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   Chris Trottier (atomicpoet@atomicpoet.org)'s status on Wednesday, 01-Jan-2025 05:43:57 JST Chris Trottier

   Meta is now using AI-generated profiles to drive up “engagement” on Facebook and Instagram.

   Now why would they do this?

   Well, for one thing, organic engagement on both those platforms is dead—and it’s been dead for awhile. And now they’re stuck in a loop where influencers aren’t talking to people—they’re talking to algorithms.

   So what about the 98% of users who aren’t influencers? Well, most of their content gets stuck in a void with no engagement. And this drives down satisfaction. Why post your breakfast to Instagram if no one sees it?

   Therefore, Meta needs to build the illusion of engagement to satiate that need for connection. And Zuckerberg assumes most people will be satisfied with bot interaction.

   But what I suspect is that this will lead to a diminishment of trust on those platforms.

   https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/meta-ai-users-facebook-instagram-1235221430/

   • Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: and NeonPurpleStar :heart_bi: like this.
   • Embed this notice
     NeonPurpleStar :heart_bi: (neonpurplestar@outerheaven.club)'s status on Wednesday, 01-Jan-2025 06:07:19 JST NeonPurpleStar :heart_bi:

     in reply to
     @atomicpoet zuckerberg and trust do not belond in the same sentence
   • Embed this notice
     NeonPurpleStar :heart_bi: (neonpurplestar@outerheaven.club)'s status on Wednesday, 01-Jan-2025 06:07:34 JST NeonPurpleStar :heart_bi:

     in reply to
     @atomicpoet zuckerberg and trust do not belong in the same sentence
   • Embed this notice
     Chris Trottier (atomicpoet@atomicpoet.org)'s status on Wednesday, 01-Jan-2025 07:06:21 JST Chris Trottier

     in reply to

     • NeonPurpleStar :heart_bi:

     @NeonPurpleStar The problem with trust isn’t with Zuckerberg. It’s with who you are interacting with. Is it with a bot or a genuine human?

     As LLMs get better, it will be harder to know – and this will cause a diminishment in trust.

     NeonPurpleStar :heart_bi: likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     🗦 𝙴𝚞𝚋𝚒𝚎 𝙳𝚛𝚎𝚠 🗧（🦣) (eubiedrew@spore.social)'s status on Wednesday, 01-Jan-2025 07:15:21 JST 🗦 𝙴𝚞𝚋𝚒𝚎 𝙳𝚛𝚎𝚠 🗧（🦣)

     in reply to

     @atomicpoet

     End-stage Facebook. Or, as they say in hospice care, "transitioning".

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Sutton (zleap@qoto.org)'s status on Wednesday, 01-Jan-2025 07:38:24 JST Paul Sutton

     in reply to

     @atomicpoet

     A lot of people lost trust after the Cambridge Analytica thing.

   • Embed this notice
     Darnell Clayton :verified: (darnell@one.darnell.one)'s status on Wednesday, 01-Jan-2025 09:02:28 JST Darnell Clayton :verified:

     in reply to

     • Daniel Supernault

     @atomicpoet @dansup I stopped using #Instagram not because of the lack of user engagement, but because I no longer saw people who I followed in my default timeline! It is frustrating, & yes, I use the following timeline, but it is annoying to have to constantly click that.

     Also, many of the ads are…for the wrong person! 😂

   • Embed this notice
     Chris Trottier (atomicpoet@atomicpoet.org)'s status on Wednesday, 01-Jan-2025 19:58:13 JST Chris Trottier

     in reply to

     • Johannes Ernst

     @j12t As a short-term bet, that’s not bad. But long-term, that eats away at customer satisfaction and is a detriment to the overall health of the platform.

     If you don’t serve the basic human need of providing connection, then your social media platform fails.

   • Embed this notice
     Johannes Ernst (j12t@j12t.social)'s status on Wednesday, 01-Jan-2025 19:58:33 JST Johannes Ernst

     in reply to

     @atomicpoet not a bad theory. I would add that it will transform advertising and product placement by replacing human influencers and ads with likable fictional characters that focus on you.

   • Embed this notice
     Rich Felker (dalias@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 01-Jan-2025 20:01:19 JST Rich Felker

     in reply to

     • Jack Yan (甄爵恩)
     • tuban_muzuru

     @tuban_muzuru @jackyan @atomicpoet Not every social media, every capitalism. This is a property of capitalism. It always ends in shitting where you eat.

   • Embed this notice
     tuban_muzuru (tuban_muzuru@ohai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 01-Jan-2025 20:01:21 JST tuban_muzuru

     in reply to

     • Jack Yan (甄爵恩)

     @jackyan @atomicpoet

     I sense every social media entity gets in trouble over time, once it reaches an arbitrary size.

   • Embed this notice
     Jack Yan (甄爵恩) (jackyan@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 01-Jan-2025 20:01:22 JST Jack Yan (甄爵恩)

     in reply to

     @atomicpoet They literally killed organic engagement in c. 2013, forcing people to pay for boosts to get what they used to get. They are reaping what they sowed.
     I agree with you that trust will diminish—at least for people like you and me. But given that Facebook is at least half bot, reporting does nothing, and there are a lot of sheep online who leave bot comments on their Facebook and Instagram, I truly wonder.

     Rich Felker repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Jack Yan (甄爵恩) (jackyan@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 01-Jan-2025 20:01:41 JST Jack Yan (甄爵恩)

     in reply to

     @atomicpoet In 2014, I was going, 'There is a bot epidemic on Facebook!' and no one cared. Cambridge Analytica and other scandals came and went, and Facebookʼs share price only diminished briefly before rebounding. I really hate to say this, but there are a lot of sheep out there, and I want to see a heck of a lot of people wake up.