If you are using Facebook for news, you are probably doing it wrong.

I have several issues with Facebook, but probably more with the average user’s understanding of how Facebook works. There is the issue of how Facebook makes money. You are trading information about  yourself that Facebook can sell to support your “free” use of the system. Use the system understanding how  you pay.

Then, there is the notion of a “news feed”.  Here is a recent study of the “news” most Facebook users receive (http://www.niemanlab.org/2017/12/how-much-news-makes-it-into-peoples-facebook-feeds-our-experiment-suggests-not-much/). I think a significant issue is that users don’t really understand how Facebook works. They bias their experience by what they like and what their friends forward. The Facebook algorithms will gladly offer you more of the same. Hardly a fair and balanced way to see the world. If you want news within your “news feed”, try following actual news sources – New York Times, Washington Post, etc. Make an effort to view the news as reported by those who actually investigate the issues and not from your friends who likely think like you and only forward stories with this same bias. You can create a more balanced experience if you make the effort.

 

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