Slashdot Mirror
We've Toned Down the 'Destroying Society' Shtick, Facebook Insists (theregister.co.uk)
Facebook has taken the unusual step of responding to comments by former VP Chamath Palihapitiya that the social media giant was "destroying how society works." Palihapitiya said that executives ignored cautionary instincts when creating Facebook, and he now regretted the consequences. In a statement, Facebook said: Chamath has not been at Facebook for over 6 years. When Chamath was at Facebook we were focused on building new social media experiences and growing Facebook around the world. Facebook was a very different company back then, and as we have grown, we have realized how our responsibilities have grown too. We take our role very seriously and we are working hard to improve. We've done a lot of work and research with outside experts and academics to understand the effects of our service on well-being, and we're using it to inform our product development. We are also making significant investments more in people, technology and processes, and -- as Mark Zuckerberg said on the last earnings call -- we are willing to reduce our profitability to make sure the right investments are made.
> We take our role very seriously
What role? what is their purpose? What do they create? Are they useful?
"Science will win because it works." - Stephen Hawking
>So the NSA uses Facebook to spy
In fact, Facebook has to be the ultimate orgasm-inducer for anyone who wants to track relationships, and that probably includes every level of government, law enforcement and otherwise. You used to have to know somebody to know who their friends are, now there's an API for that.
And by the way, doesn't "Mark Zuckerberg for President" have a certain ring to it?
Who scares you actually more . . . Donald Trump or Mark Zuckerberg?
Donald Trump is a greedy business bastard like too many other folks in world economy. He might hurt us, but he is not going to kill us. Remember, he is a real-estate Shylock . . . he knows that nuclear wars decrease the value of real-estate. This is why he will never start a war with North Korea . . . unless he can find a way to make a business profit out of it, and that is a long bet. West Germany fought to digest the former East Germany, and that was something most of the Germans wanted, and were willing to pay a "Solidarity Tax" for it. Reuniting the Koreas will be a nightmare that no one wants. (Oh, yeah, the Chinese will be absolutely thrilled about having a second South Korea in their Economic Zone.
Mark Zuckerberg believes he is on a mission from God. Whatever he does with Facebook improves the Human Condition. He's not in it for the money . . . he has enough of that . . . but he gave it away . . . or maybe not. When Zuckerberg is elected President, Air Force One will be ditched for Über. Your IRS returns will be done using Facebook.
Um, . . . I hate to say it . . . but I'll take a Devil who admits that he is a Devil as opposed to a Devil who pretends to be Jesus Fucking Christ.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
You know, I think I agree with you. Twitter is the lazy reporter's go to when you don't feel like pounding the pavement looking for interesting stuff to report on.
Case in point... Trump's incessant Tweeting.... The lazy reporters get all a twitter every time he calls them (rightly or wrongly) out or says something crazy. They go nuts. Remember the "coffeve" thing? We got at least two days of breathless reporting on what amounted to a troll tweet. It's like Trump's tweets are a laser pointer and the media are a group of cats chasing it. Remember the "wires tapped" tweet? How many days was that one? Surely it's obvious how Trump is using this to control the subject of the day to one he wants, yet they keep jumping at them like catnip.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Douglas Adams mentioned (actually, went on about it) that a President's job is to attract attention away from power. In that respect, Trump just may be the best President since PT Barnum.
His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain