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Leaks reveal Facebook planning to target emotionally vulnerable and insecure youth

Biggest lickspittle on boardz

FACEBOOK has come under fire over revelations it is targeting potentially vulnerable youths who “need a confidence boost” to facilitate predatory advertising practices.
The allegation was revealed this morning by The Australian which obtained internal documents from the social media giant which reportedly show how Facebook can exploit the moods and insecurities of teenagers using the platform for the potential benefit of advertisers.
The confidential document dated this year detailed how by monitoring posts, comments and interactions on the site, Facebook can figure out when people as young as 14 feel “defeated”, “overwhelmed”, “stressed”, “anxious”, “nervous”, “stupid”, “silly”, “useless”, and a “failure”.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/social/leaked-document-reveals-facebook-conducted-research-to-target-emotionally-vulnerable-and-insecure-youth/news-story/d256f850be6b1c8a21aec6e32dae16fd

After the revelations that Zuckerberg personally called user who trust Facebook 'dumb fucks', you would really have to start questioning just what Facebook is doing at this point. It is no longer a social media tool, but more of a social engineering and mass surveillance programme at this point.

Are you still sharing your entire life on Facebook, or have you started to become more cautious in light of recent events?

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Potential-Monke

I'm only still on it to use it to perv on women i'll never have a chance with... *deep breath* *sigh*

CoolHandBandit

Hande hoche! wrote: »

How about Bebo?

What's that? Justin Bebo do you mean?

Wibbs

Wanderer78 wrote: »

I'm still amazed that people are amazed of the marketing nature of (anti) social media. The mind boggles!

Yep. When it became evident that people wouldn't be too quick to pay for anything on the new online world, it was realised that to make money entities like FB and Google and the rest would make the people themselves the resource. And what a resource. Billions made in data mining and acquisition to sell on to all those who want such information to sell more stuff, from phones to food to politics. And best of all people line up in droves happy to provide it. That's the part Orwell missed about 1984, that people would actively sign up to Big Brother.

Hande hoche!

CoolHandBandit wrote: »

What's that? Justin Bebo do you mean?

Never mind, feeling a bit long in the tooth.

osarusan

I'm on facebook. I use it to keep in contact with friends. I don't subscribe to/follow any news organisations or 'influencers' or stuff like that.

I occasionally see that stuff when friends have liked it or commented on it or whatever, but I just scroll on past.

If people just don't like the concept, that's fine. But a lot of what people complain about (in terms of what they keep seeing on facebook) is stuff that have the ability to change.

The_Valeyard

Got rid of facebook about two years ago now. Young people are abandoning facebook. I think facebook is becoming like the Golden Pages or telephone directory.

Closed nearly all my social media outlets.

I use whatsapp/viber/discord to keep in contact with family and friends, etc. People who I actually want to hear from.

Only using Reddit and Boards at present. Along with one or two gaming forums.

ThisRegard

The_Valeyard wrote: »

People who I actually want to hear from.

You know you can do that with Facebook don't you, or did you create your own problem by befriending all and sundry?

ohnonotgmail

Boom_Bap wrote: »

An apparent IM conversation from 15 years ago. This is soooooo legit.

where is the mention of a 15 year old IM conversation?

osarusan

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

where is the mention of a 15 year old IM conversation?

In the second link provided in the OP.

ohnonotgmail

osarusan wrote: »

In the second link provided in the OP.

didnt spot the second link. cheers.

the_syco

grahambo wrote: »

Facebook will be worth nothing soon anyway.

Kids aren't using it as much anymore because their parents are on it.

So... Facebook is now used by people who probably have money to spend on it's games, apps, and whose market research stats will probably be worth more?

the_syco

pilly wrote: »

Don't think for one minute OP that Boards is not using the same marketing tools. I for one get targeted ads popping up.

Subscribers can turn the ads off.

Anything that is free is using your browsing history to sell stuff to you.

neonsofa

Never signed up for it and now that I am getting curious and considering signing up everybody I know is deleting theirs

late to the party as always

The_Valeyard

ThisRegard wrote: »

You know you can do that with Facebook don't you, or did you create your own problem by befriending all and sundry?

No. But now I dont constant updates, photos of food or like this picture to cure cancer.

One eyed Jack

Biggest lickspittle on boardz wrote: »

http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/social/leaked-document-reveals-facebook-conducted-research-to-target-emotionally-vulnerable-and-insecure-youth/news-story/d256f850be6b1c8a21aec6e32dae16fd

After the revelations that Zuckerberg personally called user who trust Facebook 'dumb fucks', you would really have to start questioning just what Facebook is doing at this point. It is no longer a social media tool, but more of a social engineering and mass surveillance programme at this point.

But that's what social media tools are used for, is social engineering and mass surveillance, it's how practically any Web 2.0, "Big Data", IOT company works.

The idea that Facebook are now targeting emotionally vulnerable teens is nothing new, tumblr has dominated that marketplace since their inception, I see a lot of it gaining ground on YouTube now with teenage crusaders of all sorts doing all sorts to mark their place on the Internet (it's why Facebook is muscling in on that space with their Facebook Live service amongst others).

Nowadays it's not so much the company itself is valuable any more, it's the quality of the database of their user information. Bigger is always better in data mining -

http://www.cmswire.com/cms/customer-experience/marketing-bigger-better-stronger-faster-with-big-data-analytics-022412.php

Are you still sharing your entire life on Facebook, or have you started to become more cautious in light of recent events?

I think no matter what happens, you're always going to have people wanting to one-up each other and outdo each other and seek validation among their peers on social media. I don't think stories like this will make anyone more or less cautious than they were or weren't before!

conorhal

Biggest lickspittle on boardz wrote: »

http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/social/leaked-document-reveals-facebook-conducted-research-to-target-emotionally-vulnerable-and-insecure-youth/news-story/d256f850be6b1c8a21aec6e32dae16fd

After the revelations that Zuckerberg personally called user who trust Facebook 'dumb fucks', you would really have to start questioning just what Facebook is doing at this point. It is no longer a social media tool, but more of a social engineering and mass surveillance programme at this point.

Are you still sharing your entire life on Facebook, or have you started to become more cautious in light of recent events?

This isn't even the first or second time they've been caught at such hi-jinks:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jul/02/facebook-apologises-psychological-experiments-on-users

"Facebook’s second most powerful executive, Sheryl Sandberg, has apologised for the conduct of secret psychological tests on nearly 700,000 users in 2012, which prompted outrage from users and experts alike.
The experiment, revealed by a scientific paper published in the March issue of Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, hid "a small percentage" of emotional words from peoples' news feeds, without their knowledge, to test what effect that had on the statuses or "likes" that they then posted or reacted to."

Facebook seem very interested in manipulating the mood, attitude and political views of it's users. Which is no surprise when the rumor is that Zuckerberg intends to run for President.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/01/zuckerberg-2020/513689/

And if Zuckerberg is indeed laying the groundwork for a possible run for office, the role of Facebook during such a race raises several huge questions. Facebook is a dominant force in the flow of news and information, and its engineers can—with the tweak of an algorithm—grab the attention of its users on a massive scale. Facebook can even toy with its users emotions, as skew an election, and that’s before considering how much personal data it has on the American people: Facebook, in the hands of a political operative, would put ordinary voter rolls to shame.

As mad as that sounds, it was a significant plot line in 'House of Cards' where a candidate used influence with a big data company to manipulate search results to deliver people a favourable opinion of him, and it's not as far fetched as you might think. Both Obama and Trump benefited from on line grass roots campaigns that eschewed traditional campaigning and instead targeted marginalised demographics and on line opinion shapers.

Facebook has been at the fore front also in developing algorithims to 'combat fake news', you have to wonder what other uses they could be applied to?

Zuckerberg even published a rather creepy globalist manifesto outlining his 'vision':

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/feb/16/mark-zuckerberg-new-facebook-manifesto-letter

ThisRegard

The_Valeyard wrote: »

No. But now I dont constant updates, photos of food or like this picture to cure cancer.

You can control all that also.

The_Valeyard

ThisRegard wrote: »

You can control all that also.

yeah, I'm not bothered. Easier with whatsapp.

pilly

ThisRegard wrote: »

You can control all that also.

An awful lot of work in maintaining all that crap though, for what particular reason? Just doesn't justify the effort for me.

BorneTobyWilde

Facebook is a monster, you could reveal a story about how they are behind a spate of child abductions and it would be all brushed under the carpet within a few days.

TheIrishGrover

It's an old adage (Well, Internet old anyway):

If you're not paying for it, YOU are the product.

That's all Facebook is: A massive info gathering corporate tool. Nothing wrong with that as long as you know that's what it is.

Your Face

Facebook is great for catfail memes.

seamus

The wording in the article is interesting.

It claims that Facebook is doing <insert activity here>.

And then posits that activity could be used to <insert exploitative activity here>.

If you read it carefully, they're not claiming that facebook are actually doing this analysis for the purposes of directed advertising;

internal documents from the social media giant which reportedly show how Facebook can exploit the moods and insecurities of teenagers using the platform for the potential benefit of advertisers.

"Can exploit", not "do exploit".

Such information gathered through a system dubbed sentiment analysis could be used by advertisers to target young Facebook users when they are potentially more vulnerable.

"Could be used", not "is used".

The report then goes on to reveal that in fact the practices may not be quite as immoral and predatory as they initially suggested;

The secret document was put together by two Australian Facebook execs and includes information about when young people are likely to feel excited, reflective, as well as other emotions related to overcoming fears.
“Monday-Thursday is about building confidence; the weekend is for broadcasting achievements,” the document said, according to the report.

In other words, they're apparently analysing trends across young people and then using that for targetting advertisements.

So it's not "Hey John, I notice you're feeling down. Do you want a case of beer and a box of tissues today?", but rather during the week it's "buy these new clothes and look great", and at the weekend, "Come down to club 92 and have a great night out!".

And I expect that they do this analysis across all demographics and age groups. It's just more fun and sensationalist when you can say, "Facebook are targetting your depressed daughter with ads for slimming pills!"

Facebook actually has been talking in recent weeks about a sentiment analysis system to try and spot individuals who may be at risk of self-harm or suicide.

conorhal

seamus wrote: »

The wording in the article is interesting.

It claims that Facebook is doing <insert activity here>.

And then posits that activity could be used to <insert exploitative activity here>.

If you read it carefully, they're not claiming that facebook are actually doing this analysis for the purposes of directed advertising;

"Can exploit", not "do exploit".
"Could be used", not "is used".

The report then goes on to reveal that in fact the practices may not be quite as immoral and predatory as they initially suggested;

In other words, they're apparently analysing trends across young people and then using that for targetting advertisements.

So it's not "Hey John, I notice you're feeling down. Do you want a case of beer and a box of tissues today?", but rather during the week it's "buy these new clothes and look great", and at the weekend, "Come down to club 92 and have a great night out!".

And I expect that they do this analysis across all demographics and age groups. It's just more fun and sensationalist when you can say, "Facebook are targetting your depressed daughter with ads for slimming pills!"

Facebook actually has been talking in recent weeks about a sentiment analysis system to try and spot individuals who may be at risk of self-harm or suicide.

That reads like facebook spin to be honest, they were also forced to admit the analytics could be used for more nefarious purposes and were now 'working to ensure (after a backlash) that they couldn't.
Then not one paragraph later they are indulging in sentiment analysis on individuals, in this case to spot suicidal ideation.
Now on the face of it you can argue that's a good thing. But what else are they looking at, and should we have some micromanaging big brother looking over our shoulder at our every thought? Should facebook start messaging your friends, your relatives and employers to warn them of this? Is all agency to be removed from human action least we harm ourselves?

Facebook is not my parent, nor did I invite it to be so.

Cee-Jay-Cee

I deleted my Facebook account about 3 months ago when I realised people who I thought were reasonably intelligent were actually dumb as fcuk. I found reading the crap posted by friends and the constant feed of depressing news stories was effecting my mood and so I got rid of it completely. It really is a horrible place/thing and I have no intention of ever using it looking at it again.

Hopefully it'll gonthe same way Bebo did years ago and we can forget about it.

Infini

Ahhh Social Media, the lowest form of communication that only served to turn a generation of people into snowflakes!

Honestly I can see there's good intention behind it trying to help people feeling depressed from getting worse but social media is something I just wont use. Posting on a board is the most I will ever go, wont use the likes of twitter or facebook as it was always a stupid thing to me imo.

Zaph

pilly wrote: »

Don't think for one minute OP that Boards is not using the same marketing tools. I for one get targeted ads popping up.

That's Google Ads using your browsing history, not Boards.

The_Valeyard

Zaph wrote: »

That's Google Ads using your browsing history, not Boards.

Maybe but boards can and does transfer our information to other affiliated sites does it not?

Like in the privacy policy:

"We may transfer this information from Boards.ie Limited to any other site which is affiliated with Boards.ie Limited or its owners namely daft.ie, thejournal.ie, rent.ie, let.ie, daft.com, rent.co.uk, daft.pl, property.ie, boardsdeals.ie and adverts,ie [or vice versa] where necessary for you...."

It also goes on to state that aggregated data may be collected for marketing purposes but also claim the right to sell on all our data with the sale of boards.ie, although probably for site functional reasons.

Atoms for Peace

I'd recommend a watch of "all watched over by machines of loving grace" by Adam Curtis, gives a great explanation of how technology is warping people's perception.

Jurgen Klopp

I remember listening to some researcher in the US that said the first time he realised Facebook is slowly starting it's decline that every social media site eventually does was asking teens from like 13-21 about Facebook and the answer was "it isn't cool" I assume because all their parents, aunts, uncles, etc use it

I believe it has gone back to 1 to 1 or private groups chats through the likes of Snapchat, WhatsApp, Viber and iMessage

Then you have the different similar apps like in Asia I think one is called WeChat or something

The likes of Twitter will be the first to go I think. Don't think it has ever turned a profit and yet it's valued massively. Think they couldn't even find a buyer. I know only a handful who use it compared to Facebook and the rest maybe tweet now and again, it just doesn't have infiltration Facebook has

If a person was smart they would have a WhatsApp replacement (Viber doesn't seem to be as popular) ready to go. With Facebook having bought it, I'm waiting to see if they'll try and eventually merge it into Facebook messenger