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Getting All Your News From Facebook Is Like Eating Only Potato Chips, Flipboard CEO Says (recode.net)
In a wide-ranging interview, Mike McCue, CEO of news curator app Flipboard, talked about how -- and from where -- people get their news nowadays and how it shapes their worldview. From a report: McCue said getting all your news from either friends or algorithms is "challenging and semi-dangerous" because today's social platforms, like Twitter and Facebook, favor content that people engage with, driving "extremist" content to the top. Hence, he argues, the "fake news" epidemic, which McCue believes had an effect on the 2016 election. "Sometimes I think of news feeds as the 'mystery meat' of your information diet," he said. "It's not like you finish reading your Facebook feed, after half an hour, and feel like, 'That was a great use of time!' It's like if you ate potato chips all day long."
"News curator app"?
No.
News aggregator. And the person doing the work is not a "news curator", he/she is what's known as an "editor" - the thing that people complain Slashdot does not have. Or maybe Slashdot has "story curators", and since they don't exist, stories don't get "curated" at Slashdot...
The "curator" business is the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
News aggregation (including Flipboard, nice slashvertisemnet) will always show what it thinks people want to see. And as much as people "want" to be challenged when asked, in reality, it's mentally exhausting and they don't. Therefore, all new aggregation will trend towards echo chamber status. The only defense against echo chambers is actively trying to break out, and that's a difficult task.
Your ad here. Ask me how!
I don't have FaceTwit. Are there any others?
It is possible to get news from multiple sources. BBC. Jerusalem Post. Al Jazeera. RT. And others.
But aren't they all biased? Yes, they are. Just like CNN, MSNBC or FoxNews.
Are we grown up enough to read through the bias if presented with multiple points of view?
That remains to be seen.
Maybe that is like eating more than just potato chips? But I still like chips, even though I don't have FaceTwit.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
And also read lots of comments from people who are genuinely stupid enough to be convinced by Trump. IAlthough it could also be lots of propaganda. Trump loves Russia and we all know they do enough of it.
You could say the same thing about any single news source. My father-in-law gets all his news from the paper version of the wall street journal and whatever nonsense the local evening news is spouting off that day plus a bit of Rush Limbaugh. Needless to say he has a rather narrow and unhealthy world view because he never hears any ideas that contradict what he already believes. Getting your news from a single source or even a narrow group of sources is almost certain to result is a very weird view of how the world should work.
But what if your belief is right and the others are wrong? What do you gain from listening to stupidity? I have no use for CNN for example. I actually liked CNN back in the 90's, they were still a tad bit biased but they at least had some journalistic integrity. Today? None, zero, ziltch.
I have 4 or 5 news sites bookmarked that I visit on a regular basis. I trust them. I don't always agree with them but I trust they are not intentionally lying to me. Why would I go outside of that?
Facebook and Twitter are echo chambers, no doubt about that. But did those echos really change anyone's vote? I doubt it.
They did but not the way people think. I know a large number of people who voted for Trump because the media were so dead set on making him the villain. The media coverage was so over the top that people finally saw through it and said "fuck you." It's only gotten worse since the election too with cooks in CA saying they want to secede from the union and fat chicks with blue hair wearing vagina costumes started marching in DC calling everyone nazi's.
The more Facebook and Twitter try to claim they are the voice of the people the more the real voices of the people have revolted.