Agree with this 100%. Traditional media hate Facebook for “stealing” their users, like we should be paying NYT and WaPo because we belong to them.
The conventional media sources, including the NYT, don’t want to confront their own role in the 2016 election—the relentless focus on Clinton’s email server was insane. What should have been a footnote, at best, instead saw nearly wall-to-wall coverage. We don’t want to acknowledge that most people’s epistemological skill is low. Why look at ourselves, when we have this handy scapegoat right… over… there?
Facebook is a Girardian scapegoat for a media ecosystem that is unable or unwilling to consider its own role in the 2016 fiasco. With any media story, there are at least two stories: the story itself and the decision behind working on and publishing and positioning that particular story . The second story is very seldom discussed by journalists and media companies themselves, but it’s an important issue in itself.
I still remember NYT had 5 stories on Clinton’s email, all on front page, a month before the election. And yet it’s all because of fake news on Facebook that Trump won. What a load of BS.
Use of a bombastic word, epistemological. Is another reason why I dislike freedom of expression.
Most people don’t verify, can’t think critically and blindly believe. Too easily influence by persuasive writing.
Most people have low epistemological skills, but some people score high. For them free discussion helps settle on the truth or at least consensus. Think academic research.
I think China has the opposite problem. Speech is so restricted there the leadership don’t have a firm grasp on what the people really think or want, and they get many things wrong. I think Beijing misread the US partly because of this. There’s not enough vigorous debate and people may not be able to freely speak their minds.
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The email server was a HUGE story and anyone else would have gone to prison for it. People have gone to prison for smaller security violations. It’s not just that she used the server, but that she used it for classified emails. That’s why it’s not comparable to others who have used private email for government business.
None of them forwarded classified emails to their private account then used their private account to forward classified emails. It’s not debatable that using a private server to send and receive classified emails is a violation of law.
Also, she didn’t correctly comply with a subpoena by destroying and not turning over all of the emails. If you get served a subpoena, do you think you get to search through everything and decide which records are relevant to turnover? No, they take everything. If any of us did that, we’d be facing an additional obstruction charge. It’s not debatable that deleted subpoenaed info is a violation of the law.
The media covered it a lot, but their headlines after the Comey report were “Clinton cleared of any wrong doing”. If you read the report, that’s not even remotely close to accurate. The report detailed all the wrong doing. Democrats don’t have a rational leg to stand on arguing Hillary didn’t do anything wrong and Kavanaugh is a rapist. That’s is such an illogical pair of conclusions that insanity is the only defensible position for having them.
We’ve gotten to the point where people simply scan headlines and form deep emotional opinions about them. The actual facts don’t even matter. The article itself can even contradict the headline, and people don’t even care. They still believe the headline.
Debate won’t tell you what people want. It only leads to more debate. Personalities, PR campaigns, and advertisements set the table.
It has survived Google+ and its users have demonstrated that they love
wastingspending time online.
Alternative are watching other players play video games, watching pretty women leading their daily lives, etc.
“Rogers” is jumping ship! Too bad, he won’t be there to celebrate!
Well, Roger may have rich parents but he doesn’t seem to be all that smart. Good riddance. 
Sidebar: is it just me? Recently FS seems to be trying hard to impress people?
Roger needs to see a psychiatrist. He suffers from depression because of depressed stock price.
Not sure about impressed. But he is definitely trying hard and stir the pot - I guess one way to get the attention. I just read another of his article saying. Quite fast to switch horse from RealtyShares
check out Fundrise. They are my favorite real estate crowdsourcing company founded in 2012
One thing that bothers me is that FS has financial interests in these recommendations. Companies paid him “advising fees” whatever that means.
He’s also now flat out making macro predictions. Like after Trump won he said Midwest RE will beat the coasts simply because of Trump. I don’t think a personal finance blogger has any business in making macro calls, and the Midwest RE call is a very bad call in my not so humble opinion.
He’s also quite bearish on tech recently. I guess as a blogger he can write whatever he wants. But that feels to me quite outside of his wheelhouse and he risks making a big fool out of himself.
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More competition for Netflix.
Not really. It’s not creating any new content. It’s just another way to subscribe to HBO. I wonder how much sellers of HBO subscriptions get.
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Facebook sucked all the profits from newspapers not by becoming a newspaper itself. Rather it becomes the most wide reaching distribution channel for print content.
I think a similar thing can happen with TV and movie content. Facebook and YouTube have the best shot to become the best distribution channels. Nobody will install 20 apps just to watch Disney content on one and HBO on another. Facebook watch has a chance to become the aggregator.
That’s no reason why Netflix couldn’t distribute on facebook. If you’re right, then facebook will want to partner with all content providers to provide access through facebook.
There are plenty of reasons why Netflix doesn’t want to get on Facebook. It depends on how much data Facebook will share. Given the current regulatory climate Facebook may err on the side of caution when it comes to data sharing.
Netflix also has a thriving platform of its own. It may not make strategic sense for it to strengthen another platform that may one day compete with its own.
Facebook brings something unique to video viewing. I don’t know if group watching is a real thing or merely a fad but at least it’s something unique to Facebook. How about VR watching party via Oculus? There are some unique weapons Facebook can use in the video war.
I sold all my Facebook shares today.
Facebook today reminds me of Uber before the new CEO came in. It’s one scandal after another with no end in sight. I actually don’t think these so-called scandals are all that big a deal. But management needs to get a handle of them and restore public trust, and FB management has spectacularly failed to do that.
Charles Munger said the biggest risk to a company is reputational. Now that Facebook has been firmly labeled as a bad actor it will be very difficult for it to have another sizable acquisition. It may even have trouble attracting talents.
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Only Amzn left… Classic sign of capitulation.