Re:Facebook to staff: Avoid company-branded clothing for own...
by esja on Tuesday January 12, 2021 @09:42AM
(#25747479)
Google Search is trending in the same direction and could easily end in the same place, with search results skewed to support (or suppress) particular narratives and ideological beliefs. Look at the "ML Fairness" debates and ask yourself whether their workforce will at some point decide that they have a moral obligation not to present the raw content of the internet for a given topic, but rather to elevate the "correct" content.
Re:Facebook to staff: Avoid company-branded clothing for own...
by hertzrat on Tuesday January 12, 2021 @07:55PM
(#25756456)
Facebook was a lot more pleasant to use before the feed went nuts. It was nice to log in and wonder what somebody was up to, then click the link to their profile to see what they had posted. It was a long time ago though
Re:Facebook to staff: Avoid company-branded clothing for own...
by p1necone on Tuesday January 12, 2021 @07:18PM
(#25756091)
Google absolutely could show me whatever maximizes "engagement" instead of what I want to see too. I wouldn't use Facebook if there wasn't something I wanted to see there (and there almost isn't now, I just use it for some groups, and messenger - the feed is useless now, but it hasn't always been).
Re:Facebook to staff: Avoid company-branded clothing for own...
by hertzrat on Tuesday January 12, 2021 @07:56PM
(#25756474)
Interesting observation. Just imagine if google search was more engagement driven. It’s pretty great that it is only so to a small degree (in the sense of figuring out what links people are most likely to have been searching for, which is sort of a case of that positive feedback loop in engagement systems)
Re:Facebook to staff: Avoid company-branded clothing for own...
by XorNot on Tuesday January 12, 2021 @11:06PM
(#25757960)
Honestly I'm not sure they could: unlike The Feed which is something you look at when you're bored, search results don't benefit much from the normal click maximizers - i.e. "What you read next will SHOCK you!" isn't a useful result when I'm searching "difference between lawnmower blades".
We're basically there already as far SEO spam goes, and Google goes to some efforts to try and minimize that because it's a bad search experience and drives people away.
However you frame it, Google are showing you things you want to see - it's an affirmative feed back mechanism.
Facebook at best do that. Frequently they show you things you don't care about. Also things you don't want. It's an adversarial feedback mechanism.
In this light it's not surprising Facebook has earned a lot more ire a lot more quickly - though not undeservedly either.
On some level this still feels like you can squarely pin it on "optimizing for engagement". I highly doubt Facebook would be earning the anger it currently does if The Feed has remained a simple linear timeline. They were functionally getting into editorializing when they went with the new thing.