Facebook.

[Avis]

Yes I use it, when you have friends and family scattered to the four winds it's useful.

In defence of social media / facebook etc, how many people check in on this forum constantly? and for how long have we been coming here? facebook is no different in that respect, just instead of a gaming community it's my family and real world friends.
A gaming forum is every bit a 'social media' as facebook, snapchat or any of the others just the audience is more restricted.

[mrbadger]

Yes I use it, when you have friends and family scattered to the four winds it's useful.

In defence of social media / facebook etc, how many people check in on this forum constantly? and for how long have we been coming here? facebook is no different in that respect, just instead of a gaming community it's my family and real world friends.
A gaming forum is every bit a 'social media' as facebook, snapchat or any of the others just the audience is more restricted.

It is different, in that Egosoft isn't firing adverts at me, or harvesting my data as aggresively as Facebook and the other social media sites.

If they were I'd stop using it. I worry sometimes that it might either die, or be bought up by a social media company, which would be the same thing as dying.

I keep a presence on Twitter, but not much of one. Not enough to satisfy the data farming algorithms I suspect. I've done work myself analysing posts, I know how data rich even twitter can be if you post often. You can even predict the weather from it.

If Facebook were to die, Twitter would just take its place anyway.

[Avis]

..

It is different, in that Egosoft isn't firing adverts at me, or harvesting my data as aggresively as Facebook and the other social media sites.

If they were I'd stop using it. I worry sometimes that it might either die, or be bought up by a social media company, which would be the same thing as dying.

I keep a presence on Twitter, but not much of one. Not enough to satisfy the data farming algorithms I suspect. I've done work myself analysing posts, I know how data rich even twitter can be if you post often. You can even predict the weather from it.

If Facebook were to die, Twitter would just take its place anyway.

I don't disagree there is a difference, my point was that a game forum is still a 'social media' so I don't get the apparent snobbery (for choice of better word).
In all honesty, Egosoft know more about me than facebook, facebook doesn't know my main email address, my real address or telephone number, this is in part due to the lack of trust I have in them to respect that data so I don't provide it for them to farm.

I treat facebook the same as I would treat any 'normal' forum, sign up, provide bare basic information (or even fabricate it) and treat it as public.

[mrbadger]

Then you probably aren't as valuable to them as most people are.

Maybe.

Only Facebook Buy and sell data, they accumulate data from your web browsing history simply because you have an active Facebook account, they track your online buying habits (except for on Amazon at the moment I think, they tried that and it failed badly, I have no idea if they've found a way to try again, I lack the interest to look).

So maybe you're more valuable than you think, maybe they know more about you than you realise.

Just having an account active makes you an asset. My having a deactivated account means I'm still an asset, albeit an increasingly stale one, I'm worth money. They don't allow complete deletion of accounts. They could, but they won't, because that would lose them data they can sell.

The most you can do now is prevent yourself being tracked from now onwards by Facebook.

Using Noscript I am astonished by the number of websites running scripts served by Facebook. That company is everywhere.

Is it snobbery to like a forum running on software that is so out of date it's not in use anywhere else on the net?

In one of my modules I get my students to use IRC, is that being snobbish too

[Morkonan]

CNN: Elon Musk deletes Facebook Accounts for Telsa and SpaceX.

... It all went down in a snarky Twitter exchange that kicked off Friday morning when Musk responded to a widely shared tweet that called on people to delete their Facebook pages.

"What's Facebook?" Musk retorted.

Another user chimed in asking him to take SpaceX off the platform, and Musk replied that he "didn't realize" it had a Facebook page.

When asked if he'd delete the Tesla page as well, Musk responded: "Definitely. Looks lame anyway."

By midday ET, the pages were gone. The profiles had more than 2 million likes each. ...

Has The Rebellion begun?

[mrbadger]

Pardon me for being cynical, but he turned two pretty standard Facebook pages that most people probably didn't even know about into a media event reported for free around the world. Raising the profile of SpaceX even more.

Pretty savvy business thinking if you ask me. Maybe some social concience, but more knowing how to read the crowd than trying to do the right thing.

From what I've read of the guy I think I could respect him if I knew him more, but I don't know him. I know his public face. That's all I'll ever know, all anyone outside his friends and family will ever know.

[Morkonan]

I agree.

Though, with the first part, I don't think he really intended to use this for promotion of his own enterprises as much as he used it to promote his dislike for certain social media platforms. (And, specifically, maybe his dislike of Zuckerberg.)

Ol' Musky is just Ol' Musky, a pop-icon in social media circles and, in the real world, a really rich guy who's pretty intelligent, most of the time.

Given that all this is focused on teh interwebz, yet there are real-world implications including stock value and profit-margins for one of the most influential companies in the world, his electronic actions will have real-world consequences. But, only if others follow suit.

I don't think any traditional companies are rushing to delete their Facebook pages, though, just because "Ol' Musky" got his dander up. It's still a profitable and effective tool.

[Morkonan]

A relevant TED-talk:

TED - Zeynep Tufekci: We're building a dystopia

A synopsis in a gif, which prompted my post: Imgur - Relevant moreso than ever

The takeaway? To sum: We need a digital economy where we are not for sale. The current digital economy is... dangerous.

PS - There's a great deal in the vid about how Big Data is being used to influence public opinion, including voting behavior, social views, belief systems, etc... AND, we don't really know how these algorithms work, just that they DO work. This is "just the beginning" and if the influence of these manipulative algorithms and methods continues to broaden, we'll be holding the tiger's tail. The dangers of unbridled authoritarianism using these digital tools is very real. The same ways these digital platforms influence us to buy soap are being used to influence how we think, how we vote, even if we decide to vote that day. (Evidence and studies presented in the TED-talk, so it's not just conjecture.)

Great vid. Grab a coffee, snack, or knitting-needles, whatever you need to induce you to sit down and watch it. <Insert ad for eatable, coffee-flavored, knitting-needles>

[Morkonan]

Zuckerberg to testify in front of US Congress on Facebook's use of and protection of user's data

...

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Oh lordy, grab the popcorn. I wonder if he'll wear his signature t-shirt when testifying in front of Congress. It'd probably be worth buying a suit for.

And, if he starts any of his normal "connect the world at all costs because everyone should know everybody as long as we're making money off of it"... Gonna be good.

April 11'th, set your calendars, watch "C-Span" (US) or check youtube as I'm sure it'll be there, too.

[mrbadger]

is it actually possible to completelly delete your profile instead of just deactivating it after all?

I've read some things that indicate it may be possible now, but that wasn't the case before when I stopped using Facebook.

As it is my profile is just deactivated. I would prefer to fully delete it.

[Morkonan]

is it actually possible to completelly delete your profile instead of just deactivating it after all?

I've read some things that indicate it may be possible now, but that wasn't the case before when I stopped using Facebook.

As it is my profile is just deactivated. I would prefer to fully delete it.

Yes, you can permanently delete your Facebook account. However, I don't think that covers any data stored by Facebook for its own uses.

https://www.facebook.com/help/224562897 ... aq_content

BUT, in countries other than the US, with EU laws and the like, Facebook may also be required to extend those people the option of having all of their personal data deleted as well, including all the personally identifiable data Facebook may have for them. (I don't know, but it's a subject that has come up pretty frequently of late.)

[mrbadger]

Cool, that wasn’t a thing before. I’ll do that.

Edit: took all of 5 seconds after reactivating my account. Evidently all but stuff I've sent to other people should be gone in 15 days.

[Morkonan]

See Zuckerberg wearing a suit! (Testifying before US Congress panel.)

https://www.cnn.com/specials/live-video-1?adkey=bn

I wonder how many of these politicians will pander to him... All of them on this committee, AFAIK, received campaign donations from Facebook. Will they go light on him? Or, will they rise to the occasion given the public's concern?

/drama

Nothing will likely come from it. This hearing is a shadow-play, just to demonstrate Congress is "doing something" which is, actually, nothing at all. GG Ajit Pai tearing down "Net Neutrality" and opening a wide gate for continued privacy abuses while Congress collects campaign donations from ISPs. I think that, at best, they'll say "poo-poo diaper goo-goo" stuff to him and he'll give a rising performance about how much "Facebook loves everybody and just wants everybody to love everybody and love people 'cause we are all in this together and we should talk about how much we should just get along and love each other and that's why Facebook exists, 'cause it loves peoples loving... "

IOW - Nobody with the power to actually do anything gives a #%^ as long as the money keeps flowing.

Update-comment on testimony: Zuckerberg is stepping close against the line of lying to Congress. (AFAIK, he is not "under oath" for his testimony in this hearing.) He has repeatedly and often stated that "you own your data and everything you post on Facebook."

That is a lie.

Here's the thing - If I truly own all my data, I own the rights to it. That means that anyone who uses it must either contract with me (Facebook EULA) or agree to pay me if they use my data for financial gain, if I wish "payment" for such. Zuckerberg's definition of "ownership" and a reasonable person's definition of "ownership" is not the same, here. A reasonable person's interpretation of that word is necessary for a legal contract... Is my personal, customized, reception of these ads, based upon my personal data, worth anything to someone? And, if I "own that" then... maybe I should join Facebook and start making some money?

Add: And, a Senator Schatz asked about this very thing! He even pointed out that it doesn't seem like Facebook's/Zuckerberg's definition of "ownership" isn't the same as a reasonable person's! ("HI, Senator, if you're reading this! If not... "HI NSA!") Ahh... he rolled into the late Senator Inouye's office! I always liked Inouye, too. Hmmm, maybe because he's the youngest Senator in that Congressional lot, and he didn't have to have an "election campaign" funded by... Facebook.. Wow, golly, maybe he's not obliged to go light on Facebook for continued campaign donations? (Maybe I should move to Hawaii?)

Yes, I'm a bit over-zealous on this issue. But, it's one of the largest influences on technology in the world. It is "meaningful" to where the future of the internet goes. Are we all for sale? Should we be? Should a commercial agency, though fifty-eleven pages of "legelese" be allowed access to everything we do, when we do it, where we do it and who we do it with?

These sorts of new tech don't need hidden cameras and mircrophones to spy on users. They don't need court approval to gain access to "private" information. Or, at least information that normal people would consider "private." They can read your mail if they want, as much as they want. And, they can do what they want, when they want, all with the excuse of "We're making stuffs better for you." Is this... wrong? Isn't it?

[mrbadger]

Most people want the lie to be true.

I wonder how many of my students could cope if they were forced to give up Facebook?

I wouldn't bother telling them I deleted my account. I don't mention my own Facebook presence at all, I never did. When it was active I got friend requests from students in my modules all the time. I always ignored them. Some of my colleagues didn't, which I never understood.

If the requests were from students I intended to take on as project students I would explain in class it was because such a social link was innapropriate until after I was no longer teaching them, otherwise the request would just get deleted. I can't think of time I got another request when they graduated.

I only allow one student to interact with me on Twitter, because he's the same age I was when I went back to University. Much older than most students and with a completelly different view of life. We have far more in common. I suspect when he graduates in a few months our student/supervisor relationship will move to a proper friendship, as he and his wife live near us. That's unusual, most of the time my students are far too young and I expect/hope to never see them again.

[Morkonan]

Most people want the lie to be true.

And, the lie is whatever they're told it is, from day to day, as long as they keep clicking on ads.

Facebook just bets on the fact that most of it's members won't bother attempting to control or "own" their own data. They won't. Heck, I wonder just how much functionality they'd lose if they did that? Any? Are any companion apps or whatever that thing has dependent on having that sort of access? It'd be interesting to see.

I wonder how many of my students could cope if they were forced to give up Facebook?

I don't understand that sort of thing. I guess I'm too friggin old. I know that if someone likes me enough to call or email me on occasion, then they're worth holding onto. If they don't? Well, that just means we "grew apart" or something and that sort of thing happens... in real life.

Happening Now, on Facebook somewhere - That crazy, funny, guy you were really good friends with in grade-school just got out of jail, again, and is letting everyone know he's really off those drugs, now, and couldn't he just borrow a few bucks until the lands that painting job? Suzie the Homecoming Queen is getting divorced again, probably because the nearest bar won't let her in anymore, and she "just always thought you were the most awesome guy and wouldn't you like to hang out or something?" of course, there's Jane the "overly enthusiastic about kids" Babymaking-Machine who's determined to start her own country lying on her back while her half-dead-looking husband takes on yet another job just so they don't get their trailer repossessed. But, it's all good, he just bought his second boat! And, look, pictures! Lastly, there's "that guy" who moved 800 miles away after he graduated college and now owns his own business and is happily married with 1.5 kids and a dog. He never posts anything to the group, but, after a few days go by, he'll reply pleasantly when asked a question. Everyone thinks he's the weird one...

Geocities collapsed, AOL is a zombie being fed off of by another zombie, Myspace became a joke and, eventually, Facebook will die, too. It's inevitable. Facebook doesn't have an exclusive product. It can't have any protections from competition. Sometime, somewhere, something is going to surpass Facebook and that will be that.

Of course, they won't be any better than Facebook. But, you won't be able to tell that to anyone who's presently worshiping it.

[mrbadger]

I think we hit peak Facebook around 2015.
That was when it was worst in our classrooms, and there was no discernible backlash.

Now though it seems there is a separation. Where before my students were absorbed by it across the board, with only a very few at the top not touching it in class, or not much. Now it’s the lower end of the students in my classroom, the 2.2/3 crowd. The ones who don’t come every week.

It hardly interrupts me now, before it was a constant battle. I’m only encountering it again because I’ve returned to teaching first years as well as my final year students.

Among the first years Facebook activity is still high, but their in a new social environment, establishing new networks. It’s hardly a surprise.

They are in fact using Facebook to do what it was originally designed for, though I doubt any of them realise this.

My University asked us to incorporate social media into our teaching a few years back, in 2013, but I refused. I couldn’t see any good coming from it. They don’t any more.

What I could see was an opportunity for students to hijack the teaching resource, which has happened every time I have given them a way in. There is always at least one who thinks it’s quite funny to be disruptive.