Sheryl Sandberg’s New Job Is to Fix Facebook’s Reputation and Her Own
wsj.com
wsj.com
If cigarettes weren't addictive they'd still be REALLY bad for you.
The problem with Facebook (or current Social Media) is that it IS addictive, and therefore bad, if it wasn't addictive it wouldn't necessarily be bad for you.
Images do cause mental health issues.
You’re completely right that there are images which can cause harm
This is categorically false.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/may/19/popular-soci...
The Facebook == cigarettes claim is disingenuous.
People can smoke for decades without any major consequence.
What is the long term effect of Facebook on individuals and society?
It's like lead poisoning. There's no safe level. If you're on Facebook you're on Facebook, and that alone is a problem for a variety of reasons, privacy being just one.
Plenty of people (millions, maybe billions) use Facebook without being damaged by it.
Millions of people smoke and while they don't drop dead immediately, they are damaged by it. Sometimes damage takes a long time to accumulate.
Cigarettes are legal pretty much everywhere and easily found at any corner store.
Network effect.
It calms the nerves. (I'm not a smoker.)
"Enhancing performance: Nicotine is frequently used for its performance-enhancing effects on cognition, alertness, and focus.[38] A meta-analysis of 41 double-blind, placebo-controlled studies concluded that nicotine or smoking had significant positive effects on aspects of fine motor abilities, alerting and orienting attention, and episodic and working memory.[39] A 2015 review noted that stimulation of the α4β2 nicotinic receptor is responsible for certain improvements in attentional performance;[40] ..."
Not that this is how most people use it (esp. because those who do smoke are likely not allowed to do so inside an office building, meaning they couldn't be e.g. programming at their multi-monitor desk while doing it; seems the half-life of nicotine in the body is 1-2 hours, so perhaps it could be net-beneficial to go outside briefly); nor that it couldn't be done via skin patches or other delivery mechanisms.
I used to vape around the equivalent of a pack a day. It helped me with my adhd.
I ended up stopping when I learned that getting up and going to vape in the bathroom constantly was becoming an even greater distraction than my own mind.
When I ask young people why they smoke, the most popular answer is: "I wouldn't have met so many people, if I didn't". When I ask them why they are still on Facebook, I get the same answer.
For me, I often received extremely valuable input from folks in other departments for the projects I was working on -- typically people in production had the most innovative ideas compared to that department's leadership.
Smoking cigarettes on the other hand is... less than optimal.
[1] https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/brain-p... [2] http://schizophrenia.com/nicotine.benefits.htm
If you smoke for years, there is no doubt it'll cause physical dependence, it's documented with dozens of peer reviewed research. But until that dependence is developed, smoking is nothing but a social activity (and tiny bit of physical pleasure). I gained more friends this way than any other thing I ever tried socializing (and I'm pretty ok socially)
DISCLAIMER: This comment does not encourage smoking, smoking is a nasty, disgusting and infinitely dangerous activity. You smell like street dog all the time and you cough like you have lung cancer. There are better ways of finding sexual mates or friends.
- In countries where fraud is rampant and people try to sell basic goods on messaging platforms, marketplace allows small business owners and tradesmen to barter goods. This is leagues safer and more efficient than their old methods.
Facebook provides a place where people can plan events and create “websites” for their shops and activities for free via pages. Facebook connects people to their pages and gives people a place to hold forums with public officials without anonymity.
- Facebook pioneered removing anonymity from a social media platform. On Facebook I can have more accountability and I am more likely to be myself. I can keep in touch with the real people who have passed through my life. I met my wife on Facebook this way.
- Facebook allows me to stay connected to people I rarely see. I’m still friends with many people from highschool I haven’t seen in over a decade. No other platform provided that type of value. Even if we rarely interact, they can always reach me on messenger even if they don’t have my phone number.
- Facebook gives me the ability to hear from people I don’t agree with. Instagram and twitter are just echo chambers based on what I like or are just pictures of sunsets. On Facebook I have found that my friends and family often post opinions that I don’t agree with during world events. This has led to discourse that has allowed me to broaden my perspective.
- Facebook’s ADs platform allows small business to compete against much larger entities on a small advertising budget through targeted ads. I have joined several hobbyist communities by having ads targeted at me that were relevant to my interests.
Are you aware that you sound a bit like a paid ad, or a lobbyist going through a list of talking points in the preferred corporate frames of reference?
Not at all. There are so many fake accounts on Facebook that it's now impossible to tell who is real and who isn't. True, they removed anonymity, but they replaced it with fraud.
> Facebook allows me to stay connected to people I rarely see.
If you rarely see them or interact, how much true value are you gaining other than an abstract sense of nostalgia.
> Facebook gives me the ability to hear from people I don’t agree with
Hearing people that disagree with you isn't enough. You need quality to build a rich library of ideas. Facebook does no vetting, giving everyone a microphone regardless of how thought-out or truthful the message is.
> Facebook’s ADs
Good advertising on a platform may make the platform less bad, but it doesn't make it good. Who goes to Facebook to enjoy nice targeted ads?
Overall, the biggest issue is the first one. It's now impossible to tell what's real and what isn't on Facebook. The site is rife with bots and hacked accounts, you don't really know if you're talking to a person or someone with a hidden agenda.
> Not at all. There are so many fake accounts on Facebook that it's now impossible to tell who is real and who isn't. True, they removed anonymity, but they replaced it with fraud.
While true, it's also true that for most people, most of their facebook friends are real people using their real name. That's decidedly different from how people use Twitter, Reddit and the like.
>If you rarely see them or interact, how much true value are you gaining other than an abstract sense of nostalgia.
In short - a lot. Add to that the fact that people travel - and I do pretty often - and Facebook is currently the best tool to meet people you know in faraway places.
I live in California, and last time I traveled to Germany, I got to meet two of my friends who live NY there who just happened to be there for an occasion (work/conference travel). I wouldn't have thought to notify them personally in advance, and neither would they. Posting "Hey, I'm at (location)" on FB is by far the easiest way to go about it.
This is so weird to me. Twitter in most cases is what you make of it, if you want to hear from people you don't agree with, then you just have follow people you don't agree with and read what they say. It doesn't take long to curate a list of people who are not trolls.
You can take a look at the entire ecosystem of React code out across so many repos and documentation sites, and then stand that next to Facebook proper, and then note the difference in tone, quality and psychological warfare.
With that in mind, consider what kind of strategy and tactics Facebook's internal operations must be operating.
When asked what he would do if he were currently faced with the problems confronting Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Cook said: "I wouldn't be in this situation."
Is seems to be doing pretty well right now.
> Their market cap begs to differ I suppose
It seems to do OK in the short to medium term.
> Facebook on Thursday posted the largest one-day loss in
> market value by any company in U.S. stock market history
> after releasing a disastrous quarterly report.Deleted FB and all content a year ago. Honestly, as I was on my way out, I was beginning to enjoy the "groups" I had discovered. Wish there were a lurker mode....
Large share of the people who are still active on facebook seem to be types of people who have very few friends and like to shout their ideas into the abyss. Or alternatively very connected people who promote slogans to mindless crowd of agreeing zombies.
It's mostly result of "your aunt sees what you just said" which means that you rarely see anybody genuinely argue anything. Because the feeling of your aunt briging up your facebook discussion from two years back at summer cottage is not worth it. Facebook is shitty at managing interpersonal connections, kinda weird at this point. Then the lack of dislike button keeps noise levels high from people with no aunts. Even the few actual discussions typically develop into pointless drama.
Reddit has very bad problems with eternal September, but its not nearly brainless if you dig deep enough into subreddits.
CS: Whoah Mark, you know people want me to run for president. I can’t scorch my reputation fixing your dumb internet site. Plus enough of my shares have vested for me to leave with my pockets full of loot. It’s not like I ever have to work again.
MZ: [redacted]
CS: OK, I’ll do it.
What did Mark promise her? Would love to know what deal she cut.