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Mark Zuckerberg Is Working On a Way To Connect You To People You 'Should' Know (recode.net)

Posted by msmash on from the for-people,-by-Facebook dept.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Sunday shared some of what he has learned from his early trips around the country. Recode adds: The actual crux of the post comes later when Zuckerberg writes why he's taking on this new challenge. Basically: He's not running for office, he wants to find ways to strengthen Facebook's "community." Mark said, "I also think this is an area where Facebook can make a difference. Some of you have asked if this challenge means I'm running for public office. I'm not. I'm doing it to get a broader perspective to make sure we're best serving our community of almost 2 billion people at Facebook and doing the best work to promote equal opportunity at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. In many ways, relationships are the most important things in our lives -- whether we're trying to form healthy habits, stay out of trouble, or find better opportunities. And yet, research shows the average American has fewer than three close friends we can turn to for support." To make that difference Zuckerberg is talking about, he said that Facebook is helping people find people they already know but is also working on a way to connect you with people that you should know like mentors.

6 of 140 comments (clear)

  1. To build relationships and form healthy habits... by CrankyOldEngineer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    stay the hell away from social media. Just a thought.

    --
    COE
  2. Re:To build relationships and form healthy habits. by ausekilis · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I wish more people thought and felt this way. Text is one of the most impersonal ways to communicate with anyone. You lose all intonation, inflection, and other non-verbal cues.

    With Facebook remembering every damned thing about us and reminding us of stuff, we've gone from actively remembering someones birthday and calling/gifting them with something to a "happy birthday!" damn-near autogenerated message on FB. For being a "social" media platform, I can't imagine a more anti-social way to acknowledge someone.

  3. It ain't gonna work... by QuietLagoon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Facebook engineers are too enamored with the algorithm, and not the results of the algorithm. Case in point, nearly every time I go on to facebook, I have to tell it that I want the items on my newsfeed "most recent first" and not sorted by what facebook thinks I should see first. So if facebook engineers can't get something as simple as "chronological order" correct, what hope is there for them to get this new zuck-wet-dream correct?

  4. Facebook Friend Bubbles by PineHall · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It looks like to me he is wanting to reinforce those Facebook friend bubbles. For the most part my Facebook friends reinforce what I believe and what I think is right. I do not see the differing opinions. Actually I have a few outlier 'friends' that help give me a broader perspective, but for the most part my 'friends' reinforce what I believe.

    I do not think this is good for any country.. I think the thing to do is not to reinforce our bubbles but to break them down some with thoughtful alternative viewpoint posts (news articles). We need to see the other side and break down the caricatures . Conservatives need to hear what those Liberals are thinking, and the Liberals need to hear what the Conservatives are thinking. It may not be popular but I think it would be good for the country and world. This is what would really build community.

    1. Re:Facebook Friend Bubbles by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      ... Liberals need to hear what the Conservatives are thinking.

      OK, so let's say some gullible friend tells you how excited he is because some Nigerian prince wants to send him a million dollars. Unless you're equally gullible, you're going to have a pretty clear idea of what your friend is thinking and you're going to have a pretty clear idea of what the "Nigerian prince" is thinking. So why do you need to hear that?

      As a liberal, I suppose I could listen to some poor Trump voter tell me about how Trump is going to bring coal mining jobs back from China. But what's the point? It was always blatantly obvious that Trump was lying his ass off about the coal mining jobs and that now he's going to aggressively reduce a lot of the government services that the poor people depend on in order to cut his own taxes.

      Rich people are mean (to poor people). Poor people are stupid (for trusting the rich people). News at 11!

      This isn't about poor people needing to be "heard". This is about poor people needing to get their heads out of their asses.

  5. The Arrogance of Big IT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    And here I thought it was annoying when Microsoft Word keeps thinking it *knows* what word I'm trying to type or how I want things formatted.

    Automation that is intrusive and less than 99.9% correct is far more annoying and disruptive to my work than not having artificial intelligence constantly diving in my way thinking it is helping.