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posted by martyb on Sunday June 25 2017, @05:02AM   Printer-friendly
from the group-think dept.

Facebook has changed its mission statement as Mark Zuckerberg has indicated a new focus on "groups":

"We used to have a sense that if we could just do those things, then that would make a lot of the things in the world better by themselves," Zuckerberg told CNN Tech. "But now we realize that we need to do more too. It's important to give people a voice, to get a diversity of opinions out there, but on top of that, you also need to do this work of building common ground so that way we can all move forward together."

The company even has a new mission statement: "To give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together." This marks the first time the company has overhauled its mission, which had previously been "to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected."

CNNMoney also dishes the doubt:

Zuckerberg has denied that filter bubbles are widespread. He also believes memberships in groups will expose people to more opinions, not fewer, by helping "people meet new people and get new perspectives and broaden their horizons."

[...] The move to a more groups-based experience for Facebook users could mean people get fewer articles from their news feed, where many publishers post directly. They might see less news overall, including fake news, or a more curated selection of stories from their groups. Facebook has not said how or if its tools for fighting fake news carry over to stories posted in groups.

The focus on groups as a positive tool with the power to change the world overlooks how people use them for negative causes. Hate groups like white power organizations use Facebook groups openly, and will continue to exist in the future. Zuckerberg has said he values free speech on the platform and Facebook only interferes if something goes "way over the line," like bullying or the threat of real world violence. Facebook often relies on regular people flagging objectionable content, but that's less likely to happen in closed Facebook groups.


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  • (Score: 2) by inertnet on Sunday June 25 2017, @08:21PM

    by inertnet (4071) on Sunday June 25 2017, @08:21PM (#530945) Journal

    "to get a diversity of opinions out there".

    Priceless. They're blocking more every day.

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