It's impossible to do - which is annoying if you're one of Mark's exes.
by Stevie Martin |
Published on
Hilariously, you can’t block Mark Zuckerberg’s updates on Facebook. If you try, then you get an error message telling you that ‘This profile can’t be blocked for now’ like this one Reddit userwho gave it a go discovered. Why? Well, Mashable looked into it and got an explanation from a Facebook spokesman who said it was to do with the fact that so many people are blocking him.
‘When a person has been blocked a certain large number of times. In very rare instances, a viral campaign will develop instructing lots of people to all wrongly block the same person. The purpose of this system is to protect the experience for people targeted by these campaigns.’
Make sense, but we’re suspicious that quite so many are blocking him at once – and it makes sense that you wouldn’t be able to get rid of him, considering he’s the founder. Sort of like deleting Tom from Myspace off your friends list. Feels wrong.
On the other hand, there have been a few viral campaigns to mass-block Mark, which might feasibly have triggered his un-blockable status – sort of like when you invite too many people to a Facebook event all at once and it tells you to slow down. You can’t overload the system.
Still, bit annoying if you’re one of Mark’s exes, right?!
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.
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Sure, the inability to block Mark Zuckerberg's updates on Facebook is indeed an intriguing issue rooted in the platform's mechanisms. This quirk occurs due to an intricate system in place to protect individuals from viral campaigns targeting a specific user. As detailed in the article, when numerous users attempt to block someone simultaneously, triggering what Facebook considers a potentially erroneous mass-blocking campaign, the system prevents further blocks to safeguard the user's experience.
This phenomenon reflects a defense mechanism implemented by Facebook to maintain a balanced and fair environment for users. The rationale behind the unblockable status for certain individuals, particularly notable figures like Mark Zuckerberg, lies in protecting against coordinated efforts to disrupt user experiences through mass-blocking.
The article touches upon the comparison between attempting to block Zuckerberg and removing Tom from Myspace, emphasizing the innate challenge in attempting to eliminate the founder of a platform from one's network. Additionally, it raises the notion of viral campaigns as potential triggers for rendering a user unblockable, akin to overloading a system with excessive Facebook event invites.
Regarding the concepts used in the article:
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Social Media Mechanics: Discusses the functionalities and limitations within social media platforms, particularly Facebook's mechanisms for blocking users.
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Viral Campaigns: Refers to coordinated efforts by a large number of users to perform a specific action, in this case, potentially blocking a particular user en masse.
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User Experience Protection: Highlights the priority of ensuring a positive and unobstructed experience for users on social media platforms.
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Platform Dynamics and Founders: Explores the complexities of attempting to alter or remove a platform's founder or key figure from user interactions.
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System Overload: Draws parallels between overwhelming a system, such as with Facebook event invites, and triggering certain responses or limitations within the platform.
The article's intriguing insights shed light on the intricacies of social media platforms, user behavior, and the protective measures implemented to maintain a balanced user experience.
