The problem with Facebook, beyond just ads, is that its algorithm pushes so many posts from groups that I'm not in and don't want to see. I want an option to only see posts from people I'm friends with and groups that I'm in.
(I am "Meta Verified", but they still locked my account over my name even though I sent them my ID. They have been "reviewing" my ID for the past two months. If anyone can help, my email is in my HN profile. Thank you.)
Thanks for those links (really). However, having now used them, it turns out I still don't like Facebook. It's basically the same 3-4 users posting things I utterly do not care about. I guess the people I do care about are not on FB (or don't post there).
i only have a burner FB account that i can use to check some local businesses and follow a local lost-pets group.
i have no friends and have never posted or liked anything, so my feed is almost exclusively algorithmically-pushed content. and there are a couple of thoughts about it:
- even though i haven't explicitly told you anything about myself except
for looking at a couple local business, it's amazing how much it has been able to fine-tuning the feed to me. it has figured out my politics (not typical in my area), my favorite sports team (not local to my area), and my taste in standup comedy. all from watching me passively scroll.
- that being said, even though they've clearly learned some things about me, >90% of the feed is absolute clickbait shite. reposted reddit AITA threads meant to get rage-induced engagement, lots of cartoons/memes where the punchline is cropped out of the bottom of the image so you need to click to see it, lots of videos that implore you 'watch til the end!' so they can get over whatever view-time threshold is needed.
- for some reason, there are lots of people that are more than willing to actually engage with and comment on these threads. i know that i'm a bit of an outlier on the social media spectrum, but I cannot wrap my head around the logic that would lead to me seeing some engagement-farm meme roundup and then wanting to add in a comment like "LOL, so true! Very funny!". this isn't your friend where you want to tell them you liked their joke. why are you talking to the spam robot?!
These paid offerings should include not only an ad-free experience, but also getting rid of all the dark patterns and other manipulative crap Meta loves doing in their apps and services. You know, preferences that actually stick forever, notifications that only notify you of things that actually happened, feeds that only contain content from accounts you follow and don't force-feed you recommendations, all that.
Ironically, this is why I stopped using meta social offerings as much as I used to and why I turned off notifications for those apps. I’m sure many people can say the same.
in theory switch to a user-pays model should align the incentives of the company with user satisfaction rather than the ads-pay model where the incentives is aligned to maximize engagement.
I wonder how would the world would have been if these services were paid by their users only, so algorithms optimized for user satisfaction instead of engagement.
Ten years ago, I wrote something [1] arguing that it is impossible to escape ads by paying, as long as the product is content:
> Here’s why I believe you will not escape ads by paying for your content: people who can afford to pay for content are people with money, or people with buying power, in other words, the exact same people advertisers look to target. The more buying power you demonstrate, the more advertisers will target you. So the more you pay to keep ads away, the more advertisers will pay to put them back in. With the way the world currently works, selling ads, it seems, will always be more profitable than selling content.
Everything on these platforms feels like an ad. On Facebook, I hardly see posts from my friends anymore, just a relentless stream of ads and algorithm-driven 'recommendations' (which are just ads in disguise). Who in their right mind would pay for that?
Wouldn’t Free forever also still be true? If I understood correctly this is just taking the existing experience and removing ads? Lots to complain about with Meta but this is not one of the reasons.
It's quite annoying to use Instagram on a mobile with adblock, and it also has quite a lot of ads (one every two posts!), not to mention the "organic" ads. I wonder if those are counted as well.
I am not a Facenbook fan -- I deleted my account in 2016 and when I tried to come back recently and give Zuck a second chance, my account was summarily banned for being "inauthentic" (completely with a link to the policy, which 404'd).
I'd been prepared to have to upload a DL to prove I was me, but never got that chance.
Anyway, I think this is fine. A lot of rhetoric about social networks is swayed by teenagers and young adults with either zero ability to make online purchases or limited means.
But many of the harms around social media are things like being served beauty ads when you have body dysmorphia -- dastardly stuff preying on people's weaknesses to serve ads.
Remove that perverse incentive, and maybe Mark will make better decisions. Some of remember the early Facebook, with robust granular privacy controls.
Then the wall came and it all came tumbling down... that could change.
Readit News
If you're on the website (not app):
https://www.facebook.com/?filter=all&sk=h_chr
If you just want to see friends and not groups:
https://www.facebook.com/?filter=friends&sk=h_chr
(I am "Meta Verified", but they still locked my account over my name even though I sent them my ID. They have been "reviewing" my ID for the past two months. If anyone can help, my email is in my HN profile. Thank you.)
i have no friends and have never posted or liked anything, so my feed is almost exclusively algorithmically-pushed content. and there are a couple of thoughts about it:
- even though i haven't explicitly told you anything about myself except for looking at a couple local business, it's amazing how much it has been able to fine-tuning the feed to me. it has figured out my politics (not typical in my area), my favorite sports team (not local to my area), and my taste in standup comedy. all from watching me passively scroll.
- that being said, even though they've clearly learned some things about me, >90% of the feed is absolute clickbait shite. reposted reddit AITA threads meant to get rage-induced engagement, lots of cartoons/memes where the punchline is cropped out of the bottom of the image so you need to click to see it, lots of videos that implore you 'watch til the end!' so they can get over whatever view-time threshold is needed.
- for some reason, there are lots of people that are more than willing to actually engage with and comment on these threads. i know that i'm a bit of an outlier on the social media spectrum, but I cannot wrap my head around the logic that would lead to me seeing some engagement-farm meme roundup and then wanting to add in a comment like "LOL, so true! Very funny!". this isn't your friend where you want to tell them you liked their joke. why are you talking to the spam robot?!
You don’t want to see those, oh but you need to! /s
i'm not optimistic that'll happen.
> Here’s why I believe you will not escape ads by paying for your content: people who can afford to pay for content are people with money, or people with buying power, in other words, the exact same people advertisers look to target. The more buying power you demonstrate, the more advertisers will target you. So the more you pay to keep ads away, the more advertisers will pay to put them back in. With the way the world currently works, selling ads, it seems, will always be more profitable than selling content.
[1] https://hliyan.github.io/2015/07/19/Why-you-will-never-escap...
Edit: OK the wording was "Sign up. It's free (and always will be)" so I guess that remains true.
https://revanced.app/patches?pkg=com.instagram.android&s=ins...
Deleted Comment
I'd been prepared to have to upload a DL to prove I was me, but never got that chance.
Anyway, I think this is fine. A lot of rhetoric about social networks is swayed by teenagers and young adults with either zero ability to make online purchases or limited means.
But many of the harms around social media are things like being served beauty ads when you have body dysmorphia -- dastardly stuff preying on people's weaknesses to serve ads.
Remove that perverse incentive, and maybe Mark will make better decisions. Some of remember the early Facebook, with robust granular privacy controls.
Then the wall came and it all came tumbling down... that could change.