Probably the best Facebook article from this week. This quote got me thinking:
When you log onto Facebook, the posts you’re immediately shown at the top of the News Feed are not every post from your friends in reverse chronological order. Of course Facebook has the technical ability to do this, and it would in many ways be simpler. But their worry is that users will be inundated with relatively uninteresting (but recent) posts, will not scroll down far enough to find the few among them that are engaging, and will eventually quit the service.
Most of us know that and IMO they are totally wrong. If Twitter can be so addictive it’s because it feeds you in finding gems in an unfiltered stream of people you follow. By altering feeds, Facebook pushes me to do nothing: I just look at items and like most of it but I could like anything, that’s the thing.
We’re humans, all different, all weird. Your algorithm is going to show me things that I will like which makes it the Mc Donald’s of social media where I know exactly what is going to show up in my feed. But every time I log onto FB, I wonder about people I don’t see anything from anymore, every time. I’m sure I’m not the only one.
Yeah they push me to search and go on their pages but technically, I shouldn’t have to do that. What should happen if that I see someone’s post just because I happen to look at my unfiltered feed and I engage in deeper ways than a like, because I found that interesting thing, not Facebook. Basic psychology. I’d use the shit out of Facebook instead of reluctantly go on it.
God damn greed, over a billion people connected sold to ads, what a shame.
TL;DR: Facebook wants me to be that human in Wall-E and I don’t want to because I find more satisfaction and deeper meaning by creating connections myself (and I believe it’s something shared by a lot of people).