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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."
Potatoes have nutritional value.
Requiem for the American Dream
i cannot find the like button on this story.
"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.
Hmm. I get all my news from news.google.com. I wonder if that's just as bad?
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.
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.
I don't have FaceTwit. Are there any others?
Plenty. I've never had a FaceBook account (or Twitter) and have no plans to change that. I don't trust the company and it quite plainly has limited utility for me personally. Not judging if you get a lot out of it but it's just not for me. My wife feels the same way. Probably about 2/3 of my family uses FaceBook at least occasionally and about 1/3 of us can't be bothered.
Facebook and Twitter are echo chambers, no doubt about that. But did those echos really change anyone's vote? I doubt it. People who liked or disliked one candidate read stories that reinforced their opinion.
Clinton lost because she was anointed by the DNC rather than being selected by the voters. There was no enthusiasm for her, not in the primaries, not in the general election. I haven't heard of anyone who started out intending to vote for Hillary, then changed their mind after reading Facebook.
Is that another brand of Potato chip?
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
More at 11.
Cheetos!
And 'Flipboard'? Who the hell are they?
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
No, I think it's more like bread myself.
"Getting Anything From Facebook Is Like a Raging, Dripping, Burning STD, Flipboard CEO Says"
TFTFY
"I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
All news aggregators/repackagers have this problem, Flipboard is no different. Their only value to me (was a long term user, dropped them about a year ago) was in repackaging the news into a format more easily consumed on the tablet/phone. Once they started shelling out to the browser for something like half of all articles in the service they became useless and irrelevant. This statement is an example of a dying company trying to prove their relevance.
No. I use RSS feeds into live bookmarks straight to my browser's bookmark toolbar. I have done this for years, it's a wonderful technology you can use with virtually all news sites, and you can then easily pick and choose the articles you want from updated drop down folders on your toolbar.
For Mozilla or (better yet) PaleMoon browsers you just click on the link above, then on the resultant page click Subscribe Now into Live Bookmarks. I suspect Chrome is similar. This will buy you automatically updated headlines from multiple respected news outlets with different viewpoints in dropdown menus. Why anyone would use Facebook for news is beyond me. If you ask me, anyone who does go to Facebook for news deserves what they get. Facebook is a sewer of trolls initiating social malware for the kick it gives them to see their garbage repeated. Go to news sources for news. Go to facebook to try and make yourself feel better about how well liked you are.
Says manufacturer of chocolate bars.
Not that I disagree with his assessment, but Flipboard has a vested interest in consolidating news from multiple sources which means it is in his own best interests to preach this line of thinking. If only as a reminder to think critically we need to remember where his own personal bias comes from.
BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
Have gnu, will travel.
Who the hell is getting any of their news from Facebook? It doesn't even offer news as a service.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
The DNC worked with CNN to get Clinton the debate questions before the debates.
The DNC strong armed lower ticket races to give all their money to Clinton during the primary. (Borderline FEC fraud, but just within the letter of the law as passed by the DNC congress a few years earlier. But outright fraud if you attempt to look at it in any "fair and reasonable" way.)
The DNC worked with various news outlets to time bad stories for Sanders that would hurt him in primaries.
Did you not pay attention at ALL?
Perhaps you are in a very bad echo chamber and don't even realize it.
The American news system model today is more schoolyard playground gossip than journalism. Perfect for breeding fake news and injecting it into the main news stream through social media, like twitter. Even Fox News has been fooled into broadcasting fake news. Of course, for them it's hard to tell anyway what is truth or lies any idiot should be able to see. O'Really? and InsHannity do such a fine job blending truth and lies that anybody that watches that shit deserves all the fucking their government dishes at 'em.
A well engineered corporate news system, coupled with corporate television, makes for a perfect combination to manipulate and control a society, like sheep. America is nothing but a big corporate run farm. The farmers are Monsanto and the Grocery Producers of America. Exxon and Dow are ranch hands. Whatever clusterfuck that runs the medical/insurance industry tend the flocks of cows, pigs, goats, and sheep, and keeps them well GMO'd, inoculated, and set to self destruct around retirement age leaving all that free money in the SSA and banking pension systems. Not to mention no old fat pigs laying around drawing medical benefits that the investors deserve more. The best part is all the farm animals get to pay for all bullshit and abuses done to them by their corporate shepards. .
Invision now a GREAT BIG YYUUUUGGGGGEEEEE wall built on the south border keeping the most prized fat southern cows, pigs, goats and sheep from escaping the pen. .. through their taxes of course. They won't notice it.
The Cows, pigs, goats, and sheep will pay for that wall as well,
"Suppose you were an idiot...and suppose you were a member of Congress...but I repeat myself." Mark Twain
I'm conservative...have been all my life, but, I do not watch Fox News Channel...99% of it is just opinion driven, as is MSNBC, CNN et al. I get my news from various places & websites, INCLUDING some extremely liberal sites. I find some of the best sources for news for where I live, the USA, come from OUTSIDE my country. Some of the Asian, European & Russian sites, along with Australia & Japan, can offer a different opinion/spin/story than inside the USA. I like to form my own opinion, based on my belief system, but I will listen to a different opinion, just to see if there might be something of interest. The problem is, on BOTH sides of the political isle, the "rabid" types want to shut you down, if you differ from them, regardless if it is a left or right issue.
His entire quote is more accurate, but I'd say it's not like eating only potato chips... it's letting people choose what you eat, whether it's poisonous shit or a nice steak. A tip though, nowadays it's looking more and more like only shit.
On the other hand, Flipboard is not all that different if you are looking at their curation alone. I'd say it's extremely stupid to follow news on Facebook, but if people are doing it anyways, the important part is not where you get your news from, but whether you check for credibility and look for different sources at least on the stuff you care about. Always consider the possibility of an inaccurate and biased cover, because no matter where you get the news, more often than not it has some sort of agenda there.
And no, news channels and whatnot are not all that much more trustworthy. It's not uncommon to even traditional news with centuries of history to put crap on the frontpage because their news sources were all the same: agencies. And there have been tons of cases when several traditional news rushed to publish something without verifying things properly.
All in all, impartiality is a myth, it's impossible to cover a subject without an angle or perspective. So yeah, you always need multiple sources and a good filter. Make a habit to verify sources and flag news portals and blogs that spread fake news, and stop giving them an audience. There isn't any other solution to this, so the faster people learn, the better things will be for everyone.
is ALSO like eating potato chips. Heck, getting all your news from your own country's news outlets, even when that news is about your own country, severely limits your 'nutritional balance' among viewpoints and facts presented. Even if paying attention to news sources in other countries only increases the number of echo chambers you tap into, it still adds diversity that would otherwise be missing.
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
You're the problem..
But what if your belief is right and the others are wrong?
That's as often a matter of opinion as it is of fact. And just because you are factually correct doesn't mean others cannot run roughshod over you anyway. Religions are inherently based in beliefs with no basis in reality and yet they often dominate government policy.
What do you gain from listening to stupidity?
You learn what others are thinking so it doesn't catch you by surprise. Bad things happen when you underestimate how effective stupidity can be when employed strategically. Dumb people in a large group are dangerous even when they are wrong.
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?
Because the real world is a lot more complicated than any 5 news sites could possibly pretend to cover. Nobody is asking you to trust everything you hear. But if you just live in an echo chamber then you are going to get it wrong a lot.
thats kindof a weird one.. ive never heard of it but now im intrigued and want to try it atleast once lol
Let's compare the TV - it's a medium to get different channels, where some channels feature one news station that can be pretty biased.
FB is a medium where you subscribe to whichever news outlet you prefer. It's like adding an RSS feed for each news site you like.
They're pretty similar, they are both full of shit, and they both feature biased content every now and then and allow you to choose what to watch. They both also have paid advertisers showing you what they want to show you. So if anything, both of them are more like eating at a buffet. Sure, you can just grab the delicious chicken tenders and nothing else, or you can make smart choices on what shows up in your feed.
It costs money to report the news so subscribe to some national paper so that they can put out and check their news.
Some beliefs are correct, some beliefs are false, and some cannot be proven in either direction. But there are no facts which are a matter of opinion, and a belief is false if it doesn't match the facts. That, of course, doesn't stop people from believing in it.
That's exactly my point. It doesn't always matter if you are factually correct. Ignorance and stupidity can be weaponized rather easily. Our recent election is a great example of that from any number of angles (pick your favorite) but it's clear that many people mistakenly think facts are actually opinions. You still need to understand what others think even if it makes no sense at all. Stupid, ill-informed people still get to vote and if you don't want them to rule your life you had better be paying attention to what they are doing.