Facebook share price has dropped by about one-third over past few days
FB has now lost about one third of its market cap over the past few days.
Facebook and IG could have to shut down European operations
Meta (parent of FB and IG) lost one quarter of its market value last week. This occurred because of significant risks to FB’s core business model – which is surveillance of users to build dossiers used for advertising and marketing purposes. FB no longer has control over the collection of data – as Apple, Google/Android have restricted data collection via apps, and as Europe’s data privacy regulations restrict data. This has long term strategic implications for Meta’s business model. The company noted this in its financial report, hinting that at worst case, it might have to shut FB and IG in Europe.
FB content that caused emotional responses ranked higher in The Algorithm
Years ago I suggested that FB was designed to create a “culture of perpetual outrage”. People who are emotionally engaged are more susceptible to advertising messages – plus, they are likely to stay connected to FB for more minutes. Internal documents reveal that FB not only knew this but gave emotional content posts higher leverage in The Algorithm that decides what you see online.
Simple Facebook experiment demonstrates how FB amplifies left and right extremist perspectives
A simple research study demonstrated how FB’s algorithm readily amplify extremist political viewpoints on the left and right. The root cause is that FB optimizes for time spent engaged with FB – and does not optimize for what you may wish to see. The result is FB optimizes to keep you perpetually outraged.
Old social media posts cost another job
Google’s head of diversity has been re-assigned after old blog posts showed him denigrating Jews and possibly making inappropriate comments about the LGBTQ+ community. Old blog posts and tweets have resulted in many losing their jobs.
Newsweek becomes Newspeak, edits past stories to conform to today
Newsweek and the Washington Post have both done stealth edits to long ago articles and did so for political reasons. Trust journalism? Why?
“Deplatforming” Parler
The controversy over hostile social media content advocating violence, hate, and lies on social media – and the deplatforming of individuals and entire services (e.g. Parler).
Was Parler deplatformed for “conservative” ideas or for users advocating violence?
TV news producer says all “news” is driven by ratings
A national TV news producer says all news is basically driven by ratings – not importance or value to the viewer. Most news is intentionally devoid of context and facts.
False: Full-time low income wage earners cannot afford a 2 bedroom rental anywhere in the U.S.
This claim comes out every year, from the same activist lobbying organization. They use misleading language and obfuscated definitions to imply a conclusion that is not true – a conclusion that the media laps up like good little puppies and uses to make false conclusions. This blog has covered this item twice previously. Nothing has changed.
Business: “Fake Diversity” used to fool consumers
Rather than hire actual diverse workforces, or recruit actual diverse student bodies, businesses and universities are using AI generated fake images of people in order to show their diversity. Seriously.