Medium Message

Paul Ford has a great riff on that: https://medium.com/message/how-to-be-polite-9bf1e69e888c

> Here’s a polite person’s trick, one that has never failed me. I will share it with you because I like and respect you, and it is clear to me that you’ll know how to apply it wisely: When you are at a party and are thrust into conversation with someone, see how long you can hold off before talking about what they do for a living. And when that painful lull arrives, be the master of it. I have come to revel in that agonizing first pause, because I know that I can push a conversation through. Just ask the other person what they do, and right after they tell you, say: “Wow. That sounds hard.”

> Because nearly everyone in the world believes their job to be difficult. I once went to a party and met a very beautiful woman whose job was to help celebrities wear Harry Winston jewelry. I could tell that she was disappointed to be introduced to this rumpled giant in an off-brand shirt, but when I told her that her job sounded difficult to me she brightened and spoke for 30 straight minutes about sapphires and Jessica Simpson. She kept touching me as she talked. I forgave her for that. I didn’t reveal a single detail about myself, including my name. Eventually someone pulled me back into the party. The celebrity jewelry coordinator smiled and grabbed my hand and said, “I like you!” She seemed so relieved to have unburdened herself. I counted it as a great accomplishment. Maybe a hundred…

yes one's own experience is always anecdotal and due to perception bias we believe our personal experience to be significant. You're not special, we pretty much all do this.

Please define active user as it could mean anything, then again don't, as number of used (which is more appropriate than users for facebook) and advertising dollars are hardly valid metrics for bringing people together and positive life changing.
Turns out you are right actually, some are suffering through the experience and feel they are forced to use facebook[1][2][2], note that they are mostly in the same demographic group which happen to be the next generations of adults.

This tin foil hat edge case is a boat that has sailed a while ago, facebook is a major privacy problem[3][4][5] and as we know privacy is the foundation for liberty and freedoms. But Facebook is also censorship[6][7] and manufacturing public opinion[8].

Not only that, but contrary to your personal experience facebook usually makes people miserable and feel bad about themselves[9][10][11][12] and other personal experience point to it being bad and getting worse at giving you the meaningful posts[13].

If you care about your loved ones and family you should help them get away from facebook[14][15], not trap them in by putting all you interactions with them there.

[1]: https://medium.com/backchannel/a-teenagers-view-on-social-media-1df945c09ac6

[2]:…

Yes! My favorite tactic to get people talking about themselves comes from Paul Ford:

Just ask the other person what they do, and right after they tell you, say: “Wow. That sounds hard.”

Because nearly everyone in the world believes their job to be difficult. I once went to a party and met a very beautiful woman whose job was to help celebrities wear Harry Winston jewelry. I could tell that she was disappointed to be introduced to this rumpled giant in an off-brand shirt, but when I told her that her job sounded difficult to me she brightened and spoke for 30 straight minutes about sapphires and Jessica Simpson. She kept touching me as she talked. I forgave her for that. I didn’t reveal a single detail about myself, including my name. Eventually someone pulled me back into the party. The celebrity jewelry coordinator smiled and grabbed my hand and said, “I like you!” She seemed so relieved to have unburdened herself. I counted it as a great accomplishment. Maybe a hundred times since I’ve said, “wow, that sounds hard” to a stranger, always to great effect. I stay home with my kids and have no life left to me, so take this party trick, my gift to you.

https://medium.com/message/how-to-be-polite-9bf1e69e888c

A more mundane concern is insurance and financial (dis)incentives for behavior change, http://www.salon.com/2014/05/30/in_the_future_insurance_companies_will_make_sure_that_you_exercise/

"23andMe Is Terrifying, But Not for the Reasons the FDA Thinks", https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6811167

"23andme has suspended health-related genetic tests",
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6859732

"A problem with much statistical analysis is ignoring the fact that humans, umm, react to things around them. (Social science jargon for this is reflexivity). I know this seems so simple, but it’s amazing how much predictive analytics don’t factor this in.",
https://medium.com/message/learning-from-natesilver538s-omg-wrong-bra-vs-ger-prediction-9d47fa0611e

Yes! As a frequent user of youtube queues, it feels like they have a dedicated team of one or two junior devs to futz around with it on a weekly basis and zero QA, because it is always breaking in new, unexpected ways.

"Everything is broken" used to mean "all software is insecure because the inherent complexity of a modern software stack ensures it's beyond the abilities of the average developer to eliminate all attack vectors" [1].

Now it just means [2].

1: https://medium.com/message/everything-is-broken-81e5f33a24e1

2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pndhO5DcSI0

With all the app charts bashing going on, one might think that it's regarded as a developer's right to have their famous 15 days with every product. Did anyone expect or aspire anything else than a development towards a Billboard Top 100 or NYT Best Sellers mentality in a matured market that's a 24/7 popularity contest? The app phenomenon has probably created more one-man army millionaires in a very short time than any other industry, so stop complaining and get creative.

Bonus:

https://medium.com/message/you-are-not-late-b3d76f963142