How We Fell Out Of Love With Facebook

Tantacrul
5 HN recommenders · recommended in 3 months, 2024–2025
YouTube
851K views · 2 years ago · essay · evergreen

Tantacrul, a designer and composer, looks at how Facebook went from a service people loved to one they distrust. He covers its engagement-driven feed and the product decisions behind that change.

HN people recommend it as a good account of how engagement-driven design wore down Facebook's feed and user goodwill.

Design ethics & dark patternsDesign critique & analysis
#facebook#engagement#feeddesign#attentioneconomy#tantacrul

5 comments from Hacker News

z
@zamber2025 · in “Meta just suspended the Facebook account of Neal Stephenson”
That's exactly what happens. The algo does not judge how hurtful a rabbithole may be - it optimizes for engagement with some moderation sprinkled on top. I've tried to make my facebook feed palatable for a couple months and eventually passed up on trying. I'd rather IM my family about cat photos than engage with their fringe political views. Same goes for colleagues on LinkedIn. Tentacrul did a good video on it and more across the years ▶ this video
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T
@TheFreim2025 · in “What Facebook Has Done to Us [video]”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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@ioasuncvinvaer2024 · in “I Fell Out of Love with Facebook [video]”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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@barryvan2024 · in “I fell out of love with Facebook [video]”
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@tobr2024 · in “I fell out of love with Facebook [video]”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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