A writer created a politically bland Facebook profile to test the app's algorithm for extreme content, and ended up being shown low-quality, clickbait posts
In 2019, a researcher at Facebook conducted an experiment to see whether the platform really has a tendency to send users … Tweets: @golikehellmachi , @joshtpm , @jbouie , @mckaycoppins , @jaywillis , @golikehellmachi , @golikehellmachi , @jbouie , @tomscocca , @kait_tiffany , @gabrielroth , @saahil_desai , @kait_tiffany , and @kait_tiffany Tweets: Golikehellmachine / @golikehellmachi : every time i log into the site, especially on desktop (which is less and less often), i'm shocked at how terrible both the UX and the performance are. absolutely abysmal and it seems like those things get overlooked because of all the *other* ways the company is terrible. https://twitter.com/... Josh Marshall / @joshtpm : @jbouie What's so funny/ironic is that a lot of Facebook's original advantage and Zuck's mini-genius was to refuse to add low rent display ads. No rush to monetize. Made the early experience much different from the rest of the web. Times changed. B-Boy Bouiebaisse / @jbouie : i still have my account for family-related stuff and each time i log on i'm struck at how the whole thing is practically unusable McKay Coppins / @mckaycoppins : “I found myself at the bottom of a rabbit hole not of extremism but of utter trash—bad advice, stolen memes, shady businesses, and sophomoric jokes repeated over and over.” Strongly recommend this funny, thoughtful @kait_tiffany piece: https://www.theatlantic.com/ ... Jay Willis / @jaywillis : This does such a good job of conveying how surreal it is to log in to Facebook and immediately plunge into a bottomless well of weirdo posts from people you don't know, who live in places you don't live, presented in the clunkiest user interface imaginable https://twitter.com/... Golikehellmachine / @golikehellmachi : it offends and enrages me that a company with as much money as facebook has can't manage to make a website with better performance or UX than i could make with a weekend, a few bucks for a domain, and a fresh wordpress install. Golikehellmachine / @golikehellmachi : like, this website has issues, too, but by virtue of it not trying to be everything to everyone, they're less obtrusive. facebook is genuinely awful from a UI/UX and performance standpoint and gets worse seemingly every week. B-Boy Bouiebaisse / @jbouie : we rightfully talk a lot about how facebook is an immoral, destructive company but also worth saying that the website itself is just trash https://www.theatlantic.com/ ... Tom Scocca / @tomscocca : Fine piece about Facebook as glurge engine, but it's a little alarming to see The Atlantic of all places package it using “centrist” as a generic word for being apolitical https://www.theatlantic.com/ ... Kaitlyn Tiffany / @kait_tiffany : i didn't expect the content on facebook to be great however i also didn't expect literally my first round of recommended pages to include a domino's pizza in zimbabwe that apparently burned down two months ago Gabriel Roth / @gabrielroth : Remember the idea of broadcast television as a “vast wasteland” where Americans consumed garbage all day? It turns out that was a golden age of mass edification compared to the Facebook era https://www.theatlantic.com/ ... Saahil Desai / @saahil_desai : Turns out Facebook is a dumpsterfire even without the politics! This by @kait_tiffany is such a banger https://www.theatlantic.com/ ... Kaitlyn Tiffany / @kait_tiffany : : ) https://twitter.com/... Kaitlyn Tiffany / @kait_tiffany : i wrote about what happens to you on facebook even if you try to be the most generic collection of interests imaginable! https://www.theatlantic.com/ ...