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Sean Parker Unloads on Facebook 'Exploiting' Human Psychology (axios.com)
Sean Parker, the founding president of Facebook, spoke to news outlet Axios about the ways social networks have made hundreds of millions of users addicted to their platforms. He said, from the interview: When Facebook was getting going, I had these people who would come up to me and they would say, 'I'm not on social media.' And I would say, 'OK. You know, you will be.' And then they would say, 'No, no, no. I value my real-life interactions. I value the moment. I value presence. I value intimacy.' And I would say, ... 'We'll get you eventually. I don't know if I really understood the consequences of what I was saying, because [of] the unintended consequences of a network when it grows to a billion or 2 billion people and ... it literally changes your relationship with society, with each other ... It probably interferes with productivity in weird ways. God only knows what it's doing to our children's brains. The thought process that went into building these applications, Facebook being the first of them, ... was all about: 'How do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible?' And that means that we need to sort of give you a little dopamine hit every once in a while, because someone liked or commented on a photo or a post or whatever. And that's going to get you to contribute more content, and that's going to get you ... more likes and comments. It's a social-validation feedback loop. He says people like him, and Mark Zuckerberg knew the potential consequences, but they did what they did anyway.
I've never felt the need to join FB or other social media to date.
I have no problem interacting and deal with friends and meeting NEW ones in meatspace.
I guess I've just never felt compelled to being a voluntary part of their product they sell.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
But if you come back to /. to see if any one replied you'll get your little dopamine hit. Same shit.
PS: Your welcome.
It might have been addictive for awhile but it's getting pretty dull and feels more like myspace every day. I have a feeling the culture will eventually become dumb and toxic enough that the thing implodes an people will move to some other format for social media. Given Zuckerberg's interest in other social media platforms I have to wonder if he feels the same way.
I don't have much proof but it's happened to every similar service and website before it.
I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.
Yes, Mister Parker, you have. Facebook is a cancer to humanity, a virulent disease. It should never have been created in the first place, and I for one am glad that I have nothing to do with it.
..and NO, you can't find anything about me on Facebook. I don't have an account there, no one I know is allowed to reference me there, and I defy anyone who says different.
So it (maybe) changes children's brains. So does everything. So did letting them learn to read, or to use a telephone. Just because social dynamics are changing again, just as they did when cities were invented, and then suburbs were invented, and then TV was invented, doesn't mean this (Facebook / social media) is suddenly the Work Of The Devil.
Heck, we may be moving towards a society where interaction is primarily online rather than meatspace. So what? Who are we hurting?
https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
...should pay the social and monetary costs for the damage he's done to society. He knew the consequences, and took the action any goddamned way. Full responsibility lies on him and Mark and they should pay dearly. Slam them straight back to middle class.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
You dumb shit.. this is not 'social media', IT IS A NEWS AGGREGATOR SITE WITH COMMENTS. You're just projecting because you're a Failbook addict and can't leave. Try getting real friends in real life (yes, that means taking a shower and leaving the basement) and you won't need cancerous shit like Faecesbook.
This is a huge problem - advertising, marketing and shadier news outlets are systematically exploiting the innate cognitive biases we all have.
They have always done this, but instead of an artform, this has become scientific. And it seems to work quite well (for them)
It's similar to Casinos, which also exploit well-known human mental defects - which is why casinos are usually heavily regulated. But you obviously can't do the same for communication.
The only kind-of protection against these assaults on our mental defects is education, and a change in the mind-set. But noone really has a short-term incentive to change either of those.
I think they are giving themselves too much credit. Let's strip away the advertising machine that is FB and distill it down to the most basic fundamental. A person can post information, and others who are connected to that person can see that information and react to it. That's it in a nutshell. The fact that people get a "little dopamine hit" when someone they are connected to reacts to something they did is not something Facebook engineered. It is human nature. It is why we like to sit around talking to one another, or why we like to see a person smile when we do something. This is nothing FB engineered or calculated or anything like that. For any virtual social network to be compatible with human nature and be accepted it must provide a way for people to provide feedback with one another. Calling it a "like" or letting someone comment on it is not exactly the height of software or social engineering.
Methinks he is giving Facebook way too much credit to stoke his ego that he had a hand in reshaping people's "relationship with society". Facebook was inevitable, and in fact had existed in many, many different forms in the past (Usenet, America Online dialup, MySpace, Slashdot commenting system, ad infinitum). Facebook was nothing more than a simplification of existing social networks to the point that anyone could use it. It hit a critical mass, like MS Windows, the iPod, etc, where it had to resources to outgrow the competitors.
Better known as 318230.
No, it's We The People's fault, for being drug addicts. Don't blame the dealer.
"Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
Cow Clicker! IMO this was a much better commentary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Seriously though, what about WoW? What about EverCrack (as its own players referred to it half-jokingly)? What about the new e-Sports games like LoL, Dota2, or any multiplayer game that does its best to avoid falling into obscurity? What about TV shows that do their best to try to keep viewers hooked? What about Hollywood trying to keep people coming back in to see movies?
What company goes out of their way to make a product that no one likes very much (and that will fail as a result of it)? He'd be better off blaming people for being sheep than for blaming a company trying to provide the best possible service/product. It's what companies do. No one is forcing them to sign up, to spend all their time on it, to get hooked on "likes" (or people clicking their cows).
Umm telephones and text messages still work last I checked. Nope not on FB.
How do your friends arrange meetings?
At the pub used to be answer, and for some is still the most relevant.
Meet in the bar for an afterwork beer, and while there discuss interesting new plans for a trip on the upcoming week-end.
And hook up with a nice girl while you're at it.
The whole internet or the mobile network could go down in flame, the above mentioned method can still work.
(And if you're a regular enough at the bar, even the banking, payment processing and ATM systems can go down, and it still works for a couple of beers "on the house" or "I know you well enough, you can pay me tomorrow when the system is back up").
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
I've never felt the need to join FB or other social media to date.
That fix that users get from "Likes" and "Replies" on FB is very similar to the fix you get from "Mods" and "Replies" on /. . A lot of my interaction on FB is discussion of news articles, similar to my interaction on /. . (Yes, some actual headlines make it to FB. On my feed it's CNN, BBC News, or whatever sources my friends post.) I see you post on here all the time - You've got the same bug as the FB users. You just feel superior because you're on a different platform (doing the same thing) and FB bashing is popular here.
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
And yet, nevertheless, you just posted that thought on social media.
Check back later to see if you got modded up! Maybe getting some karma points (or replies that agree with you -- they're just as good as upmods!) will get you to come back for more.
Slashdot's advertisers should be unhappy to read this, but considering where they're reading it, I suspect their frowns might be upside-down.
"Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
NO, you can't find anything about me on Facebook. I don't have an account there, no one I know is allowed to reference me there
Yup, you don't have a Facebook profile, and you've politely asked your closest friend to not upload pictures with your face on them to it.
Good for you.
The problem is that Facebook will data mine the living shit out of everything it comes by.
Maybe one person with whom you didn't communicate using throw away accounts (but, e.g.: you mailed using a regular e-mail, all called them with your called-ID visible) had facebook's app installed on their smartphone (and the app will automatically mine any contact details it comes by, including caller list and e-mail addresses auto-added to the replied-to list)
Maybe someone you don't know personally uploaded a picture of a crowd while you were out in the public without wearing dazzle make-up (forget about usual clothing accessories like sun-glasses, Facebook face recognition system is fine-tuned well enough to be able to recognise you even with these).
etc.
Add all these small crumbs of information together over time and facebook ends up having quite some idea about who you are without you or any of your direct friend ever giving out any such information.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Zuck: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard
Zuck: Just ask.
Zuck: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS
[Redacted Friend's Name]: What? How'd you manage that one?
Zuck: People just submitted it.
Zuck: I don't know why.
Zuck: They "trust me"
Zuck: Dumb fucks
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
I worked at Facebook. We had graphs of ages of users. Basically, it stayed low until a spike at 18 (when people went to college) and a huge spike at 22 (graduating college). Facebook isn't so much for old people, as it is for people who want to keep up with old friends. Until you're old enough to have those it has lower value.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
I disagree personally. From what i understand, facebook is what you say, for narcissists. People who want to see their opinions retweeted or acted upon, in short, people looking for attention. That is not me at all. Personally I don't even read replies on slashdot, because i really don't care to argue with people on the internet. I have what I have to say and that's the end of it. I am just commenting to add something to the discussion, or clarify some point, and primarily to pass time between tasks at work.
Plus I also think that writing every day is good practice to keep the mind sharp. Facebook to me, as a non user, is what you were always warned about. Posting your personal information on the internet, data collection by advertisers, and profiling by basically anyone (police, employers, co-workers, friends).
So to sum up, facebook = narcissists and spooks, Slashdot = engineers and technologists who have opinions on things that matter to my job and life.
A cat picture, that it is someones birthday, or someones IRL political leanings, absolutely do not interest me one bit. I also don't care about your holiday photos or childrens photos.
It's all just fluff, because people need something to do with their phones. And like TFA says, its designed to be addictive.
As a potential lottery winner, I totally support tax cuts for the wealthy