“On Thursday, Facebook announced a major change to News Feed, its central feature, to prioritize posts from friends and family over posts from publishers and brands,” Seth Fiegerman reports for CNN. “The goal, according to Zuckerberg and Facebook, is to boost the ‘well-being’ of the billions of people who use the social network by encouraging users to have more conversations and connections with peers, rather than being bombarded by brands.”
“In short, Facebook wants to show the world that it can still be a positive force in peoples’ lives — or at least show that it’s really, truly trying to be,” Fiegerman reports. “Since the 2016 U.S. election, Facebook has come under fire for stories about fake news, Russian propaganda, filter bubbles and social media addiction. Facebook has also been described as enabling ethnic cleansing in Myanmar and Facebook’s WhatsApp was cited as a cause of beatings in India after a fake news story went viral. Suddenly, the most existential threat Zuckerberg faces isn’t some rival service. It’s his own.”
“The media is increasingly fixated on the dark, unintended consequences of Facebook and other social networks. Regulators are scrutinizing the company more than ever before. Former Facebook executives have spoken out to express regret about what they built,” Fiegerman reports. “Earlier this month, Zuckerberg said his personal goal for 2018 is to focus on “fixing” Facebook’s many problems…”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The best way to boost the “well-being” of many Facebook users is to introduce them to the Delete My Account button.
Zuckerberg wants to encourage “users to have more conversations and connections with peers, rather than being bombarded by brands,” which means “please go back to wasting your time making ads about your perfect life that doesn’t exist in a vain attempt to fill the hole in your soul.”
We haven’t had personal FaceBook accounts for many years now. And happily so. — MacDailyNews, May 11, 2017
Beyond the privacy aspect, Facebook is Creepster Central. It’s a Narcissists’ Paradise. In general, yuck. — MacDailyNews, March 27, 2015
SEE ALSO:
Facebook developing ‘Portal’ gadget which will let it put microphones and cameras in people’s homes – January 11, 2018
Facebook is giving the US government more and more data – December 21, 2017
Former Facebook exec: Facebook is ‘destroying how society works’ – December 11, 2017
In bid to curtail ‘revenge porn,’ Facebook wants you to send your own nude images via Messenger – November 8, 2017
Apple CEO Tim Cook: Russian Facebook ads didn’t elect President Trump – November 2, 2017
Young people are leaving Facebook – August 22, 2017
If you haven’t already, it’s time to remove Facebook from your life – May 11, 2017
How to delete your online existence, while saving your data – March 1, 2017
Free ‘Data Selfie’ tool reveals how creepy Facebook tracks and studies your activity – February 17, 2017
Facebook begins tracking non-users around the internet – May 27, 2016
Former Facebook workers: We routinely suppressed conservative news – May 9, 2016
FCC won’t force Google and Facebook to stop tracking you – November 6, 2015
European Commission: Don’t use Facebook if you don’t want to be spied on – March 27, 2015
Edward Snowden’s privacy tips: ‘Get rid of Dropbox,” avoid Facebook and Google – October 13, 2014
Tim Berners-Lee: You should own your personal data, not Google, Facebook, Amazon, and advertisers – October 8, 2014
Facebook conducts massive psychology experiment on 700,000 unaware users, and you may have been a guinea pig – June 28, 2014
Why Apple really values your privacy – unlike Google, Facebook, or Amazon – June 25, 2014
U.S. NSA used Facebook to hack into computers – March 12, 2014
How to permanently delete your Facebook account – December 16, 2013
Study finds link between number of Facebook friends and ‘socially disruptive’ narcissism – April 10, 2012
I never have said this publically, but Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook cultivate all the worst things in people: their vanity and narcissism, their self-doubt and worry, their envy, their viciousness, their dull-eyed conformity. The dissemblers who say they use it just for high school reunions and family pictures are kidding themselves about the larger, smothering effect on free thought and expression that Facebook and social media in general represent.
Very well said. I used to be addicted to the news feed, refreshing many times throughout the day to “catch up”, thankfully I haven’t done that in years. I still use it to share stories for my blog page, messenger and events, but it’s 5-10 min a day max. I wish there was an alternative. I could just delete my account but that would massively hobble my ability to communicate and interact with people important to be. To be honest though, I could delete 90% of my “friends” and not even notice, I haven’t done a purge in a while and may just do it now.
Save Facebook? Humanity had prospered without Facebook and will prosper without Facebook. If Facebook vanished humanity would not be adversely affected.
Mark wants to shift FB away from companies and sponsored ads that pay the bills. Yeah right. Shareholders should love that. I wish apple (or somebody) would offer a secure paid service with no ads for people who want a social network without selling their privacy.
Yes, A basic facebook-like service offered by Apple or some company who agrees not to collect every single keystroke entered for maintaining a database on every human on earth.
And Facebook does collect every keystroke, even if they are deleted. Zuckerburger is creepy, for sure.
Google lets anyone create a Plus account, but when’s the last time you’ve even thought about that service? If Google can’t keep a social network going, an Apple-created social network would be DOA. Apple won’t even make iMessage available to non-Apple users.
Google has the same business model as FB- selling user data for $$, (a negative) and virtually no one uses google plus (another negative). It was doomed from the start. Apple has users who are willing to pay a little extra for quality and privacy. I’m certain my family would use it and I would feel a lot better about sharing info and pictures. I don’t share much on FB (and nothing important).
And that’s why it’ll fail. If you don’t share much on FB, and others are the same way, then no one logs into it regularly and the service dies. Yes, even if it’s a paid service, without critical mass the per-person cost of maintaining the service will be too high. Worse because it’ll be restricted to users of Apple devices (like iMessage, for security and privacy reasons).
I share photos and some thoughts and share articles but little private info on FB, because it’s a wide audience of friends and family (the majority of which do NOT use Apple gear). I haven’t bothered with Google Plus for almost 5 years now even though it’s free, because the audience isn’t there, and it certainly wouldn’t be with an Apple-only service, where I’d reach at most 30 friends and family. I may as well keep in touch by email. Certainly it’d be useless creating and sharing events through such an audience-limited service.
I never use Google for a search engine. Duck Duck Go.
But……….I have to have a Google id for Analytics, what else can I do.
I think they are the most evil company on the planet.
Yeah, like iCloud, iPhoto’s and Messages
No Facebook, no friends or family?
On the contrary I am able to keep up with old friends and distant family in a way before not possible on Facebook. I see little narcissism on display, mostly a desire to communicate in abbreviated fashion things going on in people’s lives.
I see far more “creeps” on this site and others than on Facebook where people’s true identities are seen and because of that usually reign in the troll like evil responses.
As you write this from an anonymous account STFU!
There are those who use anonymous names who remain civil befitting their actual character and those crude trolls who don’t like you. Thanks for making my point creep. But on Facebook actual real names are usually used and there’s nothing to hide behind “Nick.”
That is thanks for making Fesarius’s point.
Degenerate loser filth.
This post pf yours shows at least you are good at self-diagnosing. Hope you evolve into a real human being someday from a genuine nasty troll.
You’re probably one of those atheist creeps with a Darwin fish mocking Christ on his Prius
You aren’t doing a particularly good job of hiding your essential misanthropic and self-loathing tendencies.
There are indeed many “creeps” on this site and I must admit they are amongst the more interesting contributors. The same applies to the homeless panhandlers I must deal with in my trips through the city. They all live on the ragged edge and have little to lose by engaging with me. I have learnt a great deal from them, principally that there, but for the grace of God, go I. If I am ever forced by circumstance or the taxman into the streets, they know me and will welcome and shelter me. That’s as much as my own family did for me, and more than my elected representatives ever cared to do without a sizeable campaign donation.
If they are downplaying sponsored content, they must be harvesting TWICE the data they used to from their users. No thanks!
Do not know anybody with an IQ higher than a glass of warm water that uses Facebook for “news”.
As for social contact with friends and family, with Apple Message, email, FaceTime and all the rest, why rely on an ad network (which is what Facebook is) that data mines you for profit?
Easy. Install Tampermonkey and F.B. Purity to clean all that up. Works for me.
Can you imagine a world without Twitter and, in particular, one superuser’s comments? What would our prez do with himself if he didn’t have that outlet for his frustrations? Seriously. Difficult to imagine. His head might just explode if he was unable to vent.
Leftist projection as usual. Imagine the exploding prog heads when the God Emperor wins a second glorious term by an even larger margin and delivers his second inaugural from the Big Beautiful Wall? Beautiful.
That would be stupendous, unless it went to his head and he became Caligula. He’s already Brutus.
Never had a FB account, never will. Ditto Twitter.
Smiley and friends keep in touch just fine with text, email, snail mail and phone calls.
Never used Facebook, never will.
That’s very sensible. Not doing Facebook keeps us private from those who would wish to exploit us – all those corporations and government snoops and stalkers. I never signed up for Facebook in the first place because I spotted something in founder Mark Zuckerberg’s eyes that reminded me of one of my nephews who liked to go through my underwear drawer. Creeps have the same look about them.
the thing about zuckerberg and Facebook, is – continuing your allusion – that they not only go through your underwear drawer, the steal your panties and then sell them for a profit.
It’s sickening, but.. if that’s what’s happening, I demand a share of the profits.
Look deeper into Zuckerberg’s time spent in college. He was just as juvenile as any of these tech nerds. Alot of the problem is that these kids were way too young when they designed these things, and did not have mature foresight to see them through. Do you think Zuck wants his “legacy to his children” to be the guy that caused a vacuum in society under the disguise of “connecting people”? He didn’t realize what was going to happen. Facebook, to me, was always a party favor at best, worth basically nothing. Zuck’s own Narcissism won’t allow him to let Facebook just die like it should, and if you think he is not in it primarily for the power 1st (he has the money now), and the continued incoming revenue, you are kidding yourself. He doesn’t care one bit about making the world a better place, or people connecting. There’s no way.
“continued incoming revenue” Yes, that has a way of keeping Jeffy awake and alert.
meant to say Mark, not Jeffy. Just got of FB, my brain is tired.
Zuckerberg is a nerd, stoned on his spectacular revenge on the cool kids and the frats. I can dig it, except for the hijacking of his social media by clever, unmerciful agents of social change. He has been pwned and for that, the American people should hold his feet to the coals.
I don’t post very much to FB, but I belong to some camera and equipment groups that fit my work. So these groups are very useful to have in one place and very useful to have conversations with like minded folk.
All the rest of FB can take a jump. I’m really not that interested in someone’s holiday snaps.
▶ 2014-04-25 “Look Up”
5min social gap/disconnect comment by Brit Gary Turk
https://goo.gl/jqqU3d
▶2012-02 “Connected, but alone”
19:48min comment by Sherry Turkle’s TED Talk
https://goo.gl/Sc3TDM