SEOUL, KOREA — To log-in to Facebook is to enter a social space entirely different from the rest of the Internet and your physical reality. It is like walking into a hall of old friends, current co-workers, ex-partners, mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, people who do not identify or do see themselves as a multiplicity of genders and identities. It is a murky swamp and an five-year college reunion, a high school prom night remembered, a company meeting, a political rally and a comedy show all at once. The news feed algorithm sorts through content, highlighting the stories it believes you want to read and digest, or providing you with in-the-now updates. It is another world to lose yourself in.
The job of writing copy for the world's largest social network - text that can be read across hundreds of languages and mutually understood - is a daunting one. This task is wrapped up with the content strategy team who also build the design and layout of the site. They are responsible for the first and the last thing you see, as you enter and exit the site. They are the gatekeepers, and they hope you don't notice them at all.
