from Hacker News

Facebook cannot act in your best interest

by ckuhl on 3/22/18, 2:31 AM with 16 comments

  • by jrauser on 3/22/18, 4:19 AM

    The article says that to make more money, FB must "acquire more users and show more advertisements to existing users". There is a third option, which is to show higher efficiency (higher CTR) advertising to existing customers.

    This, of course, does not invalidate the main thrust of the article's argument, as the way to increase advertising efficiency is to accumulate and exploit ever more data about its users. Recent events suggest that this is not in users best interest, as FB has proven an untrustworthy custodian of user data.

  • by pib0ss on 3/22/18, 2:38 AM

    I don't think federated social networks (GNU social, diaspora ... etc) will solve this problem. In their case they are not in your best interest due to the time that will be wasted. I think "social" interaction should be left in real life where it can influence people in a positive fashion. IMO the Internet is really only good for disseminating information and for certain utilities it provides.

  • by arbie on 3/22/18, 5:11 AM

    It is particularly rich to see a "human-computer interaction" tag on a post where the body uses nearly-invisible thin grey font on a white background.

  • by adrr on 3/22/18, 4:18 AM

    It runs under the wrong assumption when it comes to digital advertising. Advertisers care about engagement. Its not about adding more ads or increasing view time, its about delivering ads that are more relevant to the user so advertisers pay more.

  • by hgdsraj on 3/22/18, 6:32 AM

    I usually see people comment on the font and scoff as it's generally not aweful, but that font color just looks terrible and unreadable on my screen. Is it a really light grey for everyone or just me?

  • by ryan-allen on 3/22/18, 5:08 AM

    I have 'tuned' my Facebook feed with the 'unfollow' option, by employing the following narcissistic rule: if it makes me angry, upset, or any other negative emotion, for any reason at all, that person or thing gets an unfollow from me.

    My feed is now composed of synthesizer groups, funny dogs and funny birds. I get a lot of positive things from my feed, and a lot of relevant advertising for things I'm interested in.

    It doesn't matter if it's your sister, your best friend, or your mum, just unfollow. They don't know about it (unless they ask if you 'saw their post'), and you can improve your experience.