But I I get the odd feeling using Facebook that the content is not even so data-optimized for engagement (because surely if that were the case I’d find my feed more interesting than it is) but rather that it is optimized for revenue in ways that are actually negative in terms of real engagement. Example - if I see an interesting article and stop 5min to read it, that’s real engagement for a significant amount of time, but I might see only a couple of ads in that time. Whereas If the content is really dull and I’m just scrolling mindlessly, I’m seeing a lot more ads, and the gap between how interesting the ads are and how interesting the non-ad content is is much smaller.
Does anyone else get this feeling? Ie that facebook is almost intentionally boring?
likely their metrics are way more involved than that because there are inherent trade offs there.
When you optimize for user engagement above all else, this is what happens.
I noticed last summer there was a sharp decline in vacation posts. Instead we shared on Whatsapp groups, so I guess monetizing it makes sense.
Had they stuck to their original vision, share baby photos, life events, etc., the user engagement would be much lower, but it would be a happier place.