臉書回歸根本 向用戶顯示親朋貼文

Last year, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Tom Alison, one of his top lieutenants, were discussing how they wanted to reshape Facebook for the future of social networking.

去年，Meta執行長祖克柏和他的頂尖副手之一湯姆．艾利森，討論希望如何重塑臉書，迎接社群網絡的未來。

Zuckerberg, who had grown Facebook from a dorm-room project to a $1.5 trillion company that he renamed Meta, wanted to bring back some of the original rationale for the social network, or what he called “OG Facebook” vibes, Alison said in an interview. After years of adding features, the executives felt that some of Facebook’s key functions were being drowned out.

艾利森受訪時表示，祖克柏將臉書從一個在宿舍發想的專案，成長為一個價值1.5兆美元的公司並更名為Meta，他希望恢復這個社群網絡的一些最初原理，或者說他所說的「OG臉書」氛圍。歷經多年來不斷增加特色，這些高管感覺一些臉書的關鍵功能正被蓋過。淹沒。

So they asked themselves: Why not try building some features that resembled the Facebook of yore a bit more?

因此他們問自己：為何不試圖建立一些更像是從前臉書的功能呢？

On Thursday, Meta did just that with a simple tweak. The company said the Facebook app would now include a separate news feed for users that featured posts shared exclusively by people’s friends and family.

周四，Meta僅進行簡單的調整就做到這點。該公司表示，臉書應用程式現在將包含一個獨立的新聞推播功能，僅顯示由用戶朋友和家人分享的精選貼文。

The feature, called the Friends Tab, will replace a tab in the app that showed new friend requests or suggested friends. Friends Tab will instead show a scrolling feed of posts, such as photos, video stories, text, birthday notifications and friend requests. For now, it will be available to Facebook users only in the United States and Canada.

這個特色被稱為「好友標籤」，將取代應用程式內顯示新的好友請求和推薦好友的標籤。好友標籤反而將顯示滾動式貼文推播，如照片、影片限時動態、文字內容、生日通知和好友請求。目前該功能僅向美國和加拿大的臉書用戶開放。

“This idea of having a central place of what’s going on with your friends, that was like the magic of the early days of social media,” said Alison, who is head of the Facebook app. “We’re making sure that there’s still a place for this stuff on Facebook. It is something that shouldn’t get lost in the modern social media mix.”

主管臉書應用程式的艾利森表示：「將朋友發生的事集中呈現的想法，像是社群媒體早期的魔力。我們正確保這些內容在臉書仍有一席之地。這些內容不應在現代社群媒體混合中消失。」

Meta has no plans to stop adding recommended content to users’ feeds, Alison said. For now, the company does not expect the Friends Tab to be more popular than the Home feed of recommended content.

艾利森說，Meta不打算停止在用戶推播增加推薦內容。目前，該公司不預期「好友標籤」會比主頁推播推薦內容受歡迎。

And more changes to Facebook are likely coming. Meta plans to introduce other features and updates to Facebook in the coming year to make social media still “feel social,” Mr. Alison said.

臉書可能還會迎來更多改變。Meta計畫來年為臉書引進其他特色和更新，使社群媒體仍「具有社群感」。

“It is, frankly, core to Facebook,” he said.

他指：「坦白說，這是臉書核心。」

日稻農抗議法規「誤導」 加劇米短缺

In the United States, the affordability of eggs has prompted a national discussion — underscoring anxieties about the economy and the government’s role in addressing them. In Japan, there’s an equivalent: rice.

在美國，買不買得起雞蛋引發全國討論──凸顯人們憂心經濟和政府處理的效果。在日本，相對應的食品是：米。

Over the past year, Japan has grappled with a more than 200,000-ton shortage of its staple grain. Rice prices have skyrocketed, and supermarkets have been forced to restrict amounts that shoppers can buy. The situation became so dire that the government had to tap its emergency rice reserves.

過去一年，日本一直設法應付主食短缺超過20萬噸。米價飛漲，超市被迫限制顧客購買量。狀況變得如此嚴峻，以致政府必須動用緊急存糧。

The twist is that even as Japan deals with shortages, the government is paying farmers to limit how much they grow. The policy, in place for more than half a century, consumes billions of dollars a year in public spending.

怪異的是，即使日本米糧短缺，政府仍支付農民補助金限制稻米種植量。這項政策已實施超過半個世紀，每年花費數十億美元公費。

Farmers exasperated with the regulations protested Sunday. In a central Tokyo park, more than 4,000 farmers gathered with signs declaring “Rice is life” and “We make rice but can’t make a living.”

農民對於法規感到惱怒，周日發起抗議。在東京市中心一座公園，超過4000名農民聚集，舉著宣告「米是生命」和「我們會種稻但無法謀生」的標語牌。

The ability of Japan to manage its rice problem may have significant implications for the country’s political and economic landscape in the months ahead.

日本管理米糧問題的能力，可能對未來數月該國政治和經濟格局造成重大影響。

Last month, fresh food inflation surged 19%, driven by an 81% rise in the price of rice. Anxieties over the cost of food and other staples have weighed on Japanese consumers, and the economy, as households cut back on spending.

上個月，鮮食通貨膨脹率激增19%，是米價飆漲81%所導致。隨著日本家戶減少開支，對於食品和其他主食花費的擔憂，使日本消費者和經濟不安。

Shortages of Japan’s staple food are also occurring before an upper house election that will be the first nationwide poll for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. His predecessor resigned in August, facing dismal public approval ratings caused in large part by the cost of basic goods.

日本主食短缺的狀況也出現在參議院選舉之前，這是首相石破茂首次全國性選舉。他的前任去年8月因支持率低迷辭職，主要得歸咎於基本商品花費上漲。

The rice shortages stem from a mix of factors, including record summer heat in 2023 that damaged the harvest.

稻米短缺由多種因素造成，包括2023年夏季創紀錄的高溫破壞稻米收成。

But experts say the root cause lies in a decades-old policy that has systematically reduced arable land for rice growing. Since the 1970s, Japan has subsidized farmers to curtail the production of rice. The goal, officials say, is to support farmer incomes by maintaining high prices.

但專家表示，根本原因在於數十年來的政策系統性減少種植稻米的耕地。自1970年代以來，日本一直補助農民以限制稻米生產。官員表示，目標是藉由維持高價格保障農民收入。

Farmers at the protest said that policy isn’t working.

參與抗議的農民表示，政策根本沒用。

While slightly more costly, a policy focused on expanding production would increase rice supply, enhancing Japan’s food security, while lowering prices for consumers, said Nobuhiro Suzuki, a professor at the University of Tokyo specializing in agricultural economics. Enabling farmers to grow without restrictions while backstopping their incomes would also make the industry more attractive to new generations of workers, he said.

東京大學農業經濟教授鈴木宣弘表示，儘管花費略高，一個關注擴大生產的政策將增加稻米供應，加強日本糧食安全。他說，讓農民在沒有限制的狀況下種植，同時保障他們的收入，也將使該產業對新一代勞動者更具吸引力。