FB is constantly showing me photos of big game hunting, even though I block them every time I see them. They've dialed the anger factor up to 11. Ready to delete my account over it. I really wonder if/when they're going to feel real user churn.
Super pertinent topic, thanks for the great read! This makes me think about the rise of hyper-personalization as well, and how SNARF can be used in conjunction with hyper-personalization to really drive (unhealthy) engagement.
Products primarily built around user-generated content and social media/networking will find it much harder to solve to these kinds of issues though. AI-driven content and the low building barrier aren't going anywhere, so even if builders themselves employ less manipulative product strategies, the users themselves will still want to capitalize on SNARF for engagement. Do you think there's anything those kinds of platforms can do to encourage users to prioritize ethical engagement tactics?
That's a good call-out re: personalization. They definitely lean into things that trigger me personally and you can see it in the themes they show me (lots of medical things, they really gross me out!).
"Do you think there's anything those kinds of platforms can do to encourage users to prioritize ethical engagement tactics?"
They would need to penalize those creators which they won't do because those creators drive engagement. I think consumers will start to tire of it, though, and when they do, there's an opportunity for new products to take up space!
Super excited to see what the future product space brings!
Honestly I’d also be pretty curious as to how platforms would penalize creators from a logical/engineering standpoint — I wonder if an ML/algorithmic approach would accurately filter out these sentiments, or be overly restrictive and create new kinds of problems. Definitely an interesting idea to explore.
FB is constantly showing me photos of big game hunting, even though I block them every time I see them. They've dialed the anger factor up to 11. Ready to delete my account over it. I really wonder if/when they're going to feel real user churn.
I hope they feel the burn honestly, it's time for them to actually care about the product experience again
(also lol big game hunting, wild!)
Super pertinent topic, thanks for the great read! This makes me think about the rise of hyper-personalization as well, and how SNARF can be used in conjunction with hyper-personalization to really drive (unhealthy) engagement.
Products primarily built around user-generated content and social media/networking will find it much harder to solve to these kinds of issues though. AI-driven content and the low building barrier aren't going anywhere, so even if builders themselves employ less manipulative product strategies, the users themselves will still want to capitalize on SNARF for engagement. Do you think there's anything those kinds of platforms can do to encourage users to prioritize ethical engagement tactics?
That's a good call-out re: personalization. They definitely lean into things that trigger me personally and you can see it in the themes they show me (lots of medical things, they really gross me out!).
"Do you think there's anything those kinds of platforms can do to encourage users to prioritize ethical engagement tactics?"
They would need to penalize those creators which they won't do because those creators drive engagement. I think consumers will start to tire of it, though, and when they do, there's an opportunity for new products to take up space!
Super excited to see what the future product space brings!
Honestly I’d also be pretty curious as to how platforms would penalize creators from a logical/engineering standpoint — I wonder if an ML/algorithmic approach would accurately filter out these sentiments, or be overly restrictive and create new kinds of problems. Definitely an interesting idea to explore.
Brought to mind this interesting article as well! https://etymology.substack.com/p/youre-never-the-intended-audience
Oooo interesting read! Thanks for sharing!