Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The next piece of news will be no surprise
A person on the receiving end of the worst Facebook posts will seek a third party, rather than stay and endure the feedback.
Research into the impact of the social network’s “drip feed” – if an application is addictive, you are expected to visit it more often – revealed that users see the news in line with their input.
Not everyone will be capable of pouncing on the bad news, but those who can apparently turn it into information that prevents them from using the site.
This is good news for Facebook – and bad news for us.
Is this what happens when you give someone access to information you don’t want them to have?
It sounds like the behaviour we all saw a lot in the early days of the internet, when websites had blatant designs to help people add members or get quotes. In fact, it is an act we hear today more often than not in this context.
When it comes to online work, there are three strategies to employ when reading some details you don’t want to see. First, use the more strategic option.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Expect bad news at a more passive-aggressive pace
You can pause a piece of work that is in progress to move on. Although you will find it harder to find the topic you are focused on, you will be able to move on sooner to something else.
Second, there is the “Ugh, I want to get the hell off of here!” method, involving the immediate option of stopping the end of the page.
Third, there is the “Let’s just put this a lot further into the past” option, when you can press “x” at the start of a story to stop it from coming up.
When you hold your fork at the end of a story, the question is: Do you focus on the information or the risk?
Consider whether you are seeking immediate feedback or mindfulness? If you want to see the lowest common denominator that is unlikely to spark reaction, you don’t want to notice the wisdom of others.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Books are cool, but let’s not get too obsessed with them
Instead, you need to find the joy in waiting until you get the information you want. Ultimately, the more significant reward is appreciation, and that means paying attention.
But are our active behaviours in the face of bad news playing a role in the design of the site?
In a study based on information from nearly 150 million accounts, researchers found that when someone saw a tweet on Facebook that they found shocking, they were less likely to go on to it in the future – and that is good news for Facebook.
Dr Maria Raymond and colleagues found that “more extreme interactions” such as negative interactions in status updates or comments were “often followed by a user abandoning the site or furthering his or her conversion to a different platform”.
Is there a lesson in there for you?
