[dragonwriter]

> Right, so ads don't feel like much of the FB experience.

Right, but the issue was the claim that with FB everything is about ads, not the UX feels like it is about ads. Making ads not feel like as much of the FB experience as they are is, itself, about ads -- and, particularly, is about maximizing the degree to which the FB experience is actually about ads.

[WillNotDownvote]

"Making ads not feel like as much of the FB experience as they are is, itself, about ads..."

Well, we just disagree here. I see it from exactly the other end. That the main FB goal is to engage users, and minimizing the (necessary, but grudgingly so) ads is about that.

[unclebucknasty]

I think the answer is both-and vs. either-or.

FB's bait is user engagement. So, applying machine learning to the goal of engaging users makes sense.

But, to monetize that user-engagement they, of course, use ads. Applying machine learning directly there makes sense too.

Beyond that, it's just semantics. Yes, one could accurately say that everything FB does is about ads because, ultimately, they are a for-profit company which derives its revenue from advertising. In that way, the ultimate goal of all of its activity is aimed at generating ad revenue.

But, that doesn't mean that every single activity or bit of technology that supports that activity is directly tied to driving ad revenue. That is to say, that if FB featured no advertising but, instead, charged users, they would still likely deploy machine-learning to user-engagement and, thus, customer-retention.