I’m curious if you occasionally unblock your Facebook newsfeed to check if things have gotten better or worse. I haven’t been using Facebook much until recently, but I’ve noticed a couple of very user-unfriendly “features” that seem to indicate that FB just doesn’t care much about its public image. One is suggested posts (e.g., “Popular Across Facebook”) that are hard to distinguish from posts from friends, and difficult to ad-block (due to looking just like regular posts in HTML). Another is fake instant message notifications on the mobile app whenever I “friend” someone new, that try to entice me into installing its instant messaging app (only to find out that the “notification” merely says I can now instant message that person). If I don’t install the IM app, I get more and more of these fake notifications (2 from one recent “friend” and 4 from another).
Has it always been this bad or even worse in the past? Does it seem to you that FB is becoming more user-aligned, or less?
ETA: I just saw this post near the top of Hacker News, pointing out a bunch of other FB features designed to increase user engagement at the expense of their actual interests. The author seems to think the problem has gotten a lot worse over time.
I think that Facebook’s behavior has probably gotten worse over time as part of general move towards cashing in / monetizing.
I don’t think I’ve looked at my feed in a few years.
On the original point: I think at equilibrium services like Facebook maximize total welfare, then take their cut in a socially efficient way (e.g. as payment). I think the only question is how long it takes to get there.
I think at equilibrium services like Facebook maximize total welfare, then take their cut in a socially efficient way (e.g. as payment). I think the only question is how long it takes to get there.
I wonder if you have changed your mind about this at all. Unless I’m misunderstanding you somehow, this seems like an important disagreement to resolve.
On the original point: I think at equilibrium services like Facebook maximize total welfare, then take their cut in a socially efficient way (e.g. as payment). I think the only question is how long it takes to get there.
Why? There are plenty of theoretical models in economics where at equilibrium total welfare does not get maximized. See this post and the standard monopoly model for some examples. The general impression I get from studying economics is that the conditions under which total welfare does get maximized tend to be quite specific and not easy to obtain in practice. Do you agree? In other words, do you generally expect markets to have socially efficient equilibria and expect Facebook to be an instance of that absent a reason to think otherwise, or do you think there’s something special about Facebook’s situation?
I’m curious if you occasionally unblock your Facebook newsfeed to check if things have gotten better or worse. I haven’t been using Facebook much until recently, but I’ve noticed a couple of very user-unfriendly “features” that seem to indicate that FB just doesn’t care much about its public image. One is suggested posts (e.g., “Popular Across Facebook”) that are hard to distinguish from posts from friends, and difficult to ad-block (due to looking just like regular posts in HTML). Another is fake instant message notifications on the mobile app whenever I “friend” someone new, that try to entice me into installing its instant messaging app (only to find out that the “notification” merely says I can now instant message that person). If I don’t install the IM app, I get more and more of these fake notifications (2 from one recent “friend” and 4 from another).
Has it always been this bad or even worse in the past? Does it seem to you that FB is becoming more user-aligned, or less?
ETA: I just saw this post near the top of Hacker News, pointing out a bunch of other FB features designed to increase user engagement at the expense of their actual interests. The author seems to think the problem has gotten a lot worse over time.
I think that Facebook’s behavior has probably gotten worse over time as part of general move towards cashing in / monetizing.
I don’t think I’ve looked at my feed in a few years.
On the original point: I think at equilibrium services like Facebook maximize total welfare, then take their cut in a socially efficient way (e.g. as payment). I think the only question is how long it takes to get there.
I wonder if you have changed your mind about this at all. Unless I’m misunderstanding you somehow, this seems like an important disagreement to resolve.
Why? There are plenty of theoretical models in economics where at equilibrium total welfare does not get maximized. See this post and the standard monopoly model for some examples. The general impression I get from studying economics is that the conditions under which total welfare does get maximized tend to be quite specific and not easy to obtain in practice. Do you agree? In other words, do you generally expect markets to have socially efficient equilibria and expect Facebook to be an instance of that absent a reason to think otherwise, or do you think there’s something special about Facebook’s situation?