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Getting All Your News From Facebook Is Like Eating Only Potato Chips, Flipboard CEO Says (recode.net)

Posted by msmash on from the analogies dept.

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."

2 of 139 comments (clear)

  1. Where is the like button? by HaaPoo · · Score: 5, Funny

    i cannot find the like button on this story.

  2. Am I the only one? by DickBreath · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.