Filter ethics.
This is the most important thing regarding Facebook & other online communities that very few people are talking about. Â I note here (June 2010) that hidden streams destroy any legitimacy to this network, & eventually Facebook will have to change their practices.
Now, Move On’s Eli Pariser has written a book called “The Filter Bubble: What the Internet is Hiding from You” –
“The Internet software that we use is getting smarter, and more tailored to our needs, all the time. The risk, Eli Pariser reveals, is that we increasingly won’t see other perspectives. In The Filter Bubble, he shows us how the trend could reinforce partisan and narrow mindsets, and points the way to a greater online diversity of perspective.”
We need to reinforce the wobbly foundation before it comes crashing down.
Here is his talk from PDF 2010, as well – “Eli Pariser, the president of MoveOn.org, answered the PdF 2010 question “Can the Internet Fix Politics” with a warning about how the hidden personalization features of search and newsfeeds were subtly destroying the notion of a common public space.”
Smart people are actually writing about what I wrote about. Â Dangit, I *knew* it was important.
It’s never about *me* per se, but it certainly is my hope that my ideas and the exchange of information gets out into the public domain and is found, in some way, relevant and meaningful. Â If it sparks discussion, that’s all I want. Â In this case, Eli is way ahead of everyone else… and it’s just nice to know I am on the right path about these complex issues. Â Or maybe it means I have way too much time to be esoteric and ponder. Â Whatever the case, consider this my endorsement of his book.
If you would like to read more about Facebook and it’s growing pains, attention as equity, overposting (an obvious experiment I have been running on my accounts so as to not destroy the biz pages I admin. *hopefully that explains a *LOT* of how I use and interact on Facebook*), follow the next link. There is another article, among many more, on my professional blog (so lame to say that) regarding Narcissism and the challenge of Facebook. Â In case you missed it above, here is the link regarding Hidden Streams, and how they completely erode the functionality & impact of Facebook’s network.
(Thanks to Kristine Johnson for sending me the PDF 2010 YT that introduced me to him)
Marshall McLuhan wrote about this early on, also noting that societies inevitably became more chaotic and ill-tempered as density increased.
“…the printing press, the computer, and television are not therefore simply machines which convey information. They are metaphors through which we conceptualize reality in one way or another. They will classify the world for us, sequence it, frame it, enlarge it, reduce it, argue a case for what it is like. Through these media metaphors, we do not see the world as it is. We see it as our coding systems are. Such is the power of the form of information.”