It was all of these things Instagram avoided—hyperlinks, news, virality, edge stories—that cheapened Facebook’s relationship with its users. Facebook was indeed biased, not against conservatives, but in favor of showing people whatever would encourage them to spend more time on the social network. The company was also in favor of avoiding scandal, appearing neutral, and giving the public what they wanted. But as Facebook became a destination for political conversations, the human curation in “Trending Topics” wasn’t the actual problem. It was how human nature was manipulated by Facebook’s
...more
What got Facebook into trouble
