[openasocket]

> What does it mean for society when Facebook can demote a challenging but important article (say, of war reporting) in your newsfeed

I think it means absolutely nothing. I use Facebook so I can see how my friends are doing, not to find news articles to read (unless it's an article my friend just shared, and even then only maybe). I don't think many people use facebook to get their news and nowhere else.

[Swizec]

> I don't think many people use facebook to get their news and nowhere else.

And yet enough people do that it's a real and recognized problem to the point that HN discusses it every couple of weeks. HN in itself being a similar echo chamber.

People get news from what they look at. There's no such thing as "news". It's all eyeball based. The source with the most eyeballs is considered The News.

[maxlybbert]

That reminds me of John Stewart telling people not to consider the "Daily Show" a real news show.

[Retra]

That is what you say when you're making a distinction between "editorial" content and "news." Jon Stewart was saying "My show is obviously editorial content, not fact-reporting objective journalism." As a way of objecting to other sources who claimed to be providing fact-reporting objective journalism when they were actually providing editorial content. AKA "Fox News" vs "Comedy Central."

[maxlybbert]

That is true. But Stewart also said "The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls."

[MaxfordAndSons]

> I don't think many people use facebook to get their news and nowhere else.

Actually, nearly 50% of American adults use facebook as a news source [0]. Not that this means they don't have other sources, but it seems very likely that increased consumption of news via facebook is cutting into consumption from other sources. Anecdotally I've noticed that trend in my own news consumption, to my chagrin.

[0] http://www.niemanlab.org/2016/05/pew-report-44-percent-of-u-...

[Johnny_Brahms]

My biggest gripe with facebook is that we have given them, a company that earns money by knowing as much as possible about us, and important role in deciding how we interact with society and the people around us.

I believe you have to be a special kind of crazy not to acknowledge that as a problem. Or, considering their big user base, a very general kind of crazy.

[SCdF]

> I don't think many people use facebook to get their news and nowhere else.

Anecdotally I'd agree with you, but apparently statistically most facebook users are trending that way, so it's a genuine concern.