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12/07/2016

Facebook's "walled wonderland" is incompatible with journalism

From Monday Note

Setting aside the need to fix its current PR nightmare, Facebook has no objective interest in fixing its fake stories problem.

In the end, it all boils down to this:

  1. Facebook is above all an advertising machine. A fantastic one. I encourage everyone to explore its spectacular advertising interface and, even better, to spend a few bucks to boost a post, or build an ad. Its power, reach, granularity and overall efficiency are dizzying.
  2. Facebook’s revenue system depends on a single parameter: page views. Pages views come from sharing. Which page criteria lead to the best sharing volumes?

So, sharing is key because it leads to higher page consumption which, in turn, leads to multiple bespoke advertising exposures.

How does Facebook tweak its system in order to favor sharing? It does so by becoming the ultimate filter bubble.

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