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randomnessWe had a conversation last night during which one of my friends (PQ) complained that no one in Boston seemed to have seen her post that she was flying in from the Netherlands. Another friend in the conversation (BB) reported that only about a tenth of PQ's posts were showing up on her feed, and that when BB went back to look at PQ's personal page she saw all these posts that she had never seen before.
Later, it occurred to me that this might be a function of the number of people one has friended on Facebook. I have all of 34 friends on the Facebook account corresponding to my name here, and I fairly reliably see most of what they post, although there are occasional dropped posts. It does help when I use the "most recent" option, but I still don't know if that gets them all.
Facebook's algorithm for showing posts on one's feed is obscure but it does seem to try to reduce the number of posts one gets to what they consider a manageable number. Evidently they have decided that simply forwarding all the posts one's friends have written is overwhelming for people with many friends. Overwhelming the advertisements, no doubt.
In any case, if I needed any more reasons to stick with LJ/dw as my primary platform, this is yet another.
Later, it occurred to me that this might be a function of the number of people one has friended on Facebook. I have all of 34 friends on the Facebook account corresponding to my name here, and I fairly reliably see most of what they post, although there are occasional dropped posts. It does help when I use the "most recent" option, but I still don't know if that gets them all.
Facebook's algorithm for showing posts on one's feed is obscure but it does seem to try to reduce the number of posts one gets to what they consider a manageable number. Evidently they have decided that simply forwarding all the posts one's friends have written is overwhelming for people with many friends. Overwhelming the advertisements, no doubt.
In any case, if I needed any more reasons to stick with LJ/dw as my primary platform, this is yet another.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-01-02 03:52 am (UTC)(This all might be far too charitable, but I now live on their side of implementing stuff for lots of users, so I have sympathy).
(no subject)
Date: 2014-01-02 05:39 am (UTC)But do users who have paid for knobs use them? If you can get users to pay for some knobs, those might be worth adding.
I now live on their side of implementing stuff for lots of users, so I have sympathy
That's fair. I've lived on the side of implementing stuff for customers when they're willing to pay for them. Generally the cost is too high for most users to fund features, but not always.
The other thing that strikes me about Facebook is that it tends to create knobs for people posting, as opposed to ones for people reading. For example, Facebook includes a way for posters to boost visibility of their posts.
That last is what tends to make me think there may be conflicting objectives.