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Can Facebook Fix Its Own Worst Bug?
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Can Facebook Fix Its Own Worst Bug?

Is the most powerful tool for connection in human history capable of adapting to the world it created?

Farhad Manjoo
The New York Times, 2017
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Overview
  • Engaging

Recommendation

A 2017 Harvard/MIT study found that Facebook, along with other social media, served as a ready vehicle for misinformation during the run-up to the 2016 US presidential election. Social media helped users stay within filter bubbles, cocoons of conformity where they became a captive audience for partisan perspectives. Journalist Farhad Manjoo explores the dark side of Facebook’s immense global influence and asks whether company CEO Mark Zuckerberg is willing to shoulder responsibility equal to the Internet behemoth’s power. getAbstract recommends reading this incisive study of Facebook’s role onc the global stage.

Take-Aways

  • Facebook dominates the global media landscape and exerts immense influence on politics and culture worldwide, particularly through its news feed feature.
  • The company approaches news feed as an engineering problem – to provide users with the content they want to see – rather than an editorial problem.
  • Critics say that Facebook's news feed tends to create a filter bubble that reflects and reinforces users’ existing opinions.

About the Author

Journalist and author Farhad Manjoo writes the State of the Art column for The New York Times.

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