No, Seriously, F*ck Engagement: Building a More Human Web
summary
Argues that web personalization and engagement metrics reward content near the line of prohibition and literally cost lives, citing the 2017–18 Rohingya killings (about 10,000 dead) and Cambridge Analytica’s misuse of data; documents platform choices like Zuckerberg halting fact checks and Musk firing moderators. Offers alternatives with concrete examples: DuckDuckGo is profitable using contextual advertising and reports >$25M revenue, Seer sets a $65k salary floor (31% above market) and makes custodial staff full‑time, and designers use Indigenous principles—land, materials, reciprocity—to build a web that measures engagement by people helped rather than clicks.
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chapters (19)
- 0:00Introduction and purpose
- 1:04The mirror effect on society
- 3:31Personalization and the web
- 5:56Productizing ourselves online
- 7:22Critique of engagement metrics
- 9:30Engagement in workplace platforms
- 11:56The worst engagement graph
- 13:22Facebook and hate speech in Myanmar
- 15:23Building a people-focused web
- 17:28Maslow and the Siksika people
- 20:34Kondiaronk and indigenous critique
- 25:07The just world hypothesis
- 28:15People challenging systems
- 31:00Ethical business practices
- 34:05Indigenous design principles
- 35:26Self-worth and values
- 37:09Interdependent design vision
- 39:54Call to action and values
- 40:59Q&A session
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