This week we discuss dark patterns, Facebook, and the tycoon monomyth.

We also talk about user interfaces, social network governance, and prioritized metrics.

Stream

Subscribe

iTunes / Stitcher / Soundcloud / YouTube / MP3
 

Show Notes

• Intro
• User interface & user interface design
• The Year Dark Patterns Won
• DarkPatterns.org
• Dark Patterns are designed to trick you and they’re all over the web via Ars Technica
• Columbia House scam explained by insiders
• Shady Patterns
• Image of Zynga’s invisible ‘unsubscribe’ button
• Regarding the Stamps.com lawsuit
• Blue Apron’s dark pattern lawsuit (and bad Blue Apron news about something else completely)
• I read this piece by David Hansson the day after I recorded this episode, and wish I had read it sooner, so I could mention it in the episode; a great essay about many of the same things I mention in the audio

• Unspooling
• Building Global Community via Facebook
• The same essay, but not on Facebook
• Facebook info (and here’s where I got some of those financial numbers)
• Mark Zuckerberg wants Facebook to have more power in our lives, and we should resist via recode
• The Mark Zuckerberg Manifesto Is a Blueprint for Destroying Journalism via The Atlantic
• The Facebook manifesto: Mark Zuckerberg’s letter to the world looks a lot like politics via The Guardian
• Net neutrality
• Why India rejected Facebook’s ‘free’ version of the internet
• Developing countries think Facebook is the Internet (though the opposite is apparently also true)
• There’s apparently a Democratic Peace Theory (but there’s also data supporting the idea that democracy reduces the number of armed conflicts in the world)
• How capitalism is killing war
• The hero’s journey monomyth
• Uber’s shady journalist-tracking habits
• A call for the CEO of Uber to step down
• Silicon Valley Isn’t a Meritocracy. And It’s Dangerous to Hero-Worship Entrepreneurs
• Will Mark Zuckerberg Run for President?
• The official Chan Zuckerberg Initiative site (and the Wikipedia page)
• Five lessons from Iceland’s failed experiment in creating a crowdsourced constitution
• Direct/Pure Democracy & Representative Democracy
• Past episode: Click

• Outro
• Sponsor: Hostgator (who I use for my hosting needs — great if you’re starting a blog, website, or other project). Use this link to get a massive discount on whatever you might want from their service list, which in turn also benefits the show
• Sponsor: Audible — click the link to get a free month to try it out, and a free audiobook from their frankly ridiculously huge library (you can find my books in their library by searching for ‘Colin Wright’). You can cancel before the month is up if you’re not interested, but it’s a great service, and I think you’ll dig it (and the show benefits if you sign up and try it out via that link)
• Recommended book: Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari (remember that you can get this free if you sign up for the free month of Audible using the link above)(you can also buy it via this Amazon link, which will give me a referrer fee at no additional cost to you — and that applies to anything you might buy through the link)
• Some books of mine, also available on Audible: Come Back Frayed, Some Thoughts About Relationships, and Considerations
• LKT on iTunes (consider leaving a review if you’re enjoying the show & have a spare second)
• More about your host, a list of books I’ve written, and my contribution page
• My blog: Exile Lifestyle
• The Let’s Know Things Facebook page, Instagram profile, and newsletter
• My social media links