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

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.

22 of 140 comments (clear)

  1. Sugar Daddies as a Service by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 2

    >> working on a way to connect you with people that you should know like mentors

    Couldn't help but think this would be, best case, trying to connect you with useless marketing "thought leaders", and worst case, connecting women with potential sugar daddies.

    1. Re:Sugar Daddies as a Service by cayenne8 · · Score: 2

      and worst case, connecting women with potential sugar daddies.

      Well, there are already PLENTY of sites to hook up women with Sugar Daddys.

      What got me from the article..was it said most people ONLY had 2-3 close personal friends?

      Seriously?

      I"m not on any social media and I have more that that that I trust with keys to my house.....

      I have many long term friends, across the US from the my days "living abroad" in the US so to speak before settling down in New Orleans area years ago.

      I wonder why people seem to have so few close friends? It is because of technology and social media? Is it due to people having their faces glued to a phone 24/7 rather than trying to meet and get to know real people in your vicinity in meatspace?

      Hell, I see younger folks, gathered at a table, maybe even at a bar...and they've got their faces in their phones texting, instead of having a drink and interacting with the people with them there right in front of their noses....

      I'm starting to think that all this social media is not only segregating people more, it is isolating them.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    2. Re:Sugar Daddies as a Service by Baron_Yam · · Score: 4, Interesting

      > it said most people ONLY had 2-3 close personal friends?

      Yep. There's a whole spectrum between those people who treat everyone like their 'bestie' and the hermit who trusts nobody.

      My standards for a 'close personal friend' are very high - I have lots of acquaintances but very few friends. Honestly, I have a lot of trouble understanding how people can say they have more than a handful of friends unless they're still in high school or have retired, because proper friendships take a lot of time and don't fit very well into a normal adult schedule. First there's work, then there's 'chores', then immediate family, then extended family, THEN friends. When? Every weekend or three?

      Once you're seeing them once or twice a year, they're acquaintances, not friends.

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

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

    --
    COE
  3. You should know all these advertisers! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    They know so much about you they consider you their friend. Don't take away their freedom of making you be there friend!

  4. 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.

  5. No thanks by epyT-R · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'll decide who I 'should' know.

  6. I know.... by 50000BTU_barbecue · · Score: 5, Funny

    I should know people willing to give me a million dollars US. Get working on that!

    --
    Mostly random stuff.
  7. Not easily reduced to algorithm by TWX · · Score: 2

    I don't think defining who should be friends is something easily boiled-down to an algorithm.

    Case in point, my local fandom scene has at least two major groups of people whose principal hobbies are in-common. These two groups have large numbers of members that despise people in the other group. Certainly there are crossovers who participate in both groups, but even with significant common-interest, similar outlook on life, and similar age and common peers these people absolutely are not each others' friends.

    I've seen similar situations in auto enthusiast groups, in social dance scenes, in clubbing scenes, in firearms enthusiast scenes, etc. It's tough to say what will make people get along and what will divide them, and in many cases the people themselves probably can't really say.

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    1. Re:Not easily reduced to algorithm by H3lldr0p · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Because it's not really about connecting people who should be friends. Don't let Zuck fool you.

      This is about advertisement. Back a couple years ago, FB threw up its collective hands and told us we had to put people into categories since they couldn't get people to click on a nag-button. This is the next step in that. You've already been analyzed and habits tracked. Now you're going to be put into discrete groups so that the advertisers can target better.

      See? This isn't about connecting people or bettering communications. This is about how FB makes money and returning all those billions that's been invested in it.

      You and now the various groups you belong to are the product. Funny how the wheel has already turned from micro-targeting individuals to targeting broader groups. It's almost as if broadcasting was the best way to get potential customers' attention in the first place. Who knew we could and would ignore the individuation of advertisement?

      Oh, wait. Everyone.

  8. 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?

  9. Re:Go away, Zuckerberg by HornWumpus · · Score: 2

    I don't want them to be irrelevant, they are a single destination for all of 'them', makes it easier to ignore the lot. Not unlike AOL of old.

    If it wasn't for Facebook/twitter etc the signal to noise ratio on the rest of the net would be even worse. Facebook provides a service to all of us, whether we think their traffic is signal or noise, having it collected in a few places is a good thing. It's not like the vapid idiots looking for an audience ruined Facebook...that's all there ever was.

    --
    John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  10. No. by sqorbit · · Score: 2

    I don't like half the people I know already. I'm pretty sure there's no one else I "should" know.

    --
    Sent from my TARDIS
    1. Re:No. by Quirkz · · Score: 2

      The pickier you are, the more help you need being introduced to the right people. Robot friendship matchmaking might just be right for you.

  11. ...ways to strengthen Facebook's "community." by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    "ways to strengthen Facebook's community"

    -Shadow ban everyone who signs up from a nigerian IP address
    -Shadow ban everyone who uses known copypasta 'love letters' or what have you
    -Ability to auto-hide posts containing letter u used as a word
    -Flag people who use it with a 'moron' badge displayed prominently on their profile.
    -Other badges can be handed out for people who post insane alt-right stories, what they ate for every meal, feminazi crap, people who use portrait mode for videos, like-farmers, and those crazy free-energy guys.
    -Display a clock on you profile that shows the total time you've spent on facebook, counting up.
    -Display an estimate total time of your remaining life expectancy below it, counting down.

  12. Screw people I "should" know by Vermonter · · Score: 2

    I don't even want to connect with most of the people I already *do* know... why one Earth would I want to add another person to my social network that I obviously don't care enough about to have already gotten to know?

  13. Re:How many here would pay to defecate on Zuck? by amiga3D · · Score: 2

    I wouldn't piss on him if he was on fire.

  14. 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.

  15. Re:Facebook's People you know is f#$ked up anyways by NeoMorphy · · Score: 2

    I have the exact same problem.

    It seems like a large portion of suggested friends are from the Middle East, Africa, South America, etc. Some of them are using character sets I have never seen before. Even when they use iso8859-1, it's not in a language I know. Some of them look like advertisement for porn, both gay and straight. It's so bad I am wondering if negative correlations are accidentally being included.

    I've complained twice now to customer support, but I'm pretty sure they do not care.

  16. No. Just no. by JohnFen · · Score: 2

    In many ways, relationships are the most important things in our lives

    I agree. Which is why it's important, for the sake of our relationships, to avoid Facebook.

  17. Re:More Marketing Speak by JohnFen · · Score: 2

    This has nothing to do with "strengthening the Facebook community" and everything to do with bringing more customers to advertisers.

    Connecting advertisers to Facebookers is strengthening the Facebook community. What else is Facebook for if not that?

  18. 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.