from other companies trying to acquire people with the same level of exceptional skill. The idea that FB has to pay extra to convince regular people to work at FB because FB has a bad reputation is HN fantasy. The world doesn't work that way.

No, Facebook is not a stain on anyone's resume no matter how fervently a few very online activist types might want it to be. The rest of the industry laughs at the idea.

Anyone saying that he won't fire FB alumni just has a bad case of sour grapes and couldn't attract people of that caliber anyway.

Re: Facebook is nearing a reputational point of no return

#96

Post by _bfhp »

jwond wrote: post #72
whitepaint wrote: post #21

I don't really know much about US politics, but could this recent attack on Facebook be a political move and a power grab? Attack FB so they block certain groups / certain topics and promote what the regulators want? I listened to the whistle-blower's testimony and I didn't hear any reasonable solutions (in my opinion at least; I am a software developer myself). Also, it seems there might be some regulations imposed.…

Glenn Greenwald wrote an article arguing that yes, it is a power grab. https://greenwald.substack.com/p/democrats-and-media-do-not-...

You don't even need to read the article, just listen to the 10 second clip of Sen. Ed Markey. It's not a covert thing

Re: Facebook is nearing a reputational point of no return

#97

Post by rscoots »

hunterb123 wrote: post #62
throwaway20875 wrote: post #47

This whole circus is about as contrived as it gets, complete with the "think of the children" gimmick. The timing, the theatrics, the manufactured celebrity of a middle manager at Facebook who is doing the "right" kind of whistleblowing that the establishment likes. Facebook's predatory business model isn't unique or new. This is about raw power to censor.

I mean, it's a stupid plan. A whistleblower to advocate for censorship? Do they think the people are that stupid? I guess like most things they don't need the majority of public on board, just a bit of plausible deniability. If anyone was really concerned about the algorithms, they'd make transparency requirements, not censorship requirements. If anyone was really concerned about the results of teenagers in the study…

Actually this messaging has achieved significant impact in the past 3 years. They might not have the majority of the public on board, but they do have the majority of Dems:

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/08/18/more-americ...

Unfortunately for them it seems to be having the opposite affect on Republicans, but not to the same degree.

Re: Facebook is nearing a reputational point of no return

#99

Post by chinathrow »

shoto_io wrote: post #3

No. That’s what people like us and all the main stream media hope for. But: most people I know don’t have the slightest clue that Insta and WhatsApp belong to the FB group. And even worse: most of them don’t give a shit about the reputation of FB. They just want to send messages and share pictures through those apps.

> But: most people I know have the slightest clue that Insta and WhatsApp belong the FB group

Citation needed.

My loading screen in WhatsApp clearly states "From FACEBOOK".

Re: Facebook is nearing a reputational point of no return

#100

Post by fairity »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #26

The biggest component missing from Silicon Valley's discussion of Facebook is its pathological lying. They lied to the FTC [1]. They lied to WhatsApp and the EU [2]. They created an Oversight Board and then lied to it [3]. (These just off the top of my head.) The culture is perceived to be dishonest from the top down. That is why they get bludgeoned more than Twitter, or even Tik Tok. That is what its surrogates miss…

> The culture is perceived to be dishonest from the top down. That is why they get bludgeoned more than Twitter, or even Tik Tok.

Are you sure? My guess is 95%+ of Facebook critics don't know about any of the three instances you linked. In which case, it's unlikely to explain why Facebook is being targeted.

Perhaps a better explanation is that Facebook is an order of magnitude larger than Twitter.

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