Ask HN: What would give you trust back in Facebook?

[maxwellito]

Not here to debate about Facebook alternatives or bash about their product. But more about what would it takes to regain that trust? (That you presumably had in the past and no longer have now)

I enjoyed Facebook products, and still today. But along the years, I wasn't happy with the way they collect and use personal data then decided to take some distance. Either by no longer use some products or restrict the data collection. I deleted my Facebook account, I login to my Instagram account (via private tab) once a month to check messages, I try to keep my conversations outside of WhatsApp when possible. However I have a Quest 1, that still works without Facebook account for now.

Something that would make me feel more comfortable is having a log of the data they collect (from everywhere), and a clear explanation about why I see an advertising (what data point led me to this ad).

What's yours?

PS: I might be out of date about the Facebook product. I deleted my account 2 years ago and I have no clue about data management updates since.

PS: I know Twitter does it but it's very silly: _The reason you see this CircleCI advert is because you're a male between 7 and 77 years old._ Not sure my Dad would see it too.

[etiam]

Throw out all the people and all the existing code/infrastructure, and completely change the business model. Discard the data hoards. For good measure, also change the name and brand.

Establish in no uncertain terms that the new company culture is to above all try to act in the users' best interest and shun lies and manipulation as modus operandi.

If they'd do that I think it'd worthy of another chance, despite their track record.

[ng-user]

Nothing, their reputation is absolutely tarnished and past the point of no-return. I want nothing to do with Facebook products/services.

[drstewart]

>Stop wasting time debating and just use .NET, don't overthink things.

Funny, people said the same about Microsoft -- yet you say don't even STOP to think about using their products.

Turns out trust can be repaired.

[agent008t]

Perhaps complete roll back to how it was in 2007 might do it. Among other things it would need to display items in a predictable order (e.g. in the order in which they were posted), and ideally do away with the 'wall' altogether. The front page could just tell me which of the people have updates (and how many / what kinds), and then I could check those out on their pages.

No infinite scroll - content should be paginated.

Maximizing user satisfaction instead of user engagement as a company goal.

Explicitly erring on the side of being ethical when it comes to ads/practices.

Discouraging promoted content, including self-promotion.

[AnimalMuppet]

Nothing.

The problem isn't Facebook. The problem is people. They believe and re-spread disinformation. That isn't going to change by Facebook tweaking their algorithm. The gain might go down a little, but that's all.

Disclaimer: I have never been on Facebook in the first place, so my opinion may not be worth much.

[kleer001]

> The problem is people.

IMHO It's more specifically people that were "forced" to get onto Facebook. Not the native digerati. We're fine.

Come on Aunty So-and-so, you have to get on Facebook. Oh wow, my old school chum is on Facebook. Etc, you know the stories. Those people just shoved into the deep end of a world that looks a little like something they maybe know, but haven't learned to swim in.

It's a predictably old saw that the internet was better before Facebook, before AOL, before the mass commercialization of shared digital spaces.

[mg5150]

I've never trusted Facebook, and the only reason I still have an account is that my family insists on using it. They acknowledge that I'm right to be wary of Facebook, but they're familiar with it and my sixty-something parents aren't going to switch because they have more pressing concerns and (in their opinion) nothing to hide.

All I can do, since they won't use alternatives like email, SMS, or Signal, is give them as little data as possible. I don't post to the timeline. I use 20 year old photo as my profile pic. I don't provide any biographical info. I don't "like" anything or send friend requests. And I don't post anything on messenger that I wouldn't be willing to write on a postcard.

Facebook won't be close to trustworthy until it is forced to buy out Mark Zuckerberg and sell off Instagram, WhatsApp, Occulus, etc. Remember, this was Zuckerberg at 19, according to transcripts leaked to Business Insider:

Zuck: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard

Zuck: Just ask.

Zuck: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS

[Redacted Friend's Name]: What? How'd you manage that one?

Zuck: People just submitted it.

Zuck: I don't know why.

Zuck: They "trust me"

Zuck: Dumb fucks.

He might have gotten less contemptuous of users with age, but Facebook's actions do not suggest this is the case.

As an aside, the only thing that would get me to trust ANY social media platform would be if it served as a front-end for users' websites. When you sign up, you should be able to provide your website's RSS/Atom/JSON feed, and your posts should come out of the feed. When somebody follows you, they're just following your feed. When you delete your account, your data remains your own because all the platform was doing was pulling from your feed.

I know the Solid project is supposed to address this, but I think it's a solution in search of a problem.

[DLA]

Nothing. We are the product. Period. Zuck is smug, deceitful & power hungry. Unsubscribe.

[knikes]

I don't think anything would, however Zuckerberg resigning would be a good start. I absolutely do not trust him, and I don't think I ever will. I'd don't believe any public attempt at 'turning over a new leaf' would be genuine coming from him, and it would just be a not so thinly veiled attempt to appease his irredeemable image. I just think he is a self centered, horrible person and I don't trust Facebook's motives as long as he's the CEO.

[yulaow]

They first need to switch their whole ads model to no-tracking contextual ads + remove private groups

Then I can start to re-evaluate them

[vegator]

Trust takes ages to grow, but is lost in a second. Facebook is long passed the no return point.

[meiraleal]

Nothing. Facebook is better dead.