[gammarator]

Most of the theorizing about this episode gets the history wrong. The user outcry was because News Feed on rollout suddenly broadcast widely communication that had been previously been reasonably private. Suddenly pokes and wall posts between two friends were pushed to your entire network.

Users weren’t wrong to dislike this! Facebook violated their assumptions, just as if you learned someone was live-streaming your conversation with them at a bar. In response, Facebook provided more granular privacy controls—but more importantly, users changed their behavior to adapt to the assumptions of the new platform.

(The outcry also highlighted the potential for virality in feed-like platforms, which was great for growth but of course also has negative consequences…)

[deckard1]

Looking at Facebook is like looking at the rings of a tree. You can see the time where they worried about Twitter. Then they feared Snapchat. Now you can see how TikTok is making them panic.