

Facebook: people outside America don't understand the "interested in" phrase - vilepickle
http://www.vilepickle.com/blog/2011/08/05/00118-facebook-usability-alert-people-outside-america-dont-understand-interested-phr

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jhamburger
All the quasi-dating stuff in facebook profiles is kind of awkward anyway,
they should probably just get rid of it. It's mostly good for a laugh when a
facebook noob signs up and fills it out like an online dating profile. I know
people use Facebook to meet people, but they usually do so in a more discrete
way since you usually communicate with friends and family on the same channel.

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rickmb
Lesson #1 if you have an international product: don't use euphemisms. Either
be straight (no pun intended), or don't ask the question.

The problem is of course that in some cultures, speaking in euphemisms is so
deeply ingrained that the speakers are no longer aware of it.

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Shenglong
_It would be interesting to know if this confusion happens in other
-countries- and not just Africa,_

Opps. I know it's not what you meant, but you should probably make a quick
edit.

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vilepickle
Actually, I think the line in my post is correct, I was specifically referring
to this happening in Africa and I am not aware if it happens in other
countries.

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patrickaljord
I think what he meant is that your phrase implies that Africa is a country.

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vilepickle
You're right! I'll make the change.

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gpjt
While we're on the subject of nationalities -- "interested in" is pretty clear
for people in the UK too. I imagine Irish people, Canadians, Australians, New
Zealanders, and many South Africans also know what's meant.

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patrickaljord
I'm from France and this is pretty clear too.

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inportb
Facebook used to have a "looking for" field, and I always thought "interested
in" modified that. I'd always been interested in men and women for friendship
(on Facebook), before that field disappeared.

... and I still find men and women interesting. Why does it always have to be
about sexual preference?

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ebiester
Simple: You ask the wrong lesbian (or gay guy, if you're a straight woman) if
she's interested in dating, she'll tell you off. At worst. Most of the time,
it's not nearly that dramatic.

If I ask the wrong guy, I get into a fight. Most straight men are still
offended at "being mistaken for a gay man." I can short circuit this by pre-
checking something like Facebook.

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stcredzero
_Most straight men are still offended at "being mistaken for a gay man."_

I'll note that this even happens with freewheeling Discordians who pretend to
flirt with men and pantomime kissing them for lulz. Sure, they can flirt with
you and everyone else in some outrageous, campy way, and brag about doing
anything on two legs with a hole, but then you extrapolate that to mean
they're bisexual (omnisexual?) -- and you get genuine and incongruously out-
of-character offense.

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dpark
It's unclear even to some (probably a lot of) Americans. I've known Americans
who set it to "men and women" despite being straight. They changed it when it
was pointed out what it meant. It's a really poorly-worded option.

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Shenglong
I don't think it's that awkward with a north american mindset. It's in the
Basic Information category, next to Relationship Status. Furthermore, I think
some basic questions are reasonable:

1\. How many people are so harshly prejudice, that they're not even interested
in one gender?

2\. How many of these people would admit it?

3\. Why would Facebook want to know?

4\. What does it _probably_ mean?

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dpark
I just logged into Facebook to check. It's not next to "Relationship Status"
any more, at least not in the "Edit Profile" area where you'd actually set it.
This doesn't really matter anyway.

The fact that someone can deduce what it means doesn't mean it's not an
extremely poor wording. A user shouldn't have to go through your 4 questions
to figure it out. There shouldn't be any confused-user results when searching
for "facebook 'interested in'" online (and there are).

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taylorbuley
I can report that my bud studying in Japan says that most of his Japanese
colleagues list "interested in Men" due to this very confusion.

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lmkg
This isn't just a translation issue, it's also a cultural-attitudes issue as
well. Why do we even put sexual preference as one of the primary line-items on
your profile? For the US (or at least US college undergrads), this makes
sense: it's relevant information that you want to share. But when you take it
international, it may not be relevant, or may not be something you want to
share. There are a few countries where homosexuality still carries the death
penalty, quite a few where it's far more taboo than the US, and plenty of
other ones that practice arranged marriages instead of open dating. A social
networking site created in countries like those would never consider putting
dating preference in their profiles at all, much less how to phrase them. Even
if the phrase were translated appropriately, it wouldn't make sense to ask it.

Considering that, it's probably better to leave it open to local
interpretation.

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walexander
Facebook caught on, to some extent, as a type of dating service.

I'm Zuckerberg's age and watched Facebook grow while I was in college. For a
large majority of people, during the .edu restricted times, it was mainly a
way to check if you might have a chance with the girl in your Statistics
class.

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sp332
This could be intentionally unclear, defined by the group instead of declared
by Facebook. I mean, the "Poke" is intentionally undefined, so various friend
groups use it for different things. Maybe the answer is more illuminating when
you give people room to interpret the question.

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yason
I know people who first thought it meant that you're publicly announcing that
you're interested in (seeing other) men/women even if you're in a relationship
or married. _"No honey, being interested in women just means I'm not gay."_

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mynegation
Isn't that what translations are for? Or do translators get it wrong too?

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jneal
It depends on context. The simple phrase "Interested in" would not be
translated to "Sexual Preference"

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xsmasher
That's the key. "I'm interested in men's soccer" and "I'm interested in men"
are expressing two completely different meanings of the English word
"interested."

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troymc
"Interested in" might also mean in an academic sense, as in "I'm interested in
the study of men and women, as a sociologist."

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ekm
Oops,i had no idea it meant "Sexual Interest"!

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ristretto
Why don't they change it to "romantic interest"?

