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This is a puff piece designed to puff up Telegram. If you look at, say, Instagram it is growing rapidly. Specifically to Facebook, the issue is 3 pronged: - Di

This is a puff piece designed to puff up Telegram. If you look at, say, Instagram it is growing rapidly. Specifically to Facebook, the issue is 3 pronged: - Disassociated Graph. The truth is the friends you had in high school and your family are all great but it is highly likely you don't share a lot of things in common with them. For example, your love for kayaking and the outdoors might resonate with no one on your graph. Instagram, and other networks like it, you build graphs based on interest. If your Instagram account is about the outdoors, it is highly likely everyone else will be outdoors people as well. That's more rewarding. - Bad Content. Graph aside, the content is terrible. The feed is full with click-bait articles, and fake news. You actually feed bad after spending any time on Facebook because you know it is was a waste. - Ads. A good chunk of your feed now is full of ads. Terrible ads. Instagram, for example, is a relatively clean interface. I would say Facebook is clearly on the decline based on the above but to say all networks are on the decline is false. Instagram has proven otherwise and there will be other networks, in the same Instagram vein, that will grow quickly as well. Lastly, all of these networks and messengers have one glaring flaw. They isolate you. President Obama touched upon this a week ago. They do little to connect you with your surroundings and I would hardly call any of them "social networks." They don't connect you to your neighborhood, your city, and the places you frequent the most. It is pretty shocking, but most Americans now only, on average, have about 2.5 friends they see regularly in real-life and most people don't even know who their neighbors are. It's sad.

nitemice 9y ago
As far as I understand it, the first two of these problems, you could theoretically fix (to some extent) yourself. If you share nothing in common with your high school friends, your family etc., just don't be 'friends' with them. Only friend/like pages related to your interest. In theory, that would fix problem 2 as well, to some extent, because the majority of the junk that fills your feed comes from your twice-removed aunt who 'likes' every video she sees and reposting every click-bait article she can find. Unfortunately, if that all worked as planned, that would probably cause your feed to be flood with way more ads, to make up for the lack of content. But at least they might be more targeted?
- electic 9y ago
  > As far as I understand it, the first two of these problems, you could theoretically fix (to some extent) yourself. How will the average person fix that? I assume you are talking about an ad blocker? Then it only get's rid of the side ads. It does not get rid of the junk in the main feed. Even training the system won't get you the result you desire. > If you share nothing in common with your high school friends, your family etc., just don't be 'friends' with them. Only friend/like pages related to your interest. That is not what Facebook is about. You only add people you've met at some point in real-life. You can't do what you are suggesting because Facebook works on real identities. People are afraid to friend people they don't know because it is almost like a 2nd identity card in a way. You are right about Facebook Pages but I think the early 2010-2012 brand push by Facebook really ruined that product. Secondly, a Facebook Page is more of an entity. It is not tied to you. I can make a profile on Instagram called "outdoors_guy" and it is my handle and all the people are following me and my life. A Facebook page doesn't capture that.
  - lmm 9y ago
    > How will the average person fix that? I assume you are talking about an ad blocker? Then it only get's rid of the side ads. It does not get rid of the junk in the main feed. Even training the system won't get you the result you desire. When you see junk in your feed, unfollow, unfriend, or hide ad. The button's right there.
nathancahill 9y ago
Hmm, I agree that your point about social networks distancing you from your community is true in the United States. In Mexico, on the other hand, a huge amount of community information is passed through FB and WhatsApp groups. No matter what activity you are involved in, from mountain biking to the city dog park, there's a very active WhatsApp group and a FB page. It feels like how social networks were meant to be.
madprops 9y ago
I think you're not using Facebook appropriately. There are many groups and pages that keep you engaged and entertained as well as informed to some extent. You join the ones that cater your interest. I actually spend a lot of time on facebook daily because I managed to get a good selection of interesting sources. I have heard the same old tired tale that facebook is dying etc and it feels so vibrant right now. I guess some people don't realize that facebook is more than following your friends. Also instagram is a very limited platform compared to facebook. It doesn't have a vast array of communication tools that facebook has. It's basically just sharing pictures to other people and some limited comment system.
- XJOKOLAT 9y ago
  >>I have heard the same old tired tale that facebook is dying etc For those who no longer use FB, it is dead. I feel good about that. I didn't even have to attend the funeral. YMMV
- wruza 9y ago
  You're basically describing the internet.
- konart 9y ago
  >I think you're not using Facebook appropriately Can't use this shit the right way. Can I sort the posts in my feed in chronological order by default yet? not to mention threaded comments.
  - madprops 9y ago
    "Users can select a “Most Recent” tab to show posts as they appear, but the setting stubbornly switches back to Facebook's algorithmically-driven feed after a certain amount of time." Also there is 1 level of threads in comments. A reply in a post can become a thread.
    - konart 9y ago
      >Also there is 1 level of threads in comments. A reply in a post can become a thread. I'm not sure if you are trying to prove my point or point out something different.
LoSboccacc 9y ago
> President Obama touched upon this a week ago. does anyone have a link? can't find any source. it's a lucky coincidence I'm doing a deck on this topic and a quote like that would be perfect.
stupidhn 9y ago
This is a puff piece designed to puff up Telegram. It mentions Telegram one time,as well as competitors. You think it was written as a promotion? People's fake news detectors have flow off the rails.
whazor 9y ago
Here in Netherlands, before Facebook, we had a social network called Hyves. One of the reasons it failed is because of the disassociated graph, like you mentioned. You start out with all of your friends from high school, but once you start to grow.. the distance between you and them growths. That is why people started moving to Facebook, because all their cool friends where there. I guess the only reason why Facebook is still surviving is because everyone is on there, you do not want to lose certain friends. They have conquered the market.
- Insanity 9y ago
  In Belgium we used netlog a lot. But I belief it was aimed more at teenagers though

nitemice 9y ago

As far as I understand it, the first two of these problems, you could theoretically fix (to some extent) yourself. If you share nothing in common with your high school friends, your family etc., just don't be 'friends' with them. Only friend/like pages related to your interest. In theory, that would fix problem 2 as well, to some extent, because the majority of the junk that fills your feed comes from your twice-removed aunt who 'likes' every video she sees and reposting every click-bait article she can find. Unfortunately, if that all worked as planned, that would probably cause your feed to be flood with way more ads, to make up for the lack of content. But at least they might be more targeted?

electic 9y ago
> As far as I understand it, the first two of these problems, you could theoretically fix (to some extent) yourself. How will the average person fix that? I assume you are talking about an ad blocker? Then it only get's rid of the side ads. It does not get rid of the junk in the main feed. Even training the system won't get you the result you desire. > If you share nothing in common with your high school friends, your family etc., just don't be 'friends' with them. Only friend/like pages related to your interest. That is not what Facebook is about. You only add people you've met at some point in real-life. You can't do what you are suggesting because Facebook works on real identities. People are afraid to friend people they don't know because it is almost like a 2nd identity card in a way. You are right about Facebook Pages but I think the early 2010-2012 brand push by Facebook really ruined that product. Secondly, a Facebook Page is more of an entity. It is not tied to you. I can make a profile on Instagram called "outdoors_guy" and it is my handle and all the people are following me and my life. A Facebook page doesn't capture that.
- lmm 9y ago
  > How will the average person fix that? I assume you are talking about an ad blocker? Then it only get's rid of the side ads. It does not get rid of the junk in the main feed. Even training the system won't get you the result you desire. When you see junk in your feed, unfollow, unfriend, or hide ad. The button's right there.

nathancahill 9y ago

Hmm, I agree that your point about social networks distancing you from your community is true in the United States. In Mexico, on the other hand, a huge amount of community information is passed through FB and WhatsApp groups. No matter what activity you are involved in, from mountain biking to the city dog park, there's a very active WhatsApp group and a FB page. It feels like how social networks were meant to be.

madprops 9y ago

I think you're not using Facebook appropriately. There are many groups and pages that keep you engaged and entertained as well as informed to some extent. You join the ones that cater your interest. I actually spend a lot of time on facebook daily because I managed to get a good selection of interesting sources. I have heard the same old tired tale that facebook is dying etc and it feels so vibrant right now. I guess some people don't realize that facebook is more than following your friends. Also instagram is a very limited platform compared to facebook. It doesn't have a vast array of communication tools that facebook has. It's basically just sharing pictures to other people and some limited comment system.

XJOKOLAT 9y ago
>>I have heard the same old tired tale that facebook is dying etc For those who no longer use FB, it is dead. I feel good about that. I didn't even have to attend the funeral. YMMV
wruza 9y ago
You're basically describing the internet.
konart 9y ago
>I think you're not using Facebook appropriately Can't use this shit the right way. Can I sort the posts in my feed in chronological order by default yet? not to mention threaded comments.
- madprops 9y ago
  "Users can select a “Most Recent” tab to show posts as they appear, but the setting stubbornly switches back to Facebook's algorithmically-driven feed after a certain amount of time." Also there is 1 level of threads in comments. A reply in a post can become a thread.
  - konart 9y ago
    >Also there is 1 level of threads in comments. A reply in a post can become a thread. I'm not sure if you are trying to prove my point or point out something different.

LoSboccacc 9y ago

> President Obama touched upon this a week ago. does anyone have a link? can't find any source. it's a lucky coincidence I'm doing a deck on this topic and a quote like that would be perfect.

stupidhn 9y ago

This is a puff piece designed to puff up Telegram. It mentions Telegram one time,as well as competitors. You think it was written as a promotion? People's fake news detectors have flow off the rails.

whazor 9y ago

Here in Netherlands, before Facebook, we had a social network called Hyves. One of the reasons it failed is because of the disassociated graph, like you mentioned. You start out with all of your friends from high school, but once you start to grow.. the distance between you and them growths. That is why people started moving to Facebook, because all their cool friends where there. I guess the only reason why Facebook is still surviving is because everyone is on there, you do not want to lose certain friends. They have conquered the market.

Insanity 9y ago
In Belgium we used netlog a lot. But I belief it was aimed more at teenagers though