In 2008, Facebook was hailed as tool for democracy. Then Americans democratically chose someone that the creators of Facebook didn't like. Now it's a 'doomesday' tool apparently.
>Zuckerberg clearly can control it. There are dials on the algorithms that control what users see in their feeds. What can’t be controlled is what happens as Facebook pursues engagement.
I disagree with this and agree more with the original article. Zuckerberg, or no other individual, even with the magic of 'algorithms', has the ability to centrally plan the information flow for billions of people in a way that does not produce misinformation.
Even if Zuckerberg has the best intentions in the world, there is no one discourse that will ever work for a billion plus people, Facebook is totalitarian in nature and it is its size that creates structural problems.
Social interaction needs to be brought back to human scale, with publishers who are stakeholders in their community they operate in, and human moderation that is oriented towards social ends. Not one network for the entire world.
there's pretty straight forward measures that can be taken to dismantle Facebook's dominance. Enforce transparent APIs, everyone ought to be able to build client applications for Facebook. Doesn't diminish their backend, but it does at the very least bring competitors to the table that can create unique ways to consume Facebooks information, it'd be a good start for more diversity. Next one is to destroy the advertisement model. Create privacy standards so strong it breaks the way Facebook monetizes data.
Seem like two fairly common sense steps that, even if they should not work, if anything have benefits for developers and consumers at worst.
This is a good article and I feel it is a better articulation of the problems out there.
Here’s a thought experiment- what happens if social media (define it as you please) shuts down tomorrow. The computers and tech remain, but a govt fist stops “social media”.
Going through that, working on how coders would fill the void, what it would curtail- helps refine what the technological and social aspects really are today.
For example - what happens to WhatsApp ? What about Comment sections on forums?
More importantly/ what functions did SM serve, that people will still want ?
People will want some way to filter interesting content and know what other people are thinking / submit interesting content and say what they are thinking.
Finally people will need a method to filter it all.
I feel this brings you back to the Facebook problem, suggesting our issues are more fundamental.
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My suspicions is that the core issues involves the pace and breadth of information sharing
The faster and more broadcast information is, the easier to access on our phones - the less 1 on 1 it becomes.
Driven instead by distraction or mental hijack through emotional clickbait - customized for you - individual conversations which can lead to understanding are replaced by broadcast and the most competitively addictive content.
I don't think "social media" is a problem. Social media has been a thing for almost a hundred years starting with the telephone, then SMS, then online with IRC, video games, forums and early versions of social networks including Facebook.
Social media works well as long as its operator's interests are aligned with its users', which includes Facebook during its early days. Things start going bad when ads and "engagement" enters the picture; suddenly the operator's intent is no longer to facilitate communication but to milk out as much "engagement" out of their users as possible, even if it means turning them against each other.
The telephone, despite being a form of "social media" still works fine (robocalling isn't an issue in most EU countries). Forums still work fine. Hacker News still work fine. Why? Because in all these cases the incentives are either aligned (the phone company wants you to pay them) or at the very least not adversary (YCombinator doesn't directly make money off people on HN, but still maintains it to foster good startup-related discussions that could benefit them later if those reading are involved in YC-backed startups in one way or another).
The solution seems to simply put some regulation around online advertising, whether it's about privacy regarding targeting (like actually enforcing the GDPR) or liability for the ads (there are a lot of scam ads) as to make ad-supported social media unsustainable and force them to switch to an alternate business model where the incentives align with the users (people will have to pay for an account).
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[ 1.5 ms ] story [ 33.2 ms ] threadnot everyone. some saw the "fake news" and "alternative facts" spreading and knew what was coming
I disagree with this and agree more with the original article. Zuckerberg, or no other individual, even with the magic of 'algorithms', has the ability to centrally plan the information flow for billions of people in a way that does not produce misinformation.
Even if Zuckerberg has the best intentions in the world, there is no one discourse that will ever work for a billion plus people, Facebook is totalitarian in nature and it is its size that creates structural problems.
Social interaction needs to be brought back to human scale, with publishers who are stakeholders in their community they operate in, and human moderation that is oriented towards social ends. Not one network for the entire world.
Seem like two fairly common sense steps that, even if they should not work, if anything have benefits for developers and consumers at worst.
Here’s a thought experiment- what happens if social media (define it as you please) shuts down tomorrow. The computers and tech remain, but a govt fist stops “social media”.
Going through that, working on how coders would fill the void, what it would curtail- helps refine what the technological and social aspects really are today.
For example - what happens to WhatsApp ? What about Comment sections on forums?
More importantly/ what functions did SM serve, that people will still want ?
People will want some way to filter interesting content and know what other people are thinking / submit interesting content and say what they are thinking.
Finally people will need a method to filter it all.
I feel this brings you back to the Facebook problem, suggesting our issues are more fundamental.
—————-
My suspicions is that the core issues involves the pace and breadth of information sharing
The faster and more broadcast information is, the easier to access on our phones - the less 1 on 1 it becomes.
Driven instead by distraction or mental hijack through emotional clickbait - customized for you - individual conversations which can lead to understanding are replaced by broadcast and the most competitively addictive content.
Social media works well as long as its operator's interests are aligned with its users', which includes Facebook during its early days. Things start going bad when ads and "engagement" enters the picture; suddenly the operator's intent is no longer to facilitate communication but to milk out as much "engagement" out of their users as possible, even if it means turning them against each other.
The telephone, despite being a form of "social media" still works fine (robocalling isn't an issue in most EU countries). Forums still work fine. Hacker News still work fine. Why? Because in all these cases the incentives are either aligned (the phone company wants you to pay them) or at the very least not adversary (YCombinator doesn't directly make money off people on HN, but still maintains it to foster good startup-related discussions that could benefit them later if those reading are involved in YC-backed startups in one way or another).
The solution seems to simply put some regulation around online advertising, whether it's about privacy regarding targeting (like actually enforcing the GDPR) or liability for the ads (there are a lot of scam ads) as to make ad-supported social media unsustainable and force them to switch to an alternate business model where the incentives align with the users (people will have to pay for an account).