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>I'm sure Facebook has tested it experimentally

Probably, but with primary goals of ad clicks, prolonged FB time on site, etc.

Worth noting that the old, unoptimized system would have worked fine for this case.

Facebook's goals just don't align with visitor goals.



> Facebook's goals just don't align with visitor goals.

Or rather, Facebook's goals are (or should be) to balance optimally between visitors' goals, and advertisers' goals such that profit is sustainable. They need people to stay on and return to the site in order to bring in advertisers. They also need advertisers' ads to get clicked to remain attractive and profitable.


I'd believe that if they had competition. They just really don't. I think they've figured out they can gut visitor concerns.

Might change as their current demographic ages and dies off. Teens and college kids don't seem to care much about FB.


That's not my experience. Though the ones I know use primarily the Messenger, which is harder to distort.


Agreed - at least in my neck of the woods, the use patterns of people in their twenties with regards to Facebook seems to tilt heavily towards Messenger rather than the rest of the site. Events, too, but primarily Messenger. It has replaced SMS entirely.


Classical case of 'what gets measured gets optimized'.


> Probably, but with primary goals of ad clicks, prolonged FB time on site, etc.

> Facebook's goals just don't align with visitor goals.

Well, obviously


true that ..the last line of your comment shaped up in my mind too after reading peoples complaints.




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