BLOG 2: FACEBOOK MAKES YOU ANGRY

Facebook makes money from ads. The longer people stay on Facebook, and therefore the more ads they see, the more revenue for Facebook. That is their revenue model.

But how does Facebook make you stick around longer? According to ex-Facebook employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen, Facebook has a clear strategy for this: they mainly show messages that encourage people to respond.

After all, internal research by Facebook shows that the emotion that leads to the fastest response is anger. And according to the same research, this is most easily done by displaying content that sows divisiveness and polarizes.

Showing messages that make people angry is therefore the 'best' way for Facebook to get people to respond and to earn money. And that, according to Frances Haugen, is exactly what the company does.

What Facebook discovered is consistent with Stephen Porges' Polyvagal Theory. This theory explains how our body responds to an often unconscious feeling of insecurity. The first reaction is to fight (anger), if you can't fight, you will flee (afraid) or freeze.

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So this theory gives us the tools to see through Facebook's strategy and not get caught up in it.